Ascension Thursday

Started out at the Picasso Museum, which has been closed and only recently reopened.  Very interesting as I never realized that Picasso worked in so many different mediums.  I've not been a big fan but I did like several of his sculptures and the museum has been beautifully set up.  Most other museums are closed today due to the holiday so we didn't have a lot of choices.  Made a reservation for lunch at Ambassad d'Auvergne so we walked there.  Very cute restaurant with lots of dark wood.  We both had the green lentil and bacon salad which was delicious and I had the veal scallopine and aligot and Leas had the sausage and aligot.  Aligot is a type of mashed potato which is whipped with cheese until it drips in sheets from the whip.  It was good but I think I expected more as I could hardly taste the cheese and the consistency wasn't as smooth as I expected.  Leas had a delicious chocolate mousse for dessert while I had the pots de creme - three small bowls of pudding in the flavors of auvergne (verbena), orange flower water and Aveze.  Good but a little too perfumy for me.  Then we walked over to BHV , one of the department stores, on rue de Rivoli.  Bought a few things we were looking for and then hit some miscellaneous shops on our way home.  Picked up some ham and a baguette for dinner and eclairs for dessert.  Got caught and drenched in a downpour so we stopped in a doorway until it let up and then went to the nearest bistro for an Irish coffee.

Pictures from Giverny

Giverny

Today was forecast to be a nice sunny day so we decided it would be the best day to make the trip to Giverny, Monet's home.  I was there in the fall of 1998 and, although enjoyable, it didn't live up to my expectations.  I'm really looking forward to seeing the spring flowers as opposed to the fall flowers I saw back then.  We took the Metro to Gare St Lazare and then the train to Vernon where there were three busses waiting for us to take us the rest of the way.  It seems like everyone on the train was going where we were headed and the three busses barely held everyone - we had several people standing in the aisle and sitting on the steps.  After getting off the bus, we had a 10-15 minute walk and, by the time we arrived, there was a long line so we decided to getllunch first and then return to the house.  We went across the road to Nympheas and sat out in their garden/patio which was full of flowers and very pretty.  I had poached eggs and wild mushrooms in a wine sauce and Leas had quiche with ham (the ham being several huge slices along side the quiche).  After lunch, we walked back to Giverny and were amazed by the masses of flowers, especially the iris, lilac and wisteria.  Unfortunately, the peonies were not quite blooming and the tulips were almost done.  The lily pond was beautiful with the wisteria hanging off the trellises.  The tour of the house was much better than I remembered and you can now take pictures inside the house.  After touring, we walked around the town, visited some interesting shops and then caught the train back to Paris.  We went to dinner at Bonnes Soeurs where we both had risotto with gambas and red fruit crumble for dessert.  A really beautiful day in a beautiful place.

Just to let any of my readers know that I haven't deserted you but was so busy the last week in Paris that I had to make a choice between sleeping or blogging and sleep won out.  I returned home just in time for the Garden Grove Strawberry Festival, a four day event run by volunteers (one of whom is me) to raise money for the community, so I again had the choice to sleep or blog and sleep will always win. At one point I thought I made a bad decision to plan my trip at this time, but, in actuality, coming back into a really busy schedule didn't allow me to have any jet lag. Now that the Festival has ended, I promise to finish up the trip with the remaining days and lots of pictures.  Sorry about the delay but now I get to relive the trip by writing about it.

