From Ann Arbor (in reality) to Paris (in memory)

Grocery Shopping

The Guinness mascot at our Kroger store.

A Cheerful Fence

 

More Olympics

We watched Biathlon because an acquaintance of Tom, Evelyn, Miriam, and Alice was competing.
I managed to get a photo of my TV at the moment of her arrival at the finish line (she was thirteenth).
We also continue to watch figure skating and a few other sports.

Unfinished History Book

The Bookseller of Florence is interesting, but I don’t feel compelled to finish it.

“The Bookseller of Florence by Ross King tells the story of Vespasiano da Bisticci, a major Renaissance bookseller who created magnificent, hand-copied manuscripts for Europe's elite before the printing press disrupted his business.” (Goodreads)

Paris Today and in the Past

Headline in the Times of London this week: the famous Poilâne bakery in Paris is in financial trouble. Baking continues — at least for now. (source) What a shock! I have always thought that Paris food institutions were immortal.

Paris, 1976. Poilâne bakery on Boulevard de Grenelle, Paris. (My photo)

The Poilâne bakery was across the street from the apartment building where we lived in 1976. The elevated Metro line, which you can see through the bakery window in the photo, ran down the middle of the street. The tracks (with all their noise) went right in front of our apartment windows. 

The bakery had wood-fired ovens in the basement, and we could see the wood-delivery trucks each morning. We loved the bread that we could buy there. At first, we didn’t even know that this bakery was famous, we knew only that the bread and pastries were extraordinary. A Parisian friend explained how lucky we were to live near this culinary landmark.

Poilâne bakery is now more famous than ever. All baking is done at a central location in the suburbs where rent is much lower. Over the years, more shops have opened: there are five in Paris and one in London. This famous bread is also sold in many other food stores and is exported to the US and elsewhere.

Paris, 2018: Bread and Pastry at Poilâne on Rue du Cherche-Midi. (My photo)

The bakery today, still selling bread at the location that first opened in 1932. (From the Poilâne website)

A recipe book that we bought years ago.

From the Times Article

Blog post and original photos © 1976, 2018, 2026 mae sander

Other photos as credited.