La Rentree

La Rentree --the summer is over. The first of September is the start of the new year in France --kids return to school, adults return to work, boulangeries and patisseries re-open, chocolate waifs from the Michel Cluizel shop on St.Honore once more-- and Paris is Paris once again. August in Paris is a strange experience --the city has lots of summer events like Paris Plages (the beaches set up along the Seine, the museums are open, and in our quartier, most restaurants and shops are open). However, living here, you can separate the establishments which cater to tourists from those who cater to locals --and those places close for the month of August for conge annuel. Our local bakery, fish monger, many vendors at the marche, and restaurants were simply closed --for a month. And most Parisians are gone too! (We followed suit and went back to the US for 2 weeks!) I give the French credit for taking these long vacations --most businesses in the US would never take the chance-- and I doubt that most of us would understand...

The problem for me however, is that rentree is working in the opposite direction! I went back the US and worked like crazy in the house, the yard... and now back here I have the time to read, take a walk, plan a weekend. However, there is a bit more urgency in my thoughts as this is the final 4 months of our Paris adventure!
This last week, however, we did need to re-orient ourselves at being in Paris. We traveled a lot this summer --Provence, Venice, Lyon, the Dordogne area and back to the US. But we are back to our Parisian routines and looking forward the fall --and hopeful that we get a few sunny days! And there is more of Paris to see --and thus I may be taking our fall guests on tours of places that most guide books figure you do not have the time to see --a new guide book idea!
We did visit the gardens at Chateau de Vincennes on August 31 to mark the end of the holidays --they have a collection of 200 types of dahlias-- and this is the blooming period --they were spectacular (and many of you know my love of dahlias as I have shared this love with you!).




I have done a great deal of reading this year, and this had been one of my goals for the year. I have read fiction and fact, good books and a few bad, and many books about France and the French (what is it?... there must be more books written about France and the French than any other culture or place!). These books are written either by romantic francophiles (On Rue Tatin by Susan Loomis) or envious anglophones (the Merde series by the Brit Stephen Clarke) with a few written by inquisitive, intelligent authors (From Here, You Can't See Paris and Families of the Vine by Michael S. Sanders) Do not ask my opinion of the French Women Don't Get Fat series...merde. I don't think my reading list would be confused with Sarah Palin's.

I just finished a book about the women who were models and later the wives of Cezanne, Monet, and Rodin. The book, Hidden in the Shadow of the Master, by Ruth Butler (Yale University Press) provides insight into the living and economic situations of these great artists, and the personal sacrifice made by these women to support and be companions to these men. It is hard to fathom when understanding the contemporary value of these works, how difficult is was for these artists to be recognized for their genius and to make a sustainable living. I do think that museums should have some way of making this reality part of their exhibits so that the viewer understands what these works really represent. (So... what do all these literary works about France and the French say about their authors... what would an expose on their lives look like??? I think they all have a enough to eat...).
Behind every great man is a great woman... I have to agree with Simone de Beauvoir --On ne nait pas femme: on le devient.