Best Meal

Tuesday, May 12.  We have a lunch reservation at L'Ami Jean so we planned our touring in that area and started with the Invalides which holds the tomb of Napoleon Bonaparte.  Beautiful golden dome can be seen from many spots.  We then walked down rue Cler, a pedestrian shopping street. Along the way, we discovered the church of Saint Pierre du Gros Caillou, half of it was very old and the other half modern. Then we headed to the restaurant, which is very cute and small- only about 30 seats.  We had the tasting menu which consisted of six courses.  Started with a kir, of course.  First was a bouillon with crab, peas, scallions and tiny croutons that managed to stay crunchy.  Next was a seven hour beef with carrots and a cold sauce - it puts pot roast to shame with it's flavor and tenderness. Then veal with radish, mushroom and scallions and a broth that was onion soupish. The fifth course was mackerel with leeks that tha chef torched just before serving. The main course was duck breast with peas and scallions and the best whipped potatoes I've ever tasted.  They were so smooth and buttery it's hard to describe but I could eat them every day and be very, very happy.  Dessert was rice pudding and, again, it's almost indescribable because it was like no rice pudding I've ever had.  It was somewhat smooth without lots of grains of rice and was serves with salted caramel and a nougat that you could add yourself.  We also had a small creme caramel with passion fruit and chocolate, but the rice pudding was the star.  Coffee was served with chocolate coated almonds.  A heavenly lunch and definitely was of the best meals I've ever had in Paris, or any where else.  After lunch, we headed for the Rodin Museum, one of my favorites because it's mainly outdoors and has beautiful gardens. We next went to Bon Marche food store, which Leas described as a gourmet food store on steroids.  It's huge and has almost anything you could want.  Next door to Bon Marche is the Church of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal - it's small in relation to other churches but has a beautiful altar.  The church was full of people praying which was amazing because this was the biggest crowd we've seen anywhere so far.  We walked home and stopped on the way for bread and lemon tarts at Eric Kayser and caramels at Jacque Genin.  After our huge lunch, we decided to skip dinner and just have a lemon tart.

Canal Saint Martin

Took the Metro to a boulongerie, Pain et des Idees, which is recommended by everyone.  Got the chocolate and pistachio escargot and pain des amis, both of which were very, very good.  Walked around the area of the Canal and had a lunch of Japanese salads at Ooka- they were interesting and quite good, but not something I'd go out of my way to eat. Went to the Bassin de la Villette to get the boat for a 2 hour ride on the canal.  As the sun was out and it got fairly warm, the canal was lined with people eating lunch or just enjoying the weather.  We sat on the top deck of the boat to get the best views despite the sun.  The guide had lots of interesting information and was really delightful.  During the trip, you go through eight locks ( two sets of doubles) each lowering you  three meters as there is a twenty for meter difference from the start to the end. The boat is nice and has a bar with snacks and drinks so we shared an artisinal beer,Folie Douce, very cinammony.  The last eighteen minutes of the trip are underground and the temperature change was amazing.  The trip ends at the marina Port de l'Arsenal, which is at the Bastille and right around the corner from the apartment.  The marina is long and narrow and filled with houseboats three deep on either side.  One of the conditions of their rental is that they must leave for two weeks during the summer to allow room for visiting boats.  The waiting list requires a twenty year wait.  Stopped and had a kir at Le Grand Bleu Paris, an outdoor cafe overlooking the marina.  Home for a little while then to Au Pied du Fouet, a large brasserie around the corner, for dinner.  We both had duck confit and fries.  Good.  Fun day and really enjoyed the canal.

Observations:

On Saturday and Sunday there are lots of fathers out with their children, shopping, eating, in the parks or just walking.

Haven't figured out why Parisians are always rushing in the Metro. They act like they are going to miss the last train, which is pretty impossible as a train comes every 3 or 4 minutes.

