Restaurants, Bistros (Bistrots), Brasseries, Cafes et al

I often have tried to figure out the difference beetween the variety of eating establishments and have read many definitions but have come to the conclusion that there is no clear cut distinction anymore.   A restaurant used to be open only for lunch & dinner and, outside of those hours, you were out of luck.  On this trip, we ran into several eating establishments that had the name restaurant on their awning or window but were open from morning to night & seemed more like my idea of a brasserie. The only difference between a brasserie and bistro seems to be size as most bistros are smaller & cozier than the sprawling brasseries, but basically they often offer the same types of food. Here are pictures of a few where we had meals, snacks or just a drink.

Pictures by Sharon

In the apartment-this gives a pretty good idea of the

space -dining area in upper left (with laptop), kitchen

straight ahead & living area; open door is to our

bedroom

The room with the toilet

Saint Severin & Peter

Gary & Suki outside a brasserie in the Invalides

Gary, Suki & Peter resting at the Arc de Triomphe

Lunch in the tuilleries

      

Suki on the stairs next to the elevator at the

apartment (yes, it is that small)

The Pantheon

More Gary Pictures

Sharon on the Champs Elysees

The Latin Quarter at night

Eiffel Tower at night

Peter & Eiffel Tower in daylight

Peter's dream

Colonne de Juillet in the

Place de la Bastille

Kids playing in Luxumbourg Parc

Pictures taken by Gary

Gelato from Amorino & I chose a cone (not a cup like

Peter) on the hottest day of the year

Rodin Museum gardens

The Thinker by Rodin

Farewell dinner for Gary & Sharon at

Cave a Vins on Rue de Colombe

Dinner at Le Parvis, right down the street

from our apartment

Greer & Paris

I was talking to Greer the other night and she emphasized how much she enjoyed the trip.  Described it as spectacular and said it far exceeded her expectations.  She knew she'd like it but was somewhat unprepared for how much she loved it.  She also said Anthony, who was pretty much forced to go kicking & screaming, felt the same.  I knew they'd both like it but am thrilled that they feel pretty much the same way I do.It's so much fun to share something you love with people you love and have them feel the same way.

Forgotten Days

I've been working on editing my posts as I discovered so many mistakes, many due to my not yet being used to the ipad, but also missing words, misspellings etc so, I thought I'd clean it up.  In doing that, I discovered a couple of missing days - July 4th, (a rather important one) and July 7th -the day Sharon & Gary left, so I'm filling in the holes.
July 4th -   I started at the boulangerie as usual and then we took the RER to the Pantheon.  When we were there before and went into the crypt, Peter stared to choke (dampness, mildew?) so we had to leave and I didn't get to see all of the tombs I wanted to plus Sharon & Gary had never been there.  We also wanted to see the church of St-Etienne, which is right next door, and has the steps from "Midnight in Paris".  We wandered all through the Pantheon (a spectacular building but not quite like the one in Rome, which is my favorite building of all time).  Then I went into the crypt to visit the tombs of Victor Hugo, Voltaire, Dumas, Rosseau & Emile Zola.  One more thing checked off my list.  Found a nice little Italian cafe right around the corner -Campannina - so we had lunch there.  I had a salad composed of lettuce, corn, tomato, tuna, hard boiled egg, cucumber & artichoke with a beer.  Peter had a Pizza Margharita (his favorite).  We then walked home via the grocery store & after resting took the RER to see the Eiffel Tower at night and ride the Bateau Parisiens.    Not thrilled with the boat as it was a covered boat (not conducive to picture taking), packed with people and too dark to take any good pictures.  Made a note to take Greer & Anthony on the boat that leaves from the Pont Neuf, even though we received free tickets with our museum passes for this one.  It was fun to see the Eiffle Tower up close at night and it does look beautiful!  Took the train back home and sat in the apartment and drank some wine.

July 7th - After seeing Sharon & Gary off, we loafed around the apartment and then went over to St-Germaine.  Went into St. Nicholas Chardonnet church, which was stunning and filled with gorgeous crystal chandeliers.  Stopped at Eric Kayser Patisserie for some pastries, a ham sandwich and a baguette and went back to the apartment to relax.  Then walked over to Shakespeare & Company, a famous bookstore, where the daughter "love child" of Allen Ginsberg & Gertrude Stein was doing a poetry reading.  Crossed to the right bank & had a kir (& people & traffic watched) at Bistrot Marguerite (at the Pont d'Arcole).  Got a salted butter caramel crepe on the way back home.  Went to bed at 10 pm.

