I haven’t wanted to spend much time blogging, but I’m trying to keep up my travel journal, and I thought perhaps I could get away with a two-birds-one-stone approach here today, my last day in Paris this trip.
Given the likelihood of you not being able to read my handwriting, here’s a transcription of the page above: Woken by a sore throat sometime around 1:30 last night, and the aspirins took a while to kick in. This cold is not going easily, and the last two days diverted — into carrying luggage & walking the city & visiting with a friend — strength that probably should have gone straight into maintaining recovery. Ah well, I fly home tomorrow morning, and then there will be time for sleep, for cup after cup of hot lemon and ginger, for a cleansing diet — plus a healing bundle of cuddles from some little people.
Woke again at 6 a.m. (after finally getting back to sleep about 3, via my aphabet-letter-wordlist memory trick— the word of the night was T-R-U-C-K and I only made it to “R”) Since I was awake, I checked in for my flight, got my boarding pass. Perhaps knowing all was in order let me go back to sleep until 8. So I got close to a decent number of hours, at least, and might try for a nap
this afternoon.
For now, though . . . .
We didn’t make it to a single art exhibition this visit — uh-oh, untrue, Paul went to one in Rome with Jesse & Frankie one day while I stayed home sick — One last chance to remedy this, but I need to keep it manageable.
Two options:
A Pop Art show at Musée Maillol, very near here and I really liked the Maillol as was, would like to see it in its new iteration.
But there’s also an interesting expo at the Monnaie de Paris: Women House — a selection of work by female artists of 20th and 21st century exploring the relation of gender and space, a topic I’ve long been interested in. And since this museum is new to me, I think I’ll start here — off to try for online tix now and to map out my walking route. . . .
Just a few photos from what turned out to be a wonderfully stimulating exhibition, just the right size, in a gorgeous space, and only a 20-minute walk from here. The wrought-iron teapot by Joana Vasconcelos below,
one of Louise Bourgeois’ formidable Spiders,
and Niki de Saint Phalle’s Nana Maison II, were perhaps the highlights for me, but I’ll continue to post photos on Instagram of other works (and other views of these).
And if you should be coming to Paris before January 28th, put this one on your list. Otherwise, you might be able to catch the exhibition when it moves to Washington’s National Museum of Women in the Arts for a March 9th to May 28th gig.
And now, if you’ll excuse me, time to settle in with this pot of tea in the hotel sitting area. Other than packing my case tonight, and perhaps going across the street for an omelette, I’m going to take it easy. I’ve booked the hotel’s car service for the first time — we usually take public transit to Charles de Gaulle, and it’s easy enough, even on my own, and the price is unbeatable at 10 Euros. But I’ve decided the comfort is worth the splurge this once. . . and at the other end of the flight, I have a lovely son-in-law picking me up at the airport. . . So all is good, and next time we speak I’ll be ensconced in all the comforts of home.
Oh, in her comment on my last post, Susan asked what I was reading on the flight home. Well, I like to have choices. . . On my train trip, I began reading Madeleine L’Engle’s A Circle of Quiet, a lovely philosophical memoir about writing and rural life and marriage and family. But it’s to savour, not to rush through, so I’ll balance it with Jacqueline Park’s The Secret Book of Grazia dei Rossi, which I downloaded onto my iPadMini from the Vancouver Public Library, such a boon. Check out the page count on this one (bottom left ) — although keep in mind that the number of pages will change depending on the size the font’s adjusted to. Still, it’s a big book!
And while those two should definitely last me through the flight, especially if I get distracted by a movie or two, I’ve also got a paper book, just in case something goes wrong with the electronics. . . I bought the paperback at the train station in Chambéry; it’s by Aurélie Valognes, Mémé dans les Orties. The title apparently refers to the French expression that says you shouldn’t push granny (mémé) into the (stinging) nettles (les orties), shouldn’t go too far, in other words. I’m only a couple of chapters in, but I’m already amused by the grumpy old fellow, 83, who doesn’t get along with the similarly elderly residents in his building, mostly women.
So, no worries, this reader is well supplied for a ten-hour flight. But now she has to pack. . . Chat soon, okay? And you know I welcome your comments, always.
Safe journey!
Hello Frances,
When able, maybe you will write a little more about the hotel you stayed in while in Paris? I am completely taken with the tassel on your room key! If that is anything to go by, it must be a very cosy and welcoming place.
It is too late probably, but, meant to say you can find in France, but not England or US, (or probably Canada), the best, really, really works without drugs, cough syrup. In case your symptoms persist in the coughing department, that is. It is called Olbas Cough Syrup. Not Olbas oil, but syrup. After nine weeks of a foul cough last Winter I discovered it and had immediate relief from hacking late into the night.
