Post by saintgermain on Apr 29, 2014 7:32:53 GMT -5
Hi All!
We recently got back from Paris...it was wonderful to be back in Paris! We didn’t get to everything we’d planned, but we never expect to. We did manage time to just stroll in Jardin du Luxembourg and the Tuileries a few times, and we did get to three new places this trip that we loved. We went to the Musée Nissim Camando, and it was just beautiful! We usually don’t do an audio tour, but in this case we did, and it added to our experience. I could just picture the family in those rooms, and looking out the window to see beyond the property to the Parc Monceau...incredible! It was on our Paris Museum Pass.
Another new experience was the Musée Antoine Bourdelle. It was wonderful…and free! It’s a bit off the beaten track but so easy to get to. We took the Metro 10 from Mabillon to Sevres-Babylone, and from there Metro 12 to Falguiere, from which we crossed the street and walked down the rue Antoine Bourdelle to reach the museum. It was only 9:30 when we arrived, and the museum didn’t open until 10:00 AM, so we headed for a neighborhood café, the Café Montparnasse, for a Perrier. It was a pleasant neighborhood café. The Museum has a garden, with many pieces of sculpture in it. Like the Musée Rodin, I actually enjoyed the garden more than the inside of the museum. From the museum, we walked to the Montparnasse-Bienvenue to take Metro 4 to Saint Germain des Pres. From there, we took a taxi to O Chateau for their wine and cheese lunch, which I had booked online.
The wine and cheese tasting at O Chateau was just perfect! We were seated at a very large, wooden table in a room surrounded by bottled wine, with trays of cheeses and Charcuterie and large baskets of sliced baguette. There were 4 couples, and two single women. Justun Fondbertasse, our sommelier, told me that they try to keep the groups small and intimate. He asked us to begin by moving around the table introducing ourselves while he poured us glasses of a very nice Champagne. He talked about having studied wine in the Champagne region of France and about the accidental discovery of bubbles in wine by a French Benedictine monk. Justun had a very easy way about him, and he was very knowledgeable about the wine, as well as the cheeses. He kept the tasting lively with stories and anecdotes and was open to questions. After the Champagne, he then moved on to a Chardonnay, which to my surprise was very good. I’ve always disliked Chardonnay, but the bottle he chose was excellent. All the bottles we tasted were not horribly expensive – about 20 Euros. He said the wine came from smaller wineries. The next wine was a white Sancerre, then a light red, a Gamay, (Morgon) and the next a Bordeux. All the cheeses were chosen to go with the various wines, such as a Brie de Meux for the Chardonnay and I believe it was a Cantal cheese with the Sancerre. We also had slices of goat cheese, coated with ash on the outside to protect the cheese. The last wine was a sweet white wine, which he served with a Roquefort cheese that tasted very strong. I would have never thought they would go together, but they did pair beautifully. He talked about the meniscus, the rim of the wine when you tilt the glass, and the “legs”, explaining that one could tell how much sugar is in the wine by looking at the legs, the pattern that forms on the side of the glass when you swirl the wine in the glass. It was an interesting, and fun experience! We would definitely go back next time we go to Paris. Bob isn’t a big fan of wine, but he loved the whole experience! We had taken a taxi to O Chateau, but it really wouldn’t be that difficult to find if we had gone to the Metro Etienne-Marcel first and walked back.
