Sonnet Paris

Sonnet and I sneak out of the house for St Pancras and Paris (Kamila retrieves Madeleine from morning swim practise; Richard picks up Eitan for Elm Grove vs. Kings Park). Here she is at the hotel.

After dropping off our bags, we spill onto Place de la Concorde and trundle along rue du Rivoli to the fashion museum at the Louvre to see the Louis Vuitton-Marc Jacobs exhibition , which opened Friday. Despite Sunday , there is an endless line and, dear reader, I am most impressed when my wife waves her card and - voila!- we are in. This so rarely happens in life.

From there , Sonnet and I walk beside the Seine to le Marais on the Right Bank inside the 4th arrondisement (question: who lives in these apartments overlooking la Cité and Notre Dame ?). The Marais has been inhabited since the 1st century BC when a bunch of Gauls sat down to eat some foie gras. History happened then the Jews settled here, noted by the kosher restaurants excluding "Shwartz's" which opened since our last visit and completely empty.

The gays took over in the 1990s and neighbourhood became le plus chic du Paris. It has cleaned up, too : once there was graffiti, dog shit, traffic .. the 4th felt counter-culture despite Place des Vosges and the Picasso Museum. Now, Sonnet remarks, "it is a shopping mall" and sure enough , amongst the boutiques,  I see Nike and even Muji, a Japanese brand. WTF is that one doing here ?  The people-watching remains top class and we find a local cafe w/ an ancient television set showing local football. Parfait.