Shariellen goes to the Theater in Paris

If you have ever been to NYC, you probably know about the TKTS booth, where you can get tickets to Broadway shows for a little more than half price on the same day (or, if you are tricky, use the downtown booth the night before for a matinee).  Currently the booth is under rehabilitation and the window has moved to the Marriott hotel.  This is a very famous NYC thing to do for natives and visitors alike.  (If you are going, no credit cards, cash or travelers’ checks ONLY, and know what you want BEFORE you get to the window.  This is NY.  We are not playing with you.)

Turns out, Paris has the same thing!  There are two booths.  One is by the Tour Montparnasse (near where I stayed last year) and one in Place de Madeleine.  Go to the big church with all the columns by the Madeline Metro stop.  If you are facing the main entrance of the church (the steps were mostly covered in flowers today, it was like a blooming garden of steps–steppes?) the ticket booth is just off on the left side of the church.  It is a red kiosk.  By 6:30 pm there was no line.  I could have had Lion King (about 50 euro) but I recently saw it in NY, and did not want an American export.  I asked the woman in the booth to recommend something with music, and she strongly recommended Panique A Bord, a silly farce that takes place on a cruise ship.  Sounded like a better idea than, say, a drama, or something with lots of incomprehensible dialog.  The ticket voucher was marked with the train stop on it, and I set out shortly afterwards for Theatre Tristan Bernard, Rue de Rocher, arrondisment 8.

The theater was old, and in a part of town that seemed mostly residential.  I guess we could say it was off Broadaway.  I paid 20 euro for the ticket, full price is I believe twice that.  The proscenium arch, the curtains, the red velvet seats…they don’t make ‘em like that anymore.

Although I was told to show up at 8:40, I showed up at 7:30, thinking I could get my ticket and have a leisurely dinner without worrying.  I was sternly told not to return until 8:30 (oh the shame!) and it had started to rain.  Hmm, all part of the adventure, right?  So I went next door to the Pergola and had an amazing meal of scallops with vegetables in a wonderful cream sauce.  And the dessert was…I can’t remember the correct name, but it was a chocolate cake with a gushy center, two sauces and a scoop of vanilla ice cream.  Needless to say the Starving Student busted both her budget and her starvingness all at once.  I amused my self before and after dinner with the Sudoku in the free French newspaper you get in the metro.  Think it’s easy to do Sudoku in French?

The show had a cast of 6 and an orchestra of one piano.  OK, maybe off-off Broadway.  It was a kind of a star crossed lover/mistaken identity/who’s a girl, who’s a boy/long lost relations deal.  I had enough French to survive it, although some of the more subtle jokes went over my head.  The broad humor I could get, and the songs were delightful.  The cast of 6 were extremely talented, especially the one who plays the son.  He was a show stopper and adorable.

There was one number (after the cruise ship has its demise) that I could even get stuck in my head:  J’ai faim; j’ai soif; j’ai chaud.  I’m hungry, I’m thirsty, I’m hot.  This song had a kick line.  What can I say, it was a hoot.

The cast got a very strong, heartfelt ovation, even reprising their kick line for a few bars.  I headed back to the Villiers metro stop, and was back at my apartment before turning into a pumpkin.  The metro was full of people and not scary at 11 pm, but my neighborhood was quiet.  I was happy to put the key in the lock of 6 Rue Debelleyme and to head up my (sigh) 111 steps.

The young man who softly speaks on the phone to what I assume is a girlfriend was sitting on the steps again.  I guess he feels like he has more privacy on the steps than in the house with his parents?  I greeted him warmly–I was expecting him this time.  The light in the staircase lasted all the way until I was inside the apt before shutting off.  I am getting the hang of it all, just in time to go home.  And my French was just getting warmed up, too.  Well, perhaps next year, a vacation in another French-speaking area.

I would encourage anyone to go to the theater in French if you can either read a synopsis before going, or go to a musical, or to something with a lot of action.  It was another chance to see the real people do real things.

Just don’t try to get your cut-rate ticket before the designated time.  That woman was scary.

