Canal St. Martin, the Folies Bergere, and Eugene Delacroix

Bonjour to my Family and Friends:
After our usual start at LaFavorite, we went to the Metro to catch a train which would take us to our first destination of the day in Arrondissement 10. We got off the train, and walked across the very large Place de la Republique where we saw the most breathtaking monument called Statue de la Republique. At the top of the monument is a dark bronze statue of Marianne, who is a national emblem of France. You actually see Marianne displayed in many places of France, and I did not know she was an actual emblem of the country, until today! No one seems to know exactly who "Marianne" was. She wears a cap which represents liberty, and holds an olive branch high in her right hand which symbolizes peace, a tablet in her left hand which represents Human Rights, and she carries a sword attached to her belt. She is a beautiful emblem.
After standing and admiring Marianne for awhile, we walked down Rue Du Faubourg Du Temple towards Canal Saint-Martin. Someone told about us about this area of Paris a few years ago and said that it was a popular destination for Parisians to go for walks. We thought it sounded like a nice idea, and usually where there is water, there is some tranquility. As well, there are little shops and cafes.
While we stood on a bridge over the canal, we saw a big tourist boat called Canauxrama approaching. We could hear old Parisian music playing in the background, and a loud squeaky voice explaining the wonders of the canal. We could see cranky looking tourists sitting in the chilly air, on the half empty boat with their arms crossed, waiting to go through the locks of the canal. I can't say I envied them, having paid 16 euros per person, and being trapped on the boat for 2.5 hours. I should say the canal had quite a musty odour from where I was standing up on the bridge.
Ron was busy talking about how great Canal Saint Richard was while he was videotaping. I reminded him the correct name was Canal Saint-Martin, (which you'd think he'd know, since he wanted to come here).
As we continued walking along the canal, we passed a school where we saw a delightful but very curious sight. At least sixty pairs of colourful running shoes dangled from the branches of the trees in front of the school. They looked like Christmas bulbs, except they were shoes!
We took some time to stop at a little cafe called Cafe La Chaland. There were no Chausson pommes pastries (apple) available, however if we wanted some, we were welcome to go down the street to the Boulanger to buy some and bring them back - which is exactly what Ron did. I waited for him at the little red table with the red and white checkered stools. While we sat there, we wondered if Paris had such things as gyms or health clubs. Ron noticed that you never see advertising for "gluten-free" anything. Another thing we wondered as we sat there eating our Chausson pommes, with flakes of pastry hanging off our chins, was "Do Parisians have anything like skim milk?" I made it my mission to find out tomorrow.
There is never a time you sit at a table at an outdoor cafe, that you don't see at least one unusual thing. Today, it was a lady who drove by with a bright orange pile-on stuck under her car. A guy on a motorbike passed her and pointed down at her car, as he drove by. She kept right on going.
After this incident, we left the cafe and we decided we'd had enough of Canal Saint-Martin (or Canal Saint Richard, if you are Ron) and we carried on to our next destination, which happened to be in Arrondissement 9.
I'm happy to report that I finally made it to Rue 32 Richer to see the famed Folies Bergere Cabaret Dance Hall which opened in 1869. Actually Josephine Baker performed here in her famed "banana skirt". The career of Maurice Chevalier was launched here also. The reason I wanted to see this Dance Hall was because this is where Eduard Manet painted "A Bar At The Folies-Bergere", which is one of my all time favourite pieces. Today, this painting hangs in the Courtauld Gallery in London, and a few years ago, we stood in the Courtauld Gallery gazing at this breathtaking masterpiece. I was able to step inside this dance hall for a few moments, and although I couldn't see the counter that Eduard Manet used in his painting, I was happy to at least have stepped inside the doors.
When we left the Folies-Bergere, we noticed there were numerous shops and restaurants with the Star of David on many windows, and we found out that there is a large Jewish community here. We saw a restaurant called Chez David on Rue De Montyon specializing in Middle eastern food. We decided it looked interesting and as "David" is the name of one of our sons, it made it all that much easier. The waiter helped us with the menu. First he brought the house "salad" to our table which consisted of several small dishes of olives, eggplant, tahini, harissa, tomatoes, radishes, cabbage salad, and bread. It was all amazing. While we were having lunch, we watched a guy go around to each table, asking if anyone wanted to buy something gray he had in a plastic bag in his hand. We said "No thanks". Then he approached the chef at the counter and tried to coax him but the chef shook his head and came out to set tables. Apparently the gray stuff was a type of fish, we found out later. This is an interesting thing in some areas of Paris, that an individual can just walk in off the streets, go around from table to table to try to sell something to the customers.
The whole time we were there, a Parisian soap opera played on the television in the room. I could tell it was a Soap, because there was a lady in a hospital gown in a bed with oxygen tubing in her nose. Another lady was crying, and a nurse fell down dead in her uniform. It all took place in the same room. It looked like the nurse had been shot. Soaps are the same everywhere.
We left Chez David, and Ron walked by a barber shop called Chez Alain Coiffeur. He decided he wanted to get his hair cut, so he asked the barber who spoke not a word of English, if he could get a hair cut. The barber motioned for Ron to sit down. He used only scissors. I was a bit concerned about how things might turn out, and warned Ron it could look like a Bar Mitzvah haircut, but he said he didn't mind, and went ahead with it anyway. Actually the barber gave quite a nice haircut for 10 euro.
So we left this area on the train, and stopped off at Musee Eugene Delacroix on Rue De Furstenberg in Arrondissement 6. Here we saw what was the working studio, garden and home of Eugene Delacroix, a French-Romantic artist, who had a profound effect on the French Impressionist painters, because he was more focused on colour and movement, rather than realism.
When we left the gallery, we got back on the train. As we were walking towards the apartment, we noticed the doors to the cathedral Eglise Saint Paul - Saint Louis on Rue Saint Antoine were open, and since we like to visit the local cathedrals everywhere we go, we went in to have a look.
Finally we made it back to our apartment for a break and as we sat resting our legs, we noticed the sun started shining brilliantly, so we went back out for a walk around the Marais area, which is so interesting with all the cafes and shops. There is a shop with perfume which is made here in the Marais. We went in and looked around, as I am a perfume lover. A large girl sat behind the counter texting away, and barely looked up when we came in. I was hoping to get some interesting facts about this perfume, but none were forthcoming. We left and went into another shop that I had seen before - one that displays unique, black jewellery. On closer examination of this jewellery, I saw that most of the black beads were tiny ugly faces on black skulls. I felt it would be great for someome who might be a magician. We left there and continued on and there were lots of people out tonight, walking or sitting in cafes, enjoying the sun.
We went past the La Cuisine on Quai De l'Hotel de Ville where tomorrow at 10:00 am,I will be taking a class to learn to make baguettes. In the email reminder that I received today, I was politely reminded "not to worry if you would like to arrive 5 minutes early..."