Paris, France. August 6, 7, 8, 2012– Jours une, deux, trois, quatre en Paris

Trois jours de marche et de manger (et un peu de shopping)

Three days of walking and eating (and a little shopping)

Monday, 6 August

Bon soir

Had very conversational dinner last night (Sunday) at a small bistro in the 1st Ar on Rue Berger (A La Marguerite)…  Paris is empty of Parisians in August — literally everyone is on vacation, traveling — leaving the city to tourists. It’s one of the few trips we’ve made to Europe in August… Usually we come earlier or later. In any case, we lucked out because the weather is quite pleasant… it’s overcast and remarkably cool for summer in Europe — and dramatically different from the heat we’ve had for the previous week in the south of France, Berlin, and Czech Republic. Dinner last night included friends from the Bay Area and their friends who’ve been living in Paris for more than two decades.

For the foodies — I had the salmon carpaccio for a starter, followed by turbot sitting on spinach… and ended the meal with some shared deserts. Mike stuck with the “raw” — moving from salmon carpaccio to beef tartare…

We walked to and from our hotel in the 9th Ar. to the restaurant in the 1st Ar. (about 30 minutes). We’re staying in a very basic hotel (using points, so it’s a freebie — nothing to talk about but has the usual amenities and staying for free in Paris makes it almost perfect!)  I’ve never stayed in this area of the city before — essentially two blocks from Galeries Lafayette (Metro – Richelieu); it’s fairly central.

Today, Mike and I took different walking routes. I had no real destination; he headed to the Muse Branly (which I’d visited before). I did a very meandering 7 or 8 mile walk from the hotel around town — doing what I love to do best while in Paris — walk and explore neighborhoods. As it started to drizzle, I purchased one parapluie numerous due  (umbrella #2)…  (bought parapluie #1 in Avignon when it started to rain there, but naturally left it in the hotel room). I figured that more than likely if I had an umbrella it would probably not really rain… which it didn’t (only a short sprinkle).

Not much to report. Paris is always wonderful, although the proliferation of American chains is disappointing — what with a large number of Starbucks now peppering neighborhoods, and apparently busy and successful (??). One interesting feature about being here in august is the “plage”… where Parisians create a “beach” in the city.. and stumbled on a great sight — hundreds of Parisians watching the Olympics outside on a giant screen, in front of the Hotel de Ville sitting on bean bags, chairs, and lying on the giant orange colored “rug” that has been rolled out to cover the “plaza”.. Apparently this is happening for the entire period of the Olympics.

Mike and I met back up at the hotel around 7 pm — exhausted and hungry, and with each of us having a few hours of work to finish before dinner. And, we are currently renovating the kitchen and bathroom of the Seattle loft — complicated to “manage” from thousands of miles away (and some parts of the job are not moving along as well as planned — so that’s been a bit frustrating and time consuming.

Decided to go to a little neighborhood (not our neighborhood, since we’re not staying in a real neighborhood) restaurant — Le Petite Marche, which was quite good on rue Béarn north of the Place des Vosges where it seems like the local crowds gather at the outdoor tables… sort of a modern Parisian bistro with a bit of a pan-Asian touch. We started off with a great aubergine dish, followed by two dishes we shared: amazing duck with some kind of curry emulsion and mangos, and a scallop dish; ended with crème brulee. (Since we began our trip with lots of tartare and carpaccio in both Berlin and south of France — we decided to opt for mostly cooked food for these days… Walked back to the hotel… content, full, and having consumed quite a bit of really good French wine.

Oh — the one caveat… The French still smoke .. and with dinner… so I think they need Bloomberg to get over there fast and push for the cessation of smoking, but I guess it just wouldn’t be France. (But our California senses really kick in and it’s really hard to be surrounded by smoking when you are eating such great food.)

Tuesday

7 Aout

Walked from the hotel through numerous neighborhoods in the 9th, 10th, 2nd, and 3rd arrondissements… and connected up with Mike for lunch at Pramil — a tiny place in the 3rd Ar (sort of north of the Marais), near Place de Republique.  Mike had gone back to the Branly since it was closed the day before and all he could do was see the building. Pramil is one of those special little finds. Lunch is three courses, with choices for each course.

I started with the squid “salad” which was done with cannelloni beans and a hint of some kind of peppery spice.. and Mike had something called a “cauliflower cake” which was incredible — looked like two slices of pound cake and served with a red pepper jelly. For the main course, I had the sweetbreads and Mike had a pork dish that came with purple carrots — Both were fantastic. We ended with a tarte framboises avec pomme granny-smith et crème Chantilly — a raspberry tart. Definitely a recommended spot.

