Paris: Day 4

Photo Credit: Pinterest

One of the appeals of Paris's history isn't from the Parisians themselves, but the art produced by the "étrangers" or expatriates welcomed by Paris in the 1920s from all over the world.  Perhaps most famous of these expats were the so called "Lost Generation". The term was coined by Gertrude Stein, an American expat herself, to describe a group of writers who came of age during WWI. She said, "That is what you are. All of you young people who served in the war. You are a lost generation."  Members included F. Scott Fitzgerald, T.S. Elliot, Ford Maddox Ford, John Dos Passos, and Sherwood Anderson. With that period in mind, we set off on a walk centered on our favorite of these writers, Ernest Hemingway, and his life in Paris during the 1920s.

We used this book as a guide. It's a wonderful little book, outlining 25 walks around Paris, each focusing on a different person. It includes walks for Monet, Picasso, Chanel, and Julia Child. Unfortunately, we lost it during our walk, probably while carrying our stroller down the stairs into the Luxembourg Gardens. However, we were able to find everything we wanted to see.

We took the bus to the start of our walk and then strolled up Rue du Cardinal Lemoine to #74. This was Hemingway's first apartment in Paris, which he shared with wife, Hadley. He was quoted saying, "We were very poor and very happy."

Just past his apartment, we spotted a little grocery store and bakery. We decided to get some items for a picnic. Bread, cheese, olives, oranges, and wine. What could be better? Hemingway described this street as, "a wonderful narrow market street". It was fun to shop on this same street!

Next, we headed up towards the Panthéon. Built to house the relics of St. Genevieve, it now contains the remains of many distinguished people, including Voltaire, Marie Curie, Rousseau, Émile Zola, and Jean Moulin.

We then headed over to the Luxembourg Gardens. It's 60 acres of beautiful and the perfect place for our picnic lunch. It's also where Hemingway strolled daily.

After lunch, Monsieur Bacon and the kids headed over to the pond and rented a toy sailboat. They chose a boat with the U.S. flag (gotta represent!) and had a great time with it. This boat was the best part of the kids' day. You push the boat out with a pole, but then the wind takes it wherever it wants, so it's easy for the little ones. The kids ran, literally, dozens of laps around this pond.

After a half hour, the kids (and Monsieur Bacon) reluctantly turned their boat back in. We paid the standard .50 euros a person to use the restroom and continued on our walk. We walked through the main path of the garden and back out onto the street. Just ahead of us was our next destination, La Closerie des Lilas Café. Hemingway said it was his favorite café because it was the quietest. It is supposedly where he wrote the majority of The Sun Also Rises. It did seem like a peaceful place, even today. We thought about going in (a plaque at the bar above where Hemingway liked to sit honors him), but with so much of the walk left and one kid asleep in the stroller, we decided to continue on.

We had a bit of a hike to our next destination, but with the baby still asleep in the stroller, and the other two kids in a good mood, we enjoyed every second. We headed to Rue de Fleurus and turned left.

We found our way to #27, the home of Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas. It was here, during Stein's highly sought after weekly "salons" that writers and artists met. Gaining Stein's approval was key to success for many, many introductions to publishers and art dealers were made based upon these meetings. We had an overwhelming feeling of nostalgia at this place. Through these doors, passed regular attendees, Hemingway, Picasso, the Fitzgeralds, Ezra Pound, James Joyce, Sinclair Lewis, Henri Rousseau and Henri Matisse. FYI, Stein was a major art collector and one of her very favorites, was our main man, Cézanne. 

After Gertrude Stein's, we headed over to a corner of the Boulevard Saint-Germain that boasts two cafés that Hemingway wrote about in his book about Paris, A Moveable Feast: Les Deux Margots and Brasserie Lipp's. We had intended to stop in for a drink and snack at either of these establishments, but both were very busy and very fancy. D*mn tourists. Oh wait, that's us. Seriously though, what would Hemingway think if he saw a Louis Vuitton store next to his old haunts? Or an Abercrombie and Fitch?

Hot, sunburned, thirsty, and sore-footed, we resigned to catching the bus home. Then, it happened. IT... HAPPENED... While walking by another café, Madame Salade glanced to her right and saw a woman sitting at a table who looked exactly like Ina Garten. Madame Salade thought, "Wow, she looks just like Ina Garten". Then, Madame Salade saw sitting next to her, a man who looked exactly like Ina Garten's husband, Jeffery. Having watched countless hours of Barefoot Contessa and cooking from her cookbooks (helloooo madeline cookie recipe!), Madame Salade remembered that the Gartens LOVE Paris. Madame Salade speaking here...you know, I always wondered how I'd react if I ever encountered someone famous who I admired in public and the answer? Not well. I hyperventilated, started sweating profusely, and could barely speak (to my credit though, I saw Fred Thompson once in an airport and kept my cool). Through gestures and fragments of sentences, I was able to convey what had just happened to Monsieur Bacon. He told me to go on over there and say hi! For those of you who do not know me, I can be painfully shy. In no way was I going to march over to her table and interrupt her dinner with her husband. I mean, how do people DO that? We thought about our options, and shamelessly using a kid was best. Our oldest started to cry about the very real possibility of talking to a stranger (gee, wonder where he gets that from?), but our middle child was golden. He's as cute and friendly as they come. We asked him what his favorite salad is. Duh, Greek Panzanella! One of the many Ina Garten recipes on our regular rotation at home. We walked back towards the table and proceeded to pester Ina Garten. Our 3 year old told her, "My favorite salad is panzanella." She was incredibly sweet, shook our son's hand, asked his name, and said "nice to meet you" with a smile. At this point, I was standing 3 feet back, paralyzed, about to cry. She asked if we were on vacation, to which we said, "yes". We said, "thank you, sorry to bother you" and moved on. She said, "oh no, don't worry" and smiled and waved as we walked away. It all happened so fast. It was here that I regretted that I did not take a picture, although wouldn't it have been SO rude? Since I have something called manners, I crossed the street and began snapping secret pictures of her. Our oldest said, "Is she the one with those chicken burritos watching the ball game?" By which he means, curry chicken wraps watching volleyball at the beach in the Hamptons. Yes, yes she is. Oh my gosh, I love that woman!

I swear, the blurry people sitting at the table next to the tree are real celebrities!

This walk was a great excuse to stroll around Paris away from the monuments and museums. It was a wonderful way to spend the afternoon, but then five exhausted people caught a bus across town. Since everyone was so good, we got treats: ice cream for the kids and beers for the parents.  Great times!