Home, the sofa, the ginger tea and sleeping in your own bed will set you up for a return to robust health.
Love travel, really enjoy solo travel, but, I am with Dorothy, "There is ( definitely) no place like home".
Happy New Year.
A. in London
Too late, yes, but I'll making a point of searching out that cough syrup next time I'm in France.
And I'll try to write something about the Paris hotel — if I don't get to that before you might have use for it, feel free to email me for the name.
Wishing you a smooth journey home with some sleep thrown in! And thanks for the mention of the Madeleine L'Engle book. I know most of her novels but hadn't heard of this.
This is one of the four volumes that make up The Crosswicks Journals — I read another volume, Two-Part Invention: The Story of a Marriage, years ago, and not sure why I haven't read the others yet.
Welcome home to a week of rain. It is pretty though, the different shades of green. The snow drops are trying. There really is nothing like your own bed to cure a cold. We use Manuka Honey Lozenges for sore throats. They seem to work really well.
Ali
I really must put some snowdrops in pots for next year!
Manuka Honey Lozenges, duly noted (although I find Ricola good)
Safe travels! And it sounds as though your decisions in Paris have worked so well for you. The exhibition – how perfect.
So sorry for your continuing cold-car service is a clever choice at the moment
Have a nice and safe journey home-and a lot of rest afterwards
Oh,the eternal fear-do I have enough to read :-)!
Dottoressa
It's constant, that fear, isn't it? We can't be without a book! 😉
Have a safe flight home and get well soon.
I hope by now you are home and cozy! I'm laughing about your provisions for having enough to read – one of my great fears is being on a long flight with nothing to read. Where do some of those dreadful in-flight movies come from?
ceci
I actually ended up watching two good films — Return to Montauk and M. et Mme. Adelman. But I never like to count on watching a movie — I've been stuck in seats before with faulty screens. A book never does that!
Thank you so much for the heads up on the exhibit travelling to Washington's National Museum of Women in the Arts. I love that museum but it has been years since I last visited. Time for a visit. I will put the dates of the exhibit on my calendar! Hope you feel better soon.
slf
Interesting for me to imagine how the big works will be accommodated in a different museum — they worked brilliantly in the Paris building. Curation of exhibitions is its own art form, isn't it?!
Last night I wrote a response to your post on my smart (allegedly) phone. My response was eaten during my need to log in as me before I could post it. (Or something.) An attempt to reconstruct. (I wanted you to know I read and appreciated your post.): Wonderful post. Love seeing your written journal entries. Glad you chose to go to the Monnaie de Paris Women House exhibition on gender and space, which is a topic I'm also interested in. (Love Judy Chicago.) Now to get to D.C. to see the exhibit here, though I wish it were coming to the West Coast. After you posted about the exhibition, I read about it on the NMWA site. It sounds wonderful. ( nmwa.org/exhibitions/women-house) FYI, the hashtag #womenhouse already has over 2000 entries on IG. There are some glorious shots of the Louise Bourgeois spider in the Monnaie space. The combination is breathtaking. Also adore/revere Louise Bourgeois. One of her spiders was installed along the San Francisco Embarcadero between my home and the Ferry Building when I lived in SF. I loved it, and was surprised to find it was a controversial piece. Sympathy to you for your cold while traveling. My bronchitis, which I've had since the beginning of December, is almost completely gone and it feels emphatically better to be better. There's been a lot of hot lemon, ginger, and honey in my life recently, with the lovely lemons fresh from my house host's lemon tree. May your return to your home nest and some rest bring you back to full health soonest.
That's for this generous and fulsome (in the best sense) comment, K. I can't help but think that bronchitis would almost be tolerable if it were being partly treated by lemons plucked from one's own tree. . .
I have more photos of the spider in the Monnaie — will try to put them in a post. But I'll have to go look at the myriad of shots at that IG hashtag — thanks for the alert.
Safe travels! Brenda. Love (fear?) Louise Bourgeois' sculptures.
Hope you have safely arrived and have enjoyed some restorative cups of hot tea with lemon for your throat. Your book choices are varied and should appeal to any mood. Did you finish anything on the flight?
I read less than I thought I would on the flight, thanks to the two films I mentioned above in my response to Ceci/Anonymous's comment.
I particularly love the care you invest in making sure that appropriate reading is available throughout your journey. A flight with a sore throat is no fun at all, so I hope it is now or will soon be a thing of the past.
I did survive the flight, and I'm now able to soothe my throat with various hot liquids whenever I want. Thanks!