Healthy Plumbing…From Paris to New York, Via New Orleans

With the exception of one dinner out and a manicure appointment that couldn’t be changed, I’ve been resting in bed in order to overcome whatever it is I have in time for Tuesday’s flight to New York. One night I dreamt about the waterbed I used to sleep in, remembering how much more comfortable it was than any other mattress — it was like sleeping in a womb — warm, soft and fully supportive. Why did they go out of fashion, I wondered?

Not having left the apartment (barely) means I totally missed this year’s “Journées Européennes du Patrimoine,” but hope that many of you took the opportunity to see some of France’s finest sights. The numbers of sights open to the public were reduced this year “thanks” to the issue of security and France having extended its national state of emergency until January 26, 2017.

The press cited the Hôtel de Toulouse and the Banque de France among the “coups de coeur” (heartstruck) sights — a “jewel” was the Hôtel de Toulouse and its Galerie Dorée. Built by Mansart in 1640, the Hotel de La Vrillère was bought in the early 18th-century by the Count of Toulouse, who had it redecorated in the Regency style by architect Robert de Cotte. The centerpiece is the Galerie Dorée, adorned by paintings of great masters, now which reside in the Louvre.

Lying in bed means there has been a lot of TV watching going on, and of course the news. News of Saturday’s New York City blast was Sunday morning’s breakfast. The blast took place a stone’s throw from where my daughter used to live on 24th between 6th and 7th Avenues and a second device found at 27th and 7th Avenue at FIT, where we both attended college! Fortunately no one died and as of now, there is still speculation about it being an act of terrorism or not. We’re all so skittish now that every incident of any nature almost anywhere in the world is tagged as terrorism, even if it’s just a “lone wolf” as perpetrator and not the Islamic State Organization.

Will it stop me from going to New York? Of course not. Neither will this bug I have. The toilet fiasco is well over now, thank goodness, but the dust left behind has been insufferable. That’s the price one pays for having good plumbing.

One of our loyal readers, Ray Ruiz, a native New Orleanian and proprietor of “La Dauphine” B&B (in New Orleans on Dauphine Street of course), is one of those people who is full of good information. Almost daily, Ray sends me some tidbit related to France that I can sink my teeth into and very often share with you. Ray’s “plumbing” wasn’t doing so well, either, as it turns out.

While Ray was being ushered into Touro Infirmary (a New Orleans hospital founded in 1852 by an endowment from Judah Touro) for emergency bypass surgery last Friday, I was reading his latest email. In it was a map of Paris as drawn by Topito from an article titled “Top 15 des cartes de villes françaises version honnête, tout de suite c’est plus clair” (Top 15 maps of French towns — the honest version, immediate and clear)

Ray thought I’d get a kick out of the map and thought you would, too. The idea is that should you spend a weekend in any one of these cities, you might find these little maps useful so that you don’t find yourself lost in the middle of the night without knowing where to get a good drink. (See topito.com/top-cartes-honnetes-grandes-villes-france)

A special get well and thank you message goes to Ray…who is whiling away his time at Touro post surgery still very much online on Facebook!

And thanks to all of you sent get-well messages to me. Your thoughtfulness is overwhelming.

A la prochaine…

Adrian Leeds
Adrian Leeds Group

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