Day 26–An Art Lesson, Lunch, an Errand and a Museum

115 emails this morning. It’s getting worse. Growing like topsy.

My painting is proceeding apace. It’s starting to take shape, I think. I seem to have inadvertently erased the photo from the camera. Maybe it’s Freudian. Graham thinks that it would hurt the painting’s sensitivities (as opposed to my own) to show it too early.

Cold and rainy here today, so after lunch at a wine shop/resto that I had missed on my last trip, Caves Petrissans, 30 bis, av Niel, we went for a long walk, right after we stopped by our friend Charlotte Butrille-Cardew’s law office where I had an errand to do. Her office is on av de la Grande Armée and I thought I’d take a photo of just the door, the offices themselves are charming and somewhat different that the T-D Bank Tower or First Canadian Place.

Had a spin through the Palais de Tokyo where they house modern and contemporary art (the former, pretty much from the Fauvists on, the latter more cutting edge, but an eclectic and somewhat disjointed collection in any case), across the river, past Musée Branly (interesting design by the hip architect of the day here, Jean Nouvel) and back home to finish crossword and rest. It actually was long, long walk, roughly from the Ternes to the Rennes Métro stations if you have a map.

I was noticing, though, at lunch that there were well-dressed business types at Caves Petrissans and certainly a number around the 16th but very few generally on the Métro, even at business hours of the day, early and late. They may drive or take taxis but finding parking in and around the city looks to be a nightmare. You will notice that in almost every photo at every time of the day and night, there are cars parked. I will have to ask Charlotte.

After a chat with my London chum, I have to set the record straight. We have had only one or two (at the most)pain chocolat since we’ve been here. They’ve mostly been consumed in our imagination along with all the other delectable pastry one sees everywhere walking around the city.