Wednesday, September 20th

We started the day at the Musee de la Vie Romantique  to see the exhibit "The Power of Flowers", the work of Pierre-Joseph Redoute.  Really beautiful as was the museum itself, which was the home of Ary Scheffer, a painter.  The museum is small, two floors and has some interesting pieces.  One room is devoted to the memorabilia of George Sands.  The museum has a delightful secluded garden where they serve light lunches so we decided to eat there but, as I wasn't very hungry, I only had some madeleines and Leas had a salad.  After leaving, we stopped at Trinity Church by architect Theodore Ballu and finished in 1867.  The building is Italian Renaissance and has quite an ornate exterior. Then on to Musee Gustav Moreau, a museum filled with Moreaus drawings and paintings in the townhouse in which he grew up.  Many of his paintings are huge, floor to ceiling, and there are many that are quite interesting.  One of the highlights of the house is the ornate circular staircase leading to his atelier, which is replicated as it was when he painted there.  Then we set off for Galeries Layfayette to have a drink in their rooftop bar, The Cube.  We sat on the high chairs against the balcony over looking the rear of L'Opera and each had a kir.  The view was beautiful and you're able to walk around 3 sides to take unobstruced view pictures.    Dinner was at Frenchie, chef Gregory Marchand's highly rated, hard to score a reservation restaurant.  I'll do my best in describing the dishes but have few notes as the waiter came over and told me he would e-mail me the menu if I gave him my e-mail address so I did't have to bother with notes but he never sent them; this is my only criticism of the restaurant as everything else went above and beyond our expectations.    As soon as we sat down, we were served some maple bacon scones and butter.  We opted for the wine flight to accompany the tasting menu and the sommelier was a cute young girl who was very enthusiastic and passionate about wine.  She throughly explained every wine as she served it and even told us why she chose it to accompany the specific food.  The amuse bouche was a zuchinni flower with heirloom tomato on crispy bread with a yogurt and celery oil dressing.  This was followed by a pie shaped wedge of silky foie gras served with mango four ways: fresh, pureed, aspic and pickled.  It was really delicious!  Next was smoked eel with  potatoes, vegetables and coriander seeds.  The fish course was pollack with mashed potatoes  and roasted carrots and the meat was squab with wild mushrooms.  It consisted of a breast and a leg which was very crispy and fun to eat.  We had two desserts; the first was a berry sorbet with several different crunchy pieces (almost crumbs and some fresh fruit pieces.  The second was a chocolate dome which, when cracked open, was filled with vanilla ice cream and caramel.  We had 5 different wines with our meal and we both deemed it pretty spectacular - Frenchie lives up to all the hype and is highly recommended.  This was a great day and our first day without a single drop of rain.

Tuesday the 19th

Started off at the Grand Epicierie of Galleries Layfayette; such fun to wander through their aisles upon aisles of fresh and packaged food. I'd love to buy so much of it but it would take more than a suitcase to get it home so I settled for a package of Angelina Chocolate Chaud and a jar of Christine de Ferber white peach jam (as recommended by David Lebovitz) which they didn't have on our 2015 trip.  The vast amounts of ham, cheese, fresh vegetables are truly overwhelming.  Then visited Notre Dame de Champs - the first stone was laid in 1867 and it was consecrated in 1912.  Then went to the Saint Vincent de Paul Chapel, a Lazarist chapel where you can go up behind the altar where there is an interesting view and a memorial to ? .  Went to lunch at La Closerie des Lilas, an historic brasserie and haunt of Hemmingway.  After our usual kir for an aperitif, I had oysters with a glass of Viognier and Leas had Pike quenelles with  a Pouilly Fume.  Both of us loved our lunch and my oysters were some of the biggest I've ever eaten.  For dessert we shared a lemon, basil tart which was outstanding.  The restaurant is truly old school Paris, beautiful and a place not to be missed. Then we went through Montparnasse Cemetary which is 46.2 acres.  Found the graves of guy de Maupassant, Jean Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir, Jean Seberg (Marshalltown, Iowa) and a few others.  Then went to Notre Dame de Travail which was built in 1901 and influenced by Eiffel as it has an ironwork nave.  It's very unusual and worth visiting.
Dinner was at Yves Camdeborde's restaurant Le Comptoir, which we had been really looking forward to since Leas scored the reservation two months before we left.  The room is tine but very nice; typical bistro with the tables practically on top of each other.  We were seated next to a mother and daughter from Chicago and they were delightful dinner companions.  The menu is a set 5 course and we started with a kir and tuna with mushrooms and several other vegetables in a viniagrette.  The entree was cod with potatoes and vegetables in a foamy seafood mousse followed by the main course o roasted veal with Kalamata figs and olives and cabbage with parmesan.  Note: the veal was very tough and somewhat tasteless which we have found to be true  on several ocassions when it's been served to us.  The cheese plate was served next and it was placed between two tables to share.  It consisted of 8 choices and included honey and two jams - it was pretty spectacular and each cheese included a card noting what it was.  We had a bottle of Chateau d'Arche 2009 Haut Medoc, cru Bourgeois  with dinner.  Dessert was pears poached in red wine on a pepper shortbread with grapes and a very good vanilla ice cream.  The dinner was very good but we both felt it didn't quite meet our expectations, though we can't say exactly what was missing.  The food (except for the veal) was delicious but the meal wasn't spectacular and we never felt special or like they were glad we were there.

