Memoirs of Friday in Paris

Going to the Memorial du Martyr Juif, which is a Holocaust memorial in the Marais district. It was a very good memorial with names of people who lost their lives written on a series of walls. There is also a large cylander with things written on it in tribute. Underground you can go learn about the history of Jews in Europe and in France and about the Shoah, and also see an eternal flame in the basement. The day we happened to be there was the day that a large group of police officers were there learning, too. I’d say there were about 50 officers – interesting that they take them there for education.

Going to the Picasso Museum and paying only 2 Euros – what a bargain! Oh, yeah, that’s because you can only go through 2 of the levels since they’re changing the display. Still, it was very cool to see part of the largest collection of Picasso’s works in the world. Picasso was kind of a crazy guy (even as artists go). He invented his own language at one point and made surrealist films. My kind of guy.

Since we had more time after that then we expected we decided to see if we could find a music store for me to buy some cane at. There just happened to be a large music store near where we were and they told us if we went to Rue Roman near the Europe stop we would find a ton of music stores. That was true – we went there and found a bunch. They said that Glotin didn’t have a store in paris. We went to “Le Menetrier” where some guys tried to help me find bassoon cane there while also trying to speak English. There was only so much bassoon cane jargen that they knew, so at some point they brought out the big guns --- a guy working in the shop who was from Ireland, and who naturally could speak English. He turned out to be a really nice guy who knew a lot about the French bassoon and the debate that is going on right now in Paris about French vs. German bassoon. He showed me this great CD they had of the best Parisian French bassoon players playing French bassoon, so I bought that. Very cool. They also told us where Van Doren was – only a few stops away on the Metro – so, let’s go! We got there, but unfortnately they happened to close a little bit earlier on Friday (and we got there at 5pm). Oh well – it’s not like I don’t have a TON of cane waiting for me in Dallas!

Then we went to take a picture of the restaurant David would like to eat at, but would cost the rent of a small mansion, the Tour d’Argent. The building has been there since 1518 (but the food is fresh…). Pretty fancy.

We ate next door at the equally fancy Buffalo Grill. What? It’s equally fancy… in an unpretentious sort of way. So, the restaurant is kind of Southwest themed (like Texas/New Mexico) – it was interesting to get a glimpse into what the French think of Cowboy life. Then again, what do WE really know about cowboy life anyways? Oh yeah, David saw the television show “Dallas” on TV Thursday morning, too. I guess they’re into that. Yee haw.