Pere Lachaise

We started off this morning by taking the Metro to chatelet and then walking across the river to tour the Conciergerie.  It was originally the site of the royal residence of Clovis, the first French king, in the 6th C and then, in the 14th C, it became the seat of Parliament.  During the Revolution it became a prison, Marie Antoinette was held here until her beheading, and it was listed as a historical monument in 1914.  In 2011, it was covered with scaffolding as they were cleaning the outside so it looks really nice now.  I last toured it in 1998 and it seems to have changed, There didn't seem to be as much to see, but my memory isn't always the best.  We went back across the river and had a cafe creme while waiting for the bus which would take us to meet Babeth (the relationship is way too difficult to explain here but she and her son visited the US many years ago and Leas met her at that time).  She had been made aware of our trip to Paris and insisted we come to lunch at her flat before our visit to Pere Lachaise.  I had never taken a bus in Paris before so we were both a little nervous about the experience but we needn't have been as it's as easy as the Metro (with no stairs to climb up or down).  Babeth was at the bus stop with a sign welcoming us and we walked about a block to her flat.  She served us a fish loaf and ratatouille with a nice Sauvignon Blanc and cheese cake for dessert.  It was all delicious and so nice of her to do for us.  We were joined by her friend Sylvaine for dessert and he became our cemetary tour guide.  He was fantastic as he's lived in the area all his life and has spent numerous hours in the cemetary learning where all the important graves are located.  We got a great history lesson during the tour as he was able to explain the importance of all the people whose graves he was taking us to.  He speaks very little English so Babeth was our translator.  We spent about three hours walking around and saw the tombstones of Heloise and Abelard, Balzac, Sarah Bernhardt, Edith Piaf, Chopin, Molier, Jim Morrison and Gertrude Stein among many others.  We also saw the memorials to the victims of the Nazi death camps, each camp has it's own memorial and they are very stark and graphic.  After saying goodbye to Babeth and Sylvaine, we boarded the bus back home to get ready for our dinner at Auberge Nicholas Flamel, one of my favorite restaurants located in the oldest house in Paris.  We got a taxi at the stand a block from us as we dressed up a little for this dinner.  We had the chef' 5 course tasting menu with wine and it was delicious, even though the chef, Alan Geaam, wasn't on site.  He's opened a new restaurant on the left bank behind Saint Sulpice church - have to get to that one next time.  Dinner started with an amuse bouche (make the mouth happy) of foie gras, chestnut soup with chantilly, a mousse of cheese and basil and a haddock and potato croquette.  Next course was foie gras, something jellied and crayfish with toast and a beet square served with a white early harvest from the base of the Pyranees that tasted like a riesling.  This was followed by smoked salmon, fresh cheese and a cold cream of pea soup with Saint-Bris, a white burgundy from Savignon.  The fish course was dorade (sea bream) with a chantilly of beet and yuzu on black rice  and a shizo leaf with a Bourges pinot noir.  The main course was veal with sweet potato mousse, asparagus, noodles, sauce and potatoe chips with A Chateau Ferran 2011 Bordeaux.  Dessert was chocolate souffle with hot caramel  and a chocolate cookie with black sesame ice cream.served with a sweet bordeaux.  A really delicious dinner in a charming setting with great service.