Observations

We noticed several changes on this trip, some of which are worth mentioning.  Most restaurants now have salt and pepper on the table, I think we only ate in a couple that didn't and very few of them are serving baguettes as bread anymore.  Most served some type of brown or whole grain bread instead.  Many are also serving bread in little bread bags on the table instead of baskets.  They are quite cute and we looked for some to buy to bring home but had no luck.  Lots of chefs seem to be using lots of seeds, herbs and spices in unusual ways. The majority of the restaurants are printing their menus in French and English so we don't get to try and decipher and test our French food vocabulary much any more.  Scarves are no longer seen on almost everyone and very few of the younger crowd seem to wear them - older women and men are the most frequent scarf wearers.  Everyone is wearing blue jeans, doesn't matter the age or sex, they are the most frequently seen article of clothing.  Men are wearing suits that are have very tight fitted pants and  very short coats.  I figure I must really look my age as I was almost always offered a seat on the Metro when it was full and the person offering sometimes seemed to be about my age.  Rarely did we run into someone who didn't speak English.

I am always amazed by the number of people (Parisians) who read the Metro signs like they've never been on them before.  They constantly scan the line and stops on board and search and discuss the maps in the stations.  It's such an easy system but they actually make it look like it might be difficult.

Giverny, Monday the 18th

Started off at Gare St Lazare, but the area where we had to buy our tickets was shut down with yellow tape,  army and police cordoning it off.  We waited, along with many others for 15 or 20 minutes and they took down the tape and let everyone through.  We asked the ticket agent what was going on and he said that someone had lost their luggage.  We wandered around the town when we first arrived  and then went to Monet's, at which point it started to pour so we tried to wait it out in the gift shop, but it never seemed to stop so we ventured into the garden when the rain got lighter.  It stopped for a while so we were able to enjoy the visit but lots of flowers were pounded down by the heavy rain.  We had a little snack at a cafe across from the train station before heading back to Paris and went to Le Bonne Soeurs, a restaurant that we tried in 2015 on the recommendation of Rick Steves, for dinner as it's close to the apartment.  Leas had a hamburger, which she said was very good and I had eggs benedict which were delicious.  I later read that they are considered one of the best Brunch restaurants.  Fun but very wet day.

Sunday, the 17th, Patrimonie

We decided to take advantage of Patrimonie and some of the open buildings so started at Hotel de Sens, constructed in 1475.  There were several exhibits for the occasion, one of them with several artisans, working with apprentices and explaining how to do various craft work such as wood inlay.
There is an also an extensive library, which we went through.  We then got in line to enter the Hotel de Ville, the city hall of Paris.  We were within the first 50 people in line but it didn't move for a very long time and, by the time we entered, there were hundreds waiting.  The building, as it now stands, was officially opened in 1882.  It was an almost identical reconstruction of the original Renaissance facade which had been completed in 1628 and burned in 1871. The building  is filled with lavish reception rooms, the council chambers and the mayors office.  It's all very ornate and beautiful and a highlight was getting to see the very large corner office occupied by the mayor, which is not available for viewing during normal tours, but only opened during Patrimonie.  As the announcement that Paris will host the 2024 Olympics, there was lots of publicity throughout.  We then went over & strolled the Islands and had lunch at one of my favorites, Rose de France in Place Dauphine on the Ile de la Cite.  Leas had a salad Caprese and we both had prawns with risotto, which was really creamy and delicious. I had the citron creme brulee for dessert, also delicious.  We walked through the flower and bird markets - I think they had birds of every imaginable color for sale.  Stopped in front of Notre Dame at Point Zero and walked to the lower level by the Seine to check out a food fair of southwestern food.  It was interesting but really crowded and a huge black and ominous cloud was following us so we didn't stay too long.  Got ice cream at Berthillon on the Ile Saint Louis and then went back to the apartment.  We had dinner at home with ham, cheese, baguettes and pastries (and wine, of course).