Mother's Day, Sunday, May 10

Took the Metro to Bois de Boulogne, a huge park on the western edge of the city (2100 acres) and walked through the Square des Poetes.  Then went to the Marmottan Museum, a museum devoted to Impressionism and containing the world's biggest collection of works by Monet.  The building was originally a hunting lodge and then a townhouse and finally the museum in 1934.  The dining room is still complete with furniture and table settings and is really beautiful.  We bought a double entrance ticket while there so our visit to Giverny (Monet's home outside Paris) is included.  Affter the museum, we crossed the Bir Hakeim bridge which has the best view of the Eiffel Tower - pretty spectacular no matter how many times you see it.  After crossing, walked to the Tower for a close up.  I'm always amazed by the size of the structure and remember my initial disappointment (1968) when I first saw it as I thought the brown color was ugly and unbefitting something so huge.  Sttopped for a light lunch at La Rotonde de la Muette and had an omelet and Leas had a club sandwich, made with tomatoe, mixed lettuce, mustard and a little piece of bacon on top of the bread.  We both had a Leffe beer.  Walked down the Chap de Mars to the Ecole Militare and caught the Metro home.  Stopped and got a couple of individual pizzas from the boulangerie, fruit from the green grocer and a bottle of wine from Nicholas, our favorite wine shop so we can stay in tonight and take it easy.

So far, the weather has been fine for walking around; overcast with little burst of sunshine , a little wind at times with temps in the 60s.  Sometimes the sky is very gray but then it brightens, a little blue shows through and big white puffy clouds appear and then it's gray again.  It changes very rapidly and yes, the blue is bluer in France.

Saturday, May 9

We walked over to Marche d'Aligre, the largest covered market still in the city, in the morning to admire the beautiful fruits,vegetables, fish, meat and flowers.  It continues outdoors for several blocks with more of the same plus hard goods and a flea market.  Stopped for a coffee creme on the way back toward home and walked around the Marais through several shops. We had cheese, bread and grapes for lunch at the apartment and actually spent some time there resting.  Wee suddenly realized it was 8 o'clock and time to get some dinner so we went to a little restaurant on the Place des Vosges, right around the corner, La Place Royal.  We shared 6 escargot and each had the carpaccio, which was served with olive oil and pesto.  Drank a pinot noir.  Very nice spot and inexpensive.  Back to the apartment and to bed.

Fontainbleu, a continuation of Friday, May 8

It was then back on the bus for a short trip to Fontainbleu, the hunting lodge of the kings, started in 1528.  A gorgeous chateau and forest which covers 61,750 acres.  The table and chairs where Napoleon signed his abdication are here, unchanged from that day.  Unfortunately, pictures didn't turn out as no flash is allowed.  We had some time to kill before the bus left so we wandered around the town and had a kir at Le Mansart, a large cafe, bar.  Upon our return to Paris about 6:30 we caught a metro to St Paul station and went to Chez Julien to make a dinner reservation.  We had to wait until 7:30 so we walked across the street to Le Louis Philippe for a kir.  Sat next to a very youthful Asian couple (speaking unaccented English) in their bridal attire who were traveling throughout the city with a photographer having their honeymoon pictures taken.  For dinner, Leas had asperagus as a started while I had gambas (giant shrimp) that were fried like tempura.  We both had sole meuniere and shared a lemon tart for dessert. Drank a red sancerre and dinner was very good.  Walked home from there- very long day of about 14 hours from when we left to when we returned.

Chateau De Vaux le Vicomte and Fontainbleu

Up early today to catch a bus to Chateau De Vaux le Vicomte, built by Nicolas Fouquet, the finance minister for Louis XIV.  He used Louis Le Vau as his architect, Andre Le Notre for landscaping and Charles Le Brun, the painter, for decor to create the most opulent residence of the times and, what was to become, the precursor to Versailles.  It is in very good shape and much of it's elegance still remains today.  The bus takes about an hour to get there and we found it interesting to think of Louis traveling there from Paris by coach and how long that would have taken.  Louis was so envious of the chateau that he trumped up charges against Fouquet, had him imprisoned for life and took the chateau as his own.  They have a nice little buffet style restaurant so we had lunch there - shared a Parisian salad (lettuce, ham, tomatoes and hard boiled egg).  They, of course, serve wine and beer.