After the wine tasting, we walked to the corner of the rue Jean-Jacques Rousseau, turned right, and walked to the market street, the rue Montorgueil, another place we’d meant to go for some time. We stopped at Storher for a Mille Feuille pastry, which was a little disappointing. I’d tasted much better at La Carette. From there, we walked to the Metro Etienne-Marcel and headed for the Musée de l'Éventail (the Fan Museum), which a friend had recommended, though we never did get to see it. It was supposed to be open, but it didn’t seem to be. A family who lived in an apartment in the same building opened the door for us. When they said the museum was on the 3rd floor with no lift, we decided not to strain our knees and walk up, but we were pretty sure it was closed anyway, as it was all dark. When we tried to walk out the door, though, we were stuck. The door was locked! Eventually, we noticed a buzzer and two descriptions in French. One was “Porte”, and we reasoned that pushing that buzzer might let us out. Thankfully, it did :-)
On Wednesday, we took the Eurostar to London. We allowed an hour to get out of the station and get to the restaurant, but it was so crowded, and we hadn’t allowed for stopping to get pounds from the ATM, so we were a little late. It was later in the morning, though, so it wasn't too busy, and the greeting was cheerful. After breakfast, we got to see the Changing of the Horse Guard up close. The restaurant is beautiful -- Inn the Park is located in St. James Park, and you can see the whole park from the restaurant – we reserved online on their website. The food was disappointing, though. Last visit (a few years ago) they served thick slices of good bread, toasted, with our scrambled eggs, and a huge pot of the best ever raspberry preserves. They were incredible. This time, none of that…the toast was thin and hard, the eggs were runny, and preserves were mediocre, but they did have wonderful yogurt and Japanese iron teapots for tea, so we would still go there for the view, the yogurt, and the tea, not to mention, the very nice server we had. After breakfast, we walked up to Green Park from St. James Park and took Bus 9 to Kensington Gardens. On the way there, we stopped in Harrods and spent an hour and a half browsing and picking up tins of butterscotch and a Harrods shopping bag with a Scottie dog on it to take home. We got back on the same Bus 9 and continued on to Kensington Gardens. We enjoyed talking with a retired fireman on the bus, who told us some good stories. As we were getting off the bus, he called out to us, "If I see you in Paris, drinks are on me!" He also told us where to get off the bus. The park was just beautiful, with lots of daffodils. We walked to the High Street Kensington Tube Station and turned on Wrights Lane, just past the tube station, to a traditional tea shop called The Muffin Man, where we had tea and scones with Devon cream. From there, we walked back to the High Street Kensington tube station and took the same Bus 9 to Covent Garden. We walked from Covent Garden to The Lamb and Flag, located at 33, Rose Street, for a beer. It was a very busy time for The Lamb and Flag, and it was filled with young people. From Covent Garden, we took the Piccadilly line to Russell Square and walked to a "chippie" for dinner, The North Sea Fish Restaurant. The fish ‘n chips were the best we've ever had! Light and crispy, with no hint of grease, accompanied by a Manger’s cider. We enjoyed talking to a group of 3 retired men when we arrived. It seemed that eating there was a regular weekly occurrence for them. Then it was back to the train station on the Piccadilly line. We arrived back in Paris about 11:30 PM.
One of the first days we were in Paris, we took Metro 10 from Mabillon to the Metro Cardinal Lemoine to visit the Arene de Lutece and the Jardin de Plantes. Then, we walked along the rue Mouffetard, which has become our habit on a Sunday in Paris, though we didn’t have much time because we were headed to lunch at the Rotisserie du Beaujolais, near Notre Dame. We had our usual table in the window, from which I could just barely see Notre Dame if I craned my neck. The service is very good there, and I love the cheerful yellow and white checked tablecloths and cloth napkins. Always a pleasant experience and a lovely meal with good value wine, a half bottle of Brouilly.
After lunch, we took Metro 12 to Trinité - d'Estienne d'Orves and walked down the rue Mogador to Théâtre Mogador to see the show, “La Belle et la Bête.” I really enjoyed the French version of this show, and since we’ve seen the American version more than once it was easy to understand what was happening. It was very flashy, with glitter and streamers going out into the audience, which was filled with children. The singing and acting was top notch, with no weak links. Just a happy, joyful show! After the show, we only had half an hour to get over to our restaurant reservation at La Fontaine de Mars, so we splurged on a taxi. The meal at La Fontaine de Mars was our most expensive because we ordered quite a bit. We started with foie gras, I had the special of the day, poulet fermier rôti with purée de pommes de terre, and Bob had the confit de canard with roasted potatoes. We ordered a bottle of Brouilly, and we had an incredible dessert with whipped cream, topped with meringue, and raspberries, then a small scoop of raspberry sorbet on top. Everything was wonderful, and the service was superb.
