Tackling the To-Do, Paris

After shaming The Husband last night for avoiding my silent movie theater plans, today I took off on my own. I have a map of things to see and do that most people coming to Paris would find wasteful. So I let him off the hook this morning and we agreed to meet back up around 4pm.

I found the Bourdelle museum in the 15th arrondissement to be almost as charming as the Rodin Museum. https://www.bourdelle.paris.fr/

I did get to that silent movie theater https://www.fondation-jeromeseydoux-pathe.com/. Theater buffs and photographers would love this place. I watched half of a Turkish silent film with French translation at the bottom and an amazing piano player accompaniment. Would the siren turn the pigs back into men? I will never know because I had to be back at the apartment so I left halfway through.

We went to Bouillon Chartier for dinner. We got out of there for 38 euro and that included a 15 euro bottle of wine that was too much for us to drink alone. They cram you into these chairs with strangers elbows touching you left and right so in English I offered some of our wine to our Russian neighbors on the right who looked at me scornfully as though I’d broken a rule of etiquette. But as soon as He got up to go to the restroom She said she’d take that glass now. Later I offered it in French to the French couple to our left explaining it was too much for us. The elderly man looked at not the front of the label but the back and said, “but it’s not even a liter! I have a friend that can drink a whole liter by himself!” He happily took the rest of our wine and before we could pay our bill had ordered himself another bottle. “Friend” indeed.

It was time to use the Shame card The Husband had been dealt the day before so I drug him to Pigalle to find the bar that hosted a live Elvis impersonator. This had been on my map for years and I couldn’t go by myself because Pigalle at night can be shifty. Normally The Husband would’ve said no but I had the card.

On our way we saw a line snaking around the corner near an x rated movie theater. Why are there so many nice young couples in line? I demanded, only to find they were in the McDonald’s line. I’m not sure which was more disappointing.

When we found the Elvis bar it was dead. Tiny. Smokey. I asked the bar tender if there used to be a show there? Elvis? He smirked and said, “à l’époque”—back in the day. Another man passed by me and did an Elvis “thrust” while laughing. This turned out to be a terrible use of The Husband’s Shame card. But there will be others.