Ephemerratic | Je suis libre! Paris, France

Home

Dispatches

Je suis libre! Paris, France

By Lauren Girardin

Mon, November 3, 2008

Behind the Eiffel Tower, Paris | Photo by Lauren Girardin

Claude Wainstain is a sneaky man. He not only captivated me and Todd with his passionate storytelling, he had his wife Jacqueline hold us captive with a homemade dinner followed by fresh walnuts, French cheeses, toasted fava beans, pudding, and Nespresso coffee. Even if Claude's stories had bored us, our full stomachs would have prevented us from getting up from our seats at his kitchen table in St. Mandé, on the edge of Paris.

During our feast, Claude broke out a copy of his book, Judéopostale, in which he has collected stories of serendipity, coincidence, red tape, spirituality, and religion. His stories are far more interesting than you'd expect considering that each one is based on a Jewish-themed postage stamp.

Claude's best story is personal, as all great stories are.

(Faithful email and RSS readers, please visit www.ephemerratic.com to read the rest of the dispatch. Full feeds appear impossible.)

Claude the storyteller, St. Mande, Paris | Photo by Lauren Girardin

The best story isn't about a stamp, however - it's about a letter. A single sheet of notepaper covered in handwriting that, even in French, I can see was written by someone more excited and happy than I've ever been in my life. As Claude translates the letter to English for us, his finger follows each line.

The letter begins boldly and joyously: "Jes su libre!!!"

It is the first words that Claude's father wrote after being released from Auschwitz. Sent to his fiancée, the letter is full of hope – hope that she's alive, that she's waiting for him, and that she's never stopped believing that he lived while so many others had been killed in the concentration camps. Since the fiancée becomes Claude's mother, the story has a happy ending.

Throughout the telling of his father's survival and his family's beginnings, Claude's wife Jacqueline sits with us at the kitchen table, wordlessly cracking fresh walnuts and smiling. She's heard Claude tell this story many times before - but this time, as with each time the story is retold, the audience has not.

Travel tips – Paris and St. Mandé, France

Where we ate:

For the most part, we ate at home with our hosts or picnicked. Food and booze prices in Paris restaurants are shockingly high.

Prune - A bar somewhere near the Canal St. Martin our friend Benjamin took us to. Nice and divy: YEH

We ate all this cheese | Photo by Lauren Girardin

Cafe St. Germain, south of the Louvre – We thought we'd wandered far enough away from the river to not get screwed, but this place charged 4 Euros for a cafe, and 8 Euros (that's 16 dollars) for a beer. Pure evil: NAH
La Buca - Benjamin and Jean-Andre took us out to this very authentic Italian restaurant. The portion sizes, especially of appetizers, were enormous: YEH
Le Blé Noir, Pigalle - We headed downhill from Montmarte to the sketchier Pigalle to find some affordable eats and accidentally wound up at this creperie. It was awesome and affordable, get their (boozy) cider too: YEH!
Cafe Bel Ville, Belville - It's not every place that serves a full order of deep fried potato wedges on top of their salads: MEH

What we saw:

Paris' bike share a.k.a. Velib - What a fantastic public transit system. You go up to the kiosk computer, use your credit card to pay for 1 day or more of shared bike time. As much as you want during that time, grab a bike from one of the many bike lots, and the first half hour is free. We can't wait until Mayor Newsom gets bike share going in San Francisco: YEH!!
Eiffel Tower - Paris is ridiculously beautiful. Of course: YEH
Vietnam Embassy for our Vietnam visas - If you can get your Vietnam visa elsewhere, do. They're very expensive in Paris, and takes a full week: MEH
Paris Metro - It's time for the folks running the otherwise wonderful Paris metro to update their 10 ticket deal. You get 10 separate little tickets when you buy the pack and keeping track of which one you've used is a hassle: YEH
Musée d'Orsay - The only thing that rivals this art collection is the grand old train terminal it's housed in: YEH!
Montemarte and Sacré Coeur - A nice enough neighborhood to wander, but it won't blow your mind: YEH
Galignani Bookstore - English language books are expensive in Paris, but so is everything. Get your books here: YEH
Jardin des Tuileries and Place du Carrousel - If, like us, you don't have the stamina for the Louvre, even on a gray day, these nearby spots are nice places to chill out: YEH