2013-04 Paris

Well, shame on me; lethargy consumes the aged. But in an attempt to jumpstart the neurons, I am headed to a place that offers unbounded BLOG fodder. Currently languishing in the Bozeman, Montana airport, heading to the City of Light via Chicago and Brussels (don’t ask).

 

This BLOG began there circa 2008 and flourished (if only in the mind of the BLOGger) until my return to Washington in 2010.

 

And alas, through the miracle of flight, I am looking out the window of an apartment in the 20th Arrondisemnt of Paris. Already today I have seen rain and sun and wind and rain and sun and rain, and wait, here comes the sun.

Today I fell (again) to the lure of the marche ouvert (open market). I had been warned that the weekday markets were losing participation of both client and marchand, but today at 10:30 the several hundred yards stretching along Blvd. Richard Lenoir were chock-a-block with locals (and the occasional bewildered tourist) stocking up for le weekend.

Succumbing to the Costco affect, I bought (way too many) huge strawberries from Morocco, avocados from Haifa, a mélange of olives from an unspecified but certainly exotic place, three cheeses, a brie de Meaux (the best) a bleu d’auvergne, and a tomme from some mountain region. A tad under $25 US.

My first night extended a decades-long tradition of beer at the Pick Clops (I think he’s the guy with the one eye in the middle of his forehead) and pizza du Chef at the Jardin du Marais across the street. “Pizza on your first night in Paris?” some would ask, but it’s a tradition and I honor all food-borne customs.

 

News of the day concerns the EU debt crisis solution by picking the pockets of ordinary Cypriot citizens, a masterful stroke that avoids the messy requirement for politicians to act fiscally responsible.  

 

So enthralled was I by the mountains that ring Montana’s Paradise Valley 360 degrees, that I allowed a momentous date in U. S. history to pass unheralded. February 3 was the 100th anniversary of the ratification of the 16th Amendment to the U. S. Constitution, the act that affirmed Congress’ authority to levy an income tax.

 

The first tax maxed out at 7%, with the top bracket (the fair share crowd) kicking in $11.6 million (in 2013 dollars; all numbers quoted here are adjusted to current dollars)). The standard deduction (adjusted) was $93,000.

Total tax revenue (adjusted) was $16.6 billion or $171/per person in the country at that time. Today’s take is $2.7 trillion, or $8,510/person. This amounts to fifty times more per person comparing then to now. Are we 50 times better off? Perhaps, but how much progress derived from government and how much from the entrepreneural private sector?

Three decades ago when I lived and worked in Paris I was a babe who took restaurant meals with more knowledgeable colleagues to translate menus (although I did once end up with a blood sausage purported to be steak). And in perhaps 30+ subsequent trips, stay was limited to less than a week and required scrambling to consume favorite dishes – confit de canard, sole meureniere, couscous, entrecote at the Relais du Venice,etc. As this trip will last nearly a month (and who knows, perhaps forever!) I have the luxury of exploration, both restaurant-wise and at markets and small shops.

 

I eat better and cheaper in Paris than back home, but the six (or more) small meals I consume per day seem to weigh (literally) heavily upon me.

 

In past years running in Paris was assumed to be away from authority or les gens mechant (bad guys). But now there is a steady (if small) stream of joggers in the area, including a gaggle of firemen from the station down the street who run on the hilly cobblestone alley where I reside. I’ll have to haul out my sorry butt and join them (one of these days).

 

 

 

The Seine and the pont d'quelquechoses

bientot