May 6th and 7th

Wednesday we took the Metro to Alma Marceau and walked from there to the Champs Elysees and up to the Arc de Triomphe and over to Parc Monceau, one of my favorites as it's not too big but very green with roman columns.  When we entered the park it was over cast and there were very few people around but the sun came out and every bench filled very quickly.  Walked from there down to the Petit Palais and Grand Palais and to the Place de la Concorde where we caught a Metro home to change for our dinner at Verjus,  We made the reservation 6 weeks ago as it's a 25 seat restaurant that is very avant guard.  Took the metro back there for our dinner at 7 and we were, of course, early so we wandered a bit.  They only serve a  7 course, tapas style menu and we added the wine pairings, which is optional.  The restaurant is very pretty and the service is outstanding and the food is very inventive, unusual  and interesting.  You start with champagne and 5 starters and then the 6 main course dishes, the best of which was the dessert.  I  think we both expected more as the food was good, not great, not very pretty and very expensive.  Definately an experience that will be remembered.  Back home on the metro.

Thursday we took the metro to Hotel de Ville and walked over the Pont de Arcole to Notre Dame and, as the line to get in was almost nonexistant, we decided to go in and walk through.  We walked up rue Saint Jacques and stopped for lunch behind the Pantheon at a little bistrot. We proceeded to Jardin du Luxembourg to see the Medici Fountain, very beautiful and serene.  Walked around the pond but there were no children sailing boats so we wandered through and headed to Saint Sulpice followed by Saint Germain des Pres.  This was a day that really ate up my candle budget as I always light a candle in each church (cost is anywhere from 1 to 5 euros). Saint Sulpice was begun in 1646 and it's facade is Doric, Ionic and Corinthian.  Saint Germain des Pres is the oldest church in Paris, built in 990 AD. The clocktower and choir are 12th C.  We then crossed the Seine on the Pont des Arts which is being totally destroyed by the "love locks". The weight is causing sections to collapse and the view is blocked.  They have attached boards over the locks so no more can be added until the city cuts them off, which I think they do regularly.   Then we went to Saint Germain L'Auxerrois built at the end of the 7th C.  Wee stopped in a small museum and bought our museum passes for next week, bought some macarons at Lauderee and headed home but stopped for a kir and to people watch at a bistrot at the Pont au Change (one of Peters favorite spots to have a drink and soak up the atmosphere).  For dinner we decided to try the restaurant right around the corner (all of a 2 minute walk) on Impasee Guemnee as we walk by it every time we go to or leave the apartment.  They were very nice and the restaurant is cute - La Gorille Blanc.  We both had the salmon (raw) and I had a chicken dish using the nuggets from the lower back on either side of the spine, served with whipped sweet potatoes and Leas had a lamb steak with a spinach artichoke souffle.  Dessert was creme brulee for me and chocolate mousse for Leas.  A delicious meal and the end of a busy and great day.

Pickled potatoes and veal bacon at Verjus

Medici fountain at Luxembourg Gardens

Lenotre

For Clara

Clara, as aol has decided to no longer accept my password and, I have no email access, I'm posting the promised picture of our building here for you.