On Monday, we went to Rouen for the day. When we arrived at the Gare Rouen Rive Droit, we purchased a transportation pass for 3 Euros and asked for a map. We walked into town, stopping at the Boulangerie Paul along the way and had croissants and tea for breakfast before moving on. We headed for the Gros Horlage and walked along it to the Cathedral, which was being renovated. We walked all around the block and found the bus stop as we rounded the corner by the cathedral. By then, it was time for lunch, where we had a very lovely lunch at Brasserie Paul, which had been recommended by a friend. I ordered the 24 Euro menu with Chausson de Madame Paul as my entrée (puff pastry with apple and Camembert), the salmon with a pistou sauce on a bed of Ratatouille, and Crème brûlée for dessert. Bob had a Salade Landaise, which turned out to be a confit of duck gizzards salad and Bavette d’Aloyau grillée à la fondue d’échalotes (grilled steak with shallots). After lunch, we went back to the cathedral and walked around town. We also saw the Musée Jean d’Arc and went to the Musée Beaux Arts, a lovely museum. We found the nearby bus and took it back to the Gare Rouen Rive Droit, after stopping again at Boulangerie Paul for a cup of tea. A pleasant day trip, but we were happy to get back to Paris.
Thursday was a museum day. We started off with breakfast at La Carette and then went to the Musée Guimet, with its extensive collection of Asian art. This is one we’ve tried to get to for years, and I thought it was well worth a visit. After the Guimet, we took Metro 6 to the Sevres-Lecourbe stop and walked a block or two to Le Grand Bistro de Breteuil, located on the Place de Breteuil, with a beautiful view of Les Invalides. Hard to choose our favorite restaurant, as we went to many we enjoyed, but this has to have been our most luxurious experience. The son has taken over the restaurant and improved the already pleasant experience. As soon as we sat down, we were handed a generous sized Kir Royale and a basket of bread. The menu has been added to, and I was able to enjoy Sole Meuniere, boned at the table, for about the same price as at other restaurants, except that my meal included the Kir Royale, Foie Gras as an entrée, Sole Meuniere, a full bottle of rosé wine, and Crème Brûlée for dessert. Bob chose the baked egg with mushrooms and asparagus as an entrée, with the lamb and Potatoes Dauphinois as his plat, and for dessert L’ Îles Flottantes. He said everything was wonderful. It was a lovely experience.
We next went to the Musée Rodin, where we spent all our time in the garden. It was beautiful in spite of the fact that the roses had not yet bloomed. Here, we took time to sit in the garden with a Perrier and just relax. We went to the Musée L’Orangerie to see Monet’s Water Lilies, and while Bob relaxed in the Tuileries, I went to the gift shop to pick up some small, canvas bags in a water lily print for our granddaughters. After a stroll through the Tuileries, we spent a little time in the Louvre before heading to the Musée D’Orsay, since it was open late on Thursday night. The D’Orsay is one museum that has a special entrance for people with the Paris Museum Pass, so even though there was a bit of a line, it moved much more quickly than the line at the regular entrance. We’re usually able to walk right in, but Paris was very crowded this year. We found out the reason a few days later, as we were leaving Paris. It was the Paris Marathon! After the D’Orsay, we had planned to stop for a sandwich at the Kayser Boulangerie, but it wasn’t as easy to get to from the museum as it had seemed on the map, so we took Bus 63 back to Saint Germain des Pres to have a sandwich at Cosi. We had thought we’d use my iPad there with the free WIFI, but it was packed with young people who probably had the same idea, so after a nightcap at Les Deux Magots, we headed back to the hotel for an early night.
On Friday, we started the day at Café de Flore for breakfast. It is more expensive than some of the other places we had breakfast, but we really do stay there longer, relaxing and people watching. It’s fun to see the neighborhood people come in with their dogs. We left there to go to the Orange Store and have minutes put on our French phone we’ve had for several years. We also took my iPhone this time, getting a French sim card put in, with the French phone for back-up. We mostly used the iPhone, though, so we’ll see what the bill is when it comes. If it’s reasonable, we’ll use only the iPhone next trip. It was very nice to have it because we could look up addresses, phone numbers, and Google maps if we needed to.