Saturday, September 16th

Went to Musee Jacquemart Andre, a small museum  in the 8th located in the home of the Jacquemarts and housing their private collection of art in addition to a traveling collection.  I was there in 2011 when they had an exhibit by the brothers Caillebotte, one a painter & one a photographer.  This time  the exhibit was the Secret Garden of Hansen and  paintings by Renoir, Matisse and Manet among others.  The house itself is very interesting and well preserved.  We had lunch in the tea room cafe which receives very good reviews.  We sat outside on the patio which is enclosed in plastic and very comfortable.  It was full the entire time we were there and we both had the spinach and ham quiche which was served with a green salad and was very good.  Then we walked over to Parc Monceau, one of my favorites as it's small and very pretty with a small lake, roman columns, a small waterfall and  lots of flower beds.  From there we went to Musee Nissim de Camondo, a mansion at the turn of the 20th century.  It was the home of a Jewish banking family who collected 18th century furniture and objets d'art and had the mansion built to resemble the Petit Trianon at Versailles.  The family was sent to Auschwitz, where they were killed.   Moise de Camondo died in 1935 and left the mansion to the Union Centrale des Arts Decoratifs naming it after his son who died in air combat during WWI.  It was inaugurated in 1936 and was both interesting and quite stunning.  We then walked rue Saint Honore-Faubourg and hoped to tour the Elysee Palace as today and tomorrow are Patrimonie, when the buildings not usually open to the public, are open for viewing free; however, the line was way too long.   We walked down Embassy row where most of the embassies were open, but not ours.  Security was heavy everywhere and the streets are crowded with people.  Back to the apartment for a short break before dinner at O'Chateau.  Dinner was really delightful as the wine bar has lots of atmosphere and is very friendly.  We each did a flight of wine tastings: Leas, white and me, red.  All the wines were throughly explained to us; as to the grapes, where they were from, etc.  We both started with tuna tataki, which was delicious,  and shared the charcuterie board, also delicious.  A really fun dinner and the perfect ending to a really fun day.

I promise to do better

Sorry about the delay in my posts but since I've been home I've been swamped with everyday life and catching up after being gone for 3 weeks. I think I'm now in the place to finish up this trip.
Friday the 15th
We wandered around Passy and then went to the Trocadero and Eiffle Tower, which was a huge disappointment as you can't even get close without standing in a long line to get through the fenced off area around the tower.  The area fenced off is much larger than I thought it would be and really detracts from the iconic tower.  Then we went to lunch at the very new Les Grands Verres in the Palais de Tokyo.  The restaurant is actually two restaurants; the first colorful and casual with a serve yourself buffet (the food all looked very appetizing) and the second a regular restaurant in a very large, bright room with floor to ceiling windows and several tables serving larger groups of six, eight or ten.  We split the mussels for an entree and they were very good but not at all what you expect when you order mussels in France.  They were in a brown broth with a strong celery flavor and thin slices of celery throughout with a slightly hot after taste.  Served with them was an avacado toast and there were more than enough mussels for two people.  For our main dishes, Leas had buccatini with trumpets of death mushrooms (she is still with us) and I had meatballs.  There were three good sized pork meatballs served in a bowl with a tomato sauce. They were served with a very large, long piece of toasted baguette with a mound of a whipped butter to spread on it.  We thought the food was all very good and the room is very pleasant and comfortable.  After lunch we walked over to Avenue and Suare Rapp to see the art nouveau doors by Lavirotte; really quite amazing.  We walked rue Cler, a major shopping street where we picked up a Praululine at the Chocolatier Pralus.  Leas read an article that said it was life changing and, although I wouldn't go that far, it is something I will really miss.  It's a pastry made with brioche and studded throughout with pink candy bits and nuts. We ended up eating a slice for breakfast almost every day and we each brought one home with us to share with our families.  We purchased a Food Passport which allows you to go to 6 or 12 different food spots for a tasting or sample and explanation of the shop by an employee or the owner.  Today we made it to 4 of the spots where we tasted wine, callisons, caramels and meringues and met some interesting people who gave us the history of their food.  After a short time back in the apartment we went over to Sainte Chapelle for a concert, performed by a string sextet.  It was a beautiful classical concert and is so impressive to hear the music in that beautiful building.  Walked across the Seine to Zimmer, a traditional old brasserie on the right bank.  I had a bowl of onion soup and Leas had a potatoe salad with salmon.  The food isn't outstanding but the red velvet and gold interior takes you back to the 40's and the food is good.  Back to the apartment and to bed.