May 5th and Miscellaneous

I know I'm way behind here, but we've been going constantly and coming home very tired and going quickly to bed.  Then we get up pretty leisurely and decide where we're going after checking the weather  as it's been quite a wild weather week.  Once we leave we've been staying out for 7 to 14 hours so there's been no extra time.  The weather has been chilly, rainy, windy, sunny and pretty warm all in a day and it's been that way until today (Sat).  On Monday, the 5th, we picked up Metro tickets at Bastille station which is 5 minutes from the apartment and then walked over to the Promenade Plantee, a viaduct that was once railroad tracks that are now a garden above the city that's about 5 miles long.  A great green space above the city with some nice views.  The spaces below are now shops and atiliers for artists.  We wandered a little and then went for another late lunch at Petit Bofinger which is almost right around the corner from us.  I had steak tartare and really perfect french fries, crispy on the outside and potatoey inside, and Leas had gazpacho with an adorable little grilled cheese sandwich floating in it and salmon with an eggplant and pepper side dish.   I had fruit (strawberry) soup for dessert.  The restaurant is beautiful, great service and very good food.  I highly recommend it. We went back to the apartment and put a load of laundry in as the machines both wash and dry and they take half a day; the shortest dry cycle is 2 hours and that doesn't even start to get things dry.  We walked over to Ste Chapelle for the Vivaldi Four Seasons concert.  Queued up to get in to have our bags checked, then queued up to get into Ste Chapelle, then queued up to get our tickets checked.   The chapel is so beautiful (haven't been in it since 1998) with the huge stained glass windows and small space that it's hard to believe you can go to a concert there.  The acoustics were fantastic - hard to believe 5 violins, 2 cellos, 2 bass and 1 harpsicord can sound like they did.  So glad we got to have the experience.  After the concert, which started at 8:30, we walked back to the apartment, stopping on the way for a crepe.  Great day.

Dinner on May 7 at Verjus

Jardin of New France

La Tour Eiffel

Arc de Triomphe

Views from the Promenade Plantee, May 4th

Paris architecture

Monday the 4th of May

Got a slow and lazy start today {this is a vacation after all) and our calves are definitely feeling the amount of walking we've been doing.  We started out heading west through the Marias with a plan to end up at the Passages Vivien, Panoramas, Geoffrey and Verdeau and came upon the Hotel Sully Gardens open and the National Archives, both of which are amazingly green (but then, I'm from drought stricken Southern California so that may be relative).  All of a sudden we were at Centre Georges-Pompidou, one of the most atrocious looking buildings ever constructed and I do understand the French agree.  Found our way from there to Saint Merri church, which has the oldest bell in Paris.  Wee were then headed toward Saint Eustache but took a few wrong turns and ended up at Rue Rivoli and the Tour Saint Jacques so we reorganized and found our way to Les Halles and my favorite church, Saint Eustache, which was the precursor to Notre Dame.   As usual someone was playing the organ so entertainment was provided.  At this point, we were dying of thirst, so we found a cafe in the Palais Royal gardens and I had a carrot,lemon juice and Leas a cafe creme.  We have no idea how we got there from where we were but, along the way, we saw the Banque de France and  Bibliotheque National (both huge buildings).  After several consultations with the maps, we found the passages and strolled through them.  We decided to have our late lunch, early dinner there as our theater tickets were for 8 pm and we were fairly close to our final destination.  We decided to go with Legrand Filles & Fils, a wine bar in Passage Vivienne.  Wee each got a charcuterie plate and shared.  Mine was ham with two kinds plus a pate and cornichons.  Leas had the salami plus two pates, roasted onions in balsamic vinegar and some comte cheese. The bread was very good and the butter was the best I've had - very creamy with chunks of salt.  Leeas had a Sancerre and then a Bordeaux and I had the Bordeaux and a Cotes Roti - they were all excellant but I'm sure that wine bar doesn't serve anything  but good.  There was a girl  at the table next to us who was doing some serious tasting.  She had four different whites, alternately trying them and taking notes along with discussing them with server.  She took pictures of all the bottles with the glasses.  We rechecked our maps and set out for the Theatre des Nouveautes to see "How to Become A Parisian in One Hour", a one-man comedy show that has gotten great reviews.  The show was in the Theatre des Nouveautes on Blvd  Poissonniere and, although it's a main Blvd, the name changes every block or two so we did have a little difficulty and went in circles more than once.  The theater is beautiful, very old and the show was really funny.  It's a French comedien who does the show in English and makes fun of everybody.  The audience was half international and half French and everybody really enjoyed it.  We planned to take the Metro home, but the station there didn't have a ticket machine (and we hadn't bought ours yet) so we got a taxi back to the Place des Vosges and walked from there.  Did a lot of walking today.