Things you might not know about Paris

1. They do not pick up dog poop in Paris.  Even if the dog is really big.
2. The lights in your apartment building do not go on automatically, nor do they stay on 24 hours.  This you may have seen in a French movie.  Be sure to look for where the switch is located before you come home in the dark.  I had to go up one landing in the dark until I spotted the switch on the second landing.  It would have been a long, dark walk to the fifth floor.
3. Crazy people in France talk to themselves loudly in the Metro.  However, cell phone service works fine in the Metro as well.  So, it is much more difficult to tell the crazies from the blue-tooth users in Paris, especially since it is all in French.  In the NYC subway, cellphones do not work consistently, so crazy is the default setting.
4. Some doors, like the front door to my apt. building, have a button to release the lock (or you can use your key).  This is a lot less fire-safe than a crash bar.  Although it is possible that it has some sort of fire fail-safe that I don’t know about.  The release button is not necessarily obvious to find, so find it before you need it.  See light switch, above.
5. Soda costs .88 euro in a boulangerie/grocery/supermarket.  It costs 3.80 euro in a cafe.  Same as beer.  So save the cafe for when you can sit and relax and get the benefit of people-watching (especially on a parade day).   Oh, and a boulangerie is a bakery for (mostly) bread.  You can often get a cheap sandwich to take away there.
6. If you want tap water, ask for “verre d’eau” a glass of water.  Otherwise, some cafes will stick you with bottled water.  If you have ordered another drink, say a coffee, or a beer, but you want water as well, ask for “verre d’eau.”  Last year, Mom and I tried out “eau de Paris” “eau gratis” “eau sans bouteille” until an amused waitress told us to ask for “verre d’eau.”  If I am buying something else, give me some free sink water.  It will come without ice cubes most likely.  If you are two people, it might come in a carafe.
7. At the fruit store, don’t touch the fruit.  Don’t worry, I caught on before making this mistake.  Try to go when the store is quiet, or look up the vocabulary before you go.  I could not decide between strawberries and raspberries, so I said the word I knew (framboises) and got raspberries.  It’s all part of the adventure.  I managed “trois bananes” also.  But, if I had wanted veggies, I would have had to settle for spinach (epinard) and onions (onion).  If the store was quiet, I could go up and down pointing.  Friday night right after work is not quiet.  PS:  best raspberries I ever ate.  Really.  In my life.

OK, seven things is good for now.  More as I think of them.

Shariellen goes to Picasso and Pride in Paris

Today I had a slow start–my legs were protesting all the miles I put on them yesterday. But, by noon, I was at the Picasso Museum, right up the street. (Did I mention that the student price cuts off at 25 years old? Timing!) I saw the sign, but had to double-check with the ticket taker: “pas de photo?” Correct: no photos in the museum. You will have to go to their webiste if you want to see more–or just come to Paris.

The museum was wonderful. You could see into Picasso’s process much more than you normally would be able to. There were sculpture studies that ended up as paintings; drawings that ended up as sculptures; cardboard abstract sculptures that ended up as still lifes (nature mort in French). There were series of paintings or drawings trying out different light/dark moods, different angles. Picasso used ink, crayon, charcoal, linoleum printing, paper collage and some other media I have forgotten in addition to paint. He threw pots and added color with slip. Overwhelmingly impressive.

There was also a video room, and the part I saw had all kinds of views of Picasso’s studio, ending with him (not a young man at this point) in a pair of shorts, bare-chested, up and down some rickety ladders, just tossing up a dove with a branch in its mouth, a human figure and a devil. The canvas is, oh, 8 or 10 feet high and runs across the whole room. He looks as natural as writing his name up there.

From there, I headed to Boulevard Richard Lenoir for the outdoor Arts and Crafts show. This I found out about by accident when I headed up an unintended street upon leaving Bastille metro station. (It’s all part of the adventure, yes.) The level of art work and craft work was excellent, but nothing grabbed me hard enough to put me off my Starving Student budget. I couldn’t photograph the art show either–if I was an artist, I would not want my works for sale to be photographed without permisson. But these art show participants didn’t make any complaint:

Pigeons deux

Pigeons trois

Pigeons quatre

Pigeons

Ok, I still don’t know how to do this. I put all the pictures in at once, not just the pigeons that go here. I will stop for now and continue after a good night’s sleep.

Spirits all around me in Paris

I have a very long story to tell about all the things that happened to me today in Paris, but first I have to absorb them a little. And load up the photos. So I have to look for the cord before I have more wine. More wine, did you say? OK, Vive La France! I have no idea what I did to make the font so very very big. OK, blogging done for tonight.