We took the taxi to Ambassade d’Auvergne for lunch, since we were running a little late. Glad we did because it started raining as we were on the way over. It was the most reasonably priced meal we had during the whole week, and it was delicious! So much food! I ordered the prix fixe menu, so I had the Lentils de Puy Salade with lardons for my entrée. Oh my…it was a huge bowl of lentils, and they were so good. Bob had a little spoonful of them and loved them, even though he hadn’t thought he would. I shared some of my lentils with him and was prepared to pay extra, but she only charged us for one serving. I still couldn’t finish the huge bowl of lentils with lots of delicious strips of lardons if I wanted to have any appetite left. Next came the plat, which was a delicious Lyon style sausage and Aligot. I think it was Bob’s favorite meal. We shared a half bottle of rosé wine, and dessert for me – Bob didn’t order any – was a huge bowl of mousse au chocolat. It was so rich that I couldn’t finish it, but I tried. The bill was 68 Euros! We enjoyed talking to our waitress who was Portuguese. She spoke to us in English, and I wondered where she’d learned to speak it so well. I asked if she’d studied it in school. She said no, that she had learned it from watching American TV ☺ We loved the whole experience at Ambassade d’Auvergne and would happily return there on our next trip!
Saturday was catch up day and a day to finish buying little gifts to take home for our family. We always go to Mariage Frères to pick up tea for our tea loving family – Earl Grey French Bleu loose tea in a canister for one daughter-in-law, Marco Polo for our son, and Ceylon tea bags for our other daughter-in-law, and we always bring home both Ceylon loose and the little muslin tea bags for us, as well. We started the day at Le Pain Quotidien for breakfast and walked over to the Mariage Frères shop. Then, we headed for the Marais. We spent a little time looking in the department stores, Les Galleries Lafayette and Printemps, but we found them much changed from before. We had thought to take home scarves for gifts, but where in past years, they were easy to find, with rows of them in Les Galleries Lafayette, this year they were spread around the store in small areas, usually the upscale designer areas, making them much too high for our budget. This was true of both stores. We went back to the hotel to drop off some of our purchases and went back out to pick up macarons at Ladurée and little chocolate works of art, chocolate ducks and bunnies, I couldn’t resist, at Le Mere de Famille. The original store is in the 9th arrondissement, but new store has opened on the rue Bonaparte, steps from our hotel. There is also one on the rue Cherche Midi. We went back to the hotel to check in online for our flight, but after trying for two hours, we gave up, deciding not to waste the rest of our day in Paris. Instead, we went to Saint Sulpice to light a candle for our son and went to walk in Jardin du Luxembourg. From there, we walked to our dinner at Le Perraudin, speaking of which, we made that reservation and at least one more online with La Fourchette, similar to Open Table in the US. It worked beautifully.
www.lafourchette.com/
We had asked the hotel to arrange for a shuttle to take us back to the airport, and he was to arrive at 8:00 AM, so we were out the door at 6:30 AM stopping at the bank ATM machine and taking a walk around the neighborhood. Perhaps it was a little early to do that, as it was still dark, but we walked up to Jardin du Luxembourg and were back in plenty of time to take one more look around the room, get our luggage, and check-out. We put a tip for reception and one for the maid service in separate envelopes and left them at the front desk.
Not being able to check-in online did make it more difficult in the airport. We could have avoided one line had we had our boarding passes. The experience at the airport was more confusing than ever, though, perhaps because of the crowds, but it seemed the airline has changed their system. We were moved into no less than 3 lines, but we eventually made it through. We allowed 3 hours at the airport, and we barely had time to grab a sandwich. Usually, we have too much time on our hands.
We had a lovely week in Paris in spite of the crowds and having to cancel a couple of restaurant reservations. We didn’t get to a few places, but we decided more relaxed time in Paris was more important. The flowers were blooming everywhere, and it was good to be there, in spite of the crowds.
Sandy back in Central Illinois making travel plans....
) Anyway, enjoyed trailing along with you. You really got all over the place! I'll have to try the fan museum sometime, and also the Musée Antoine Bourdelle--they both sound fun. We saw Le Belle et la Bete too, and really enjoyed it. I completely agree about the cast--no weak links, and beautiful voices. The theater was very pretty too. What night of the week did you go? We were there on a Tuesday, and there were quite a few kids, but predominately adults and young adults. 
Let the riot begin! LOL - 
hahahha