After lunch I headed on yet another long walk and ended with a glass of wine at Place Colette and a stroll through the Tullieres.. and then back to the hotel to relax for an hour before heading out to dinner at 404, a cous cous place I’ve been to several times. Met up with our god-daughter (who’s been living in Paris for a few years) and her mother who’s visiting from NY. We shared a pastilla, several appetizer salads, and three different tagines (chicken and pear; lamb with peas and artichokes; duck with apples and prunes)… Dinner reservations were at10; we finished well after midnight and decided to hop a taxi rather than walk or take Metro.

Wednesday

8 Aout

Woke up a bit earlier than planned when a fire alarm went off at the hotel at about 6:30 am… and everyone had to run down the stairs… Amazing how disoriented you can be when you are awoken unexpectedly and need to throw on some clothes and head outside. Our room was on the 6th floor… but down we went.. As we approached the first floor the alarm went off… fortunately a false alarm, but a rotten start to the day. Took advantage of being up early so headed out. I decided to take the Metro to some areas I’d never been to, but sort of blindly walked. Headed to Faidherbe (12th?) and meandered without any real direction. Passed the famous cemetery Père Lachaise in the 20th arrondissement, supposedly the world’s most visited cemetery (which is probably true since there were dozens of tour buses lining the sidewalk) because it contains the graves of all sorts of famous folks  — artists, authors, philosophers, politicians, etc. are buried. Those buried here include Apollinaire, Edith Piaf, Balzac, Sarah Bernhardt, Maria Callas, Jim Morrison, Ingres, Max Ernst, Chopin, Moliere, Proust, and more.

Eventually, I wound up at Place des Voges and strolled the Marais  and Ile Saint Louis (I plead guilty to an addiction to Bertillon ice cream). Totally exhausted, took Metro to hotel to pack and get ready for dinner.

In addition to our god-daughter and her mother, our godson, his wife, and their three kids are also here in Paris and this was the one night we all overlapped so we set dinner.  Given that Paris restaurants tend to be small .. I suggested La Coupole (a Paris institution since the 20s I believe) in Montparnasse, and the site of many notable dinners and where many writers and artists had “regular tables.”

The legend is that painters such as Léger, Man Ray, and Picasso were frequent visitors… and where Simenon dined with Josephine Baker; Henry Miller ate breakfast at the bar; Joyce drank whiskeys. When France was liberated, the restaurant was rejuvenated… and work was displayed by artists from the School of Paris. Yves Klein painted the obelisk blue; they claim that Camus celebrated his Nobel prize and also that Sartre left big tips and had a regular table.. In more recent days… Chagall celebrated his birthday at the restaurant in 1984 and in 2008, the interior dome (which apparently gets repainted by famous artists every decade or so.. ) was painted by four artists “to reflect La Coupole’s original spirit – nature, women, celebration.”

We were a group of nine, including one three year old (who seemed to be adapting well to late nights out, lots of travel, and hearing people speak another language. In any case, Harry seems to think Paris IS the Eiffel Tower, so whenever you say “Paris,” he says “Eiffel Tower.” La Coupole is accustomed to large groups so our table of nine was not unusual. Actually the food was better than I remembered (I ate there 11 years ago when I was in Paris with my mother, aunt, uncle, and cousins, and when serendipitously Mike’s brother, sister in law, daughter, and a friend were also in the city… so again we were a large group) and service was incredibly attentive. Naturally little Harry stole the show and the waiters showered him with all sorts of surprises. Started out with tuna carpaccio and then moved onto scallops; Mike had lobster and mango “salad”.. The kids had some unbelievable chocolate dessert.

Finished eating around midnight and opted for a taxi to the hotel so we could finish packing.

I’m on the plane now — headed back to SF (via Chicago) — when you get this, it will actually come from me in California.

Hope you’re all eating well!! I’d say that I averaged about 9 miles a day walking in Paris and thought I’d lose some weight.. but the eating just keeps going and so it’s a losing battle.

Best — Aurevois… That’s it for me for this trip.

Fern

PostScript:

Flight from Paris to Chicago was delayed, causing us to miss our connecting flight. Actually the delay was only 30 minutes and we would have made the connection just fine except that US Customs took 45 minutes.. the lines were incredibly long — and they were about 50% staffed. Once we got to the Customs official we asked what was going on.. and he was pretty quiet.. I asked if this was “federal cutbacks”… and said that it was a terrible re-entry… He gave us a complaint form and also told us that they were not doing any hiring.. and that a few months ago when a NATO meeting was in Chicago they were fully staffed for that week! (I suppose a combination of  “image” and Rahm Emanuel’s capacity to move what needs to be moved when it needs to happen.)