Starting Out Slowly

 Bon jour, mes amis

Rule One:  Always stay hydrated.  As soon as I come in, I have a glass of water--even before I take out my contacts and take my shoes off.

I'm going to be here for a while, and I have visited Paris several times, so I feel no need to rush around and see things.  I'm still jet lagged.  I got very little sleep last night.  I feel all right at the moment, but in a few hours I predict my brain will start to feel thick and sluggish.

I mostly spent my day in aimless wandering.  My fancy iphone counts my steps, and my wandering resulted in over 10K steps.  This is good.  My immediate neighborhood is largely pedestrianized.  There's a nice park (named after Nelson Mandela) around the corner, and Les Halles, of course.  I explored the streets and the mall, and that was pleasant enough.  I enjoyed good weather today.

But I thought I ought to do Something Touristy.  As it happens, a newish museum opened up very close by in the Bourse du Commerce building, which now contains the Pinault Collection--something I had never heard of, but it sounded worthwhile.  Evidently it sounded worthwhile to a lot of other people, too, because there was a big old line when I showed up.  I got in line and then realized I'd have to go to the ticket office across the street.  Having obtained my ticket, I got back in line.  Paris museums want you to book on line, but this won't work for me, so I do it the old fashioned way.

The Pinault Collection is . . .  ok.  The works of Charles Ray were featured, and he produced some interesting sculptures.  His work is naturalistic, but unidealized with unconventional poses.  It looks like he got his male friends to model for him. The Bourse building itself is also a work of art.  There's a rotunda with a glass ceiling and a fresco underneath it depicting various aspects of trade.  I thought seeing the building and getting to walk around it was worth the price of admission in itself.

I'd spotted my bank's French partner across the street.  I didn't actually need money, but I got some because I was there.  Then I went in search of dinner.  Because of jet lag I didn't want to fuss, but some places are machine only and bankcards, not cash, so I ended up at the Paul at Les Halles.  Paul is a national chain, but it's of high quality.   I can't help thinking that Parisians find my attempts at speaking French pretty comical.  On the hand, they appreciate the effort.  The nice young lady waiting on me unleashed her English.Dinner will be a grainy baguette filled with chicken, lettuce and tomato.  This isn't very exciting, but I'll do better later on.  I'll have some rose with it.  I have been scolded (by older men) for drinking rose.  Pah.  The pink stuff became wildly popular in France.

Right now I'm having my apero.  I make kir royale with Creme de Cassis and sparking wine.  This is Cremant by the way, which is the most common non-Champagne sparkling wine.  I like Champagne just fine, but I won't pay for it.  I have some green olives with garlic and oregano and some almonds I brought from home to go with.  When I'm at home I don't eat much bread.  This changes when I visit Europe.  I am not anti-carb.  I love whole wheat pasta. In Paris, one thing I get as soon as I can is the Pain Polaine rye bread that one can find in grocery stores.  It's so good.  I have it thickly spread with hummus for breakfast.

A demain