Even though I have not finished blocking in the entire book, I am close enough to the end to finally treat myself to a big set of Sennelier pastels. Em & fam gave me a nice set for Christmas but I did not want to pack them plus I wanted to see what Paris offered.
First it's off to Sennelier located along the Seine on the fringes of the Left Bank. It is such a wonderful art store. Emily & I shopped here when she & Marty brought me to Paris. The store reminds Donny & me of Welch-Anderson, a former art store in Richmond where you could buy anything and everything related to art. The aisles were tiny and the shelves full of all sorts of art wonderment.
A nice walk along the river brings us to Sennelier and the shopping begins. Most of the clerks do not speak English so there is a lot of gesturing and pointing. The aisles are even smaller than Welch-Anderson's, the only thing spacious here being the high ceilings. The stairs are tiny, circular events. Donny elects to wait while I go up to the second and third floors seeing what is available up there. I locate the disposable ink pens on the third floor and make my selection. The clerk needs to write up a ticket for me to present downstairs at the main counter. There I explain that I want pastels. Whole, half? Oil, water? The clerk brings me a box. Bigger, I indicate. He brings another. Again, bigger. He smiles and heads to the storage room where he returns with the perfect size box. I select a few tubes of watercolor too because my home supply is low. We pay and head across the Seine toward Rue de Rivoli and Angelina's.
It's hot chocolate time at Proust's favorite watering hole. We get a pot of Chocolat African plus a Mont Blanc to share and later partake of cafe to ease the massive sugar intake.
By this time it is close to dix-sept heures and we are worried that Fachon will close before we can get there. We are on an herb acquisition mission. It is not far and we start power walking. We round a bend of a side street and spy what we decide is the Palais Garnier also known as the Opera. We need to be near La Madeleine which is a few blocks to the left of the Opera. We start walking faster. The streets are like bicycle spokes and you cannot see what is around a corner or even if you are headed in the right direction. We have a map and try to consult it while still walking. We identify where we are and come out around the square from Fachon. To the right is La Madeleine looking suspiciously like the building we had hastily identified as the Opera. Suddenly I remember, the Opera de Paris has a dome, this building does not. We were in the right place before!
We rush around the circle and into Fachon. There is only prepared food for sale. I ask a clerk where the herbs are. Across the way she points. We have sailed right by the part of Fachon we need. It is only two stores away. We hurry over and in. Ah. Not much time to spare though. We know what we want and find the herb section. We are sad to see the fun pottery containers are now glass. I ask and the clerk says that it is true, the low fire ceramic pots are a thing of the past. We make our purchase helping to close the store.
We stroll homeward along Rue de Rivoli. We see many Art Deco buildings with the Samaritaine marque. Cousins I suppose to the main store that graced the Seine before it was closed in 2005. We pass Cafe Benjamin and take a picture for Benjamin. We reach Pont Louis Phillippe and cross to home where we unload and head downstairs for dinner.
Not once did I pick up a pencil today! Yay!