Keeping Paris Alive

As the trip  continues to be more in the past, I've been thinking of all the ways I keep my memories of Paris alive in my everyday life.  Often it's planning my next trip and I will continue to update my restaurant and sights to see lists so I'll be ready when the opportunity arrives.  I read lots of blogs and websites that keep me in touch with life in France, entertain me and hopefully, teach me a few things along the way.  My favorite is French Word A Day by Kristen Espinasse and I've been reading it for many years.  She has a special talent for telling a story, is a marvelous photographer and has helped to increase my French vocabulary tremendously.  My other favorite is Parler Paris by Adrien Leeds, another I've been reading for many years and the site that I found the apartment we rented.  Another way is through books so I thought I'd list a few of my favorites.  First are the Aimee Leduc murder mysteries by Cara Black.  Aimee is a Private Detective in Paris who runs Leduc Detective Agency, located on the rue de Louvre.  Above is a picture I took on rue de Louvre - interesting coincidence?  Some of my other favorite books are:
Lunch in Paris by Elizabeth Bard
The Secret Life of the Seine by Mort Rosenblum
On Rue Tatin by Susan Hermann Loomis (all of her cookbooks are also great)

Tour de France

Place St Michel

Bell Tower of St Etienne-du-Mont

Outside St Eustache in Les Halles

Musee d'Orsay

Watched the finish of the Tour de France this morning so I've had my daily Paris fix.  It's fun to watch them ride and know exactly where they are and remember I was in maany of the same spots two weeks ago.  Worked on pictures all morning - enhancing, straightening and making notes as to where and when they were taken.  Next is to get Gary & Sharon's pictures and Anthonys which should total 1500 or so.  Will then have to weed through them and decide which I want as I didn't take a lot of pictures that any of them did so we wouldn't have too many duplicates.  These are a few more of mine.

Home and Thinking About Paris

Foie Gras

Veau ris (Sweetbreads)

Scallops

Veal Tournadoes

White Fish

Cheese Plate

Duck Breast with Foie Fras Sauce

Creme Brulee in chocolate crust

We've now been home for a week and I've been thinking a lot about the trip in the past few days.  It's always great to be home, but I always miss Paris when I'm not there.   I'd love to get up and go to the boulangerie for a palmier & croissant rather than my bowl of cheerios, be able to sit at an outdoor cafe at least once every day and stand on a bridge and watch the Seine flow by.  Right now I'm reading David Lebovitz's "The Sweet Life in Paris" so I'm still hanging on to a connection and laughing at many of his observations.  Last night, friends were asking about some of our meals and I finally told Peter that he had veal sweetbreads at Nicholas Flamel - he took it quite well and still admitted they were good.  During dinner that night, Greer had commented that she thought she could eat almost anything served to her except sweetbreads, at which point, I almost choked, knowing that's what Peter had for his first course.  These are the pictures of that meal.

The Eiffel Tower

The American Cathedral

This one got turned around again

Pictures

View from the right bank  

View from Pont au Double

Dragon at fountain in Place St-Michel

Interesting art work on building

Invalides

Home Again

It's now Tuesday and I think I'm getting back into my usual routine although I'm still waking up early in the morning.  The trip home was uneventful.  Called for a taxi that would hold 4 people and 4 bags and it pulled up to the curb as we were coming out of the building - less than 10 minutes.  Almost no traffic on the way to the airport and all flights were on time.  We got a wheelchair for Peter which makes it so much easier and moves you through security and customs quickly and easily with no standing and waiting.  Were home by 8:30 and Miles and Brisco were waiting for us along with a clean house.  Miles was fine - he had his appendix out the Wednesday after we left and his first day back to work was the day we got home.  We were very tired and the flight from Chicago seemed like forever.  The trip was great, everything I'd hoped for, but  it is always nice to be back at home!

Houses & Apartments

Typical Street

Apartments & Houses

Latin Quarter