Post by Chicago Jake on Jun 24, 2007 22:23:17 GMT -6
I'm posting this for Jo. It exceeded the message board maximum limit for one post (which, I just found out, is 25,600 characters; I imagine that HB and WD discovered that long ago) so I'm splitting it up into three separate posts on this one thread.......Jake
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Jo & Den’s European Adventure
May 18 – June 9, 2007
Prelude
I actually kept a journal during our trip, so this is really a day by day account of our trip. It is very long and really goes into detail about what we ate, drank and saw, since I really wanted to be able to remember it all. It is probably too long for most people, so feel free to skip parts or even the whole damn thing. This was a trip of a lifetime for Den & I and we were changed by the things we saw and experienced. We hope to go back to Europe many more times (sadly, this will leave less time and money for Hedo, but we just feel the need to see more of the world at this time. I know we will go back to Hedo one day.)
Day 1, Friday, May 18
Our flight was leaving Dorval at 8:25pm, but we were so excited to finally be leaving that we were at the airport at 4:30! We had a quick check-in at the Zoom counter and then went for a totally bland dinner at Casey’s in the airport. This should be the last blah meal I have for the next 21 days! We left on time, I tried hard to sleep and I think I did, but they were showing 3 movies I wanted to see: Dreamgirls, Music & Lyrics and The Queen! I caught snippets of each in between snoozes. Took pictures of the sun rising over the Atlantic and pinched myself that after a year of planning, this was really happening.
We landed about ½ an hour early, customs was a breeze. We called Gail, the lady we had rented our apartment from, caught a taxi and were in our apartment on Ile St Louis by 10:30am. Gail gave us a quick tour of the place and we were on our own!!
Day 2, Saturday, May 19
We took a quick tour of Ile St Louis, which is a little island smack dab in the middle of Paris, right behind Ile Notre Dame, where the cathedral is. We realized we were exhausted after walking for about 2 hours and came back and slept for about 3 hours. We still had time to try our 1st pain aux chocolat (heaven) and some great cold pizza slices with eggplant and zucchini and cheese (yum, yum). We had a quick shower after our naps to revive ourselves and started back out. We walked to Notre Dame and were in about 5 minutes. What a church! I really enjoyed the 2 mosaics of Jesus’ life, from birth to the resurrection. Den took lots of pics and we were there for about 1 hour. We were too tired to climb the tower, but there’s lots of time for that later. We had a little snack at the café opposite the church (some Beaujolais, a Croque Monsieur and fries). The food was OK, but the view and atmosphere of sitting in the sunshine people-watching with one of the great cathedrals in the world as a background was priceless.
We decided to walk to the Louvre as it was the Nuit des Musees (Night of the Museums), and all museums in Paris (and France, I think) were open that night and free! We decided to take a chance and go, but if there’s a lineup, we’ll just come back later in the week. Well, we walked right in (through the Pyramid, no less!)We rented a couple of audio guides and off we went in search of Mona & Venus. Den and I are not great art buffs, but when in Rome…….. (oh, wait, that’s in 2 weeks!). Well, to say that we were overwhelmed by the treasures in the Louvre is an understatement. The audio guides helped us understand more of what we were seeing. But the surprise of the night was being able to walk right up to the Mona Lisa, there was no lines (after we had been warned that we would probably only be able to see her over the top of the 50 people in front of us) and we were able to look at her for a good 10 minutes, with no one pushing or telling us to hurry up. Den even took a clandestine photo of her (he would continue to do this throughout the trip, earning a few rebukes from angry museum guards, but we do have the pictures to look at now, so hahaha!). It was the same thing with the Venus de Milo and everything else we saw. We spent about 3 hours there and briefly thought of going across the river to see the D’Orsay, but we were hungry and tired. We walked back to Ile St Louis and found a cute little restaurant called L’Ilot Vache. We had seen it earlier in the morning and commented how cute the cow motif was, but no menu was posted then. We looked at the offerings on the prix fixe and went in. It was 10:00 pm by this time and except for our 3 hour nap and fitful zzzzs on the plane, we had been up and about for about 33 hours. Their fixed price menu was 37 euros and included appetizer, main course, cheese plant and dessert. Den had the avocado terrine and I had a smoke salmon salad for appetizers. Den has duck (why a no chicken?) confit (he was determined to try duck (why a no chicken?) while he was in Paris) and I had filet of beef. Everything was very good. We asked our charming waiter if they had either a house wine or a reserve, they didn’t, but he recommended a nice Burgundy in our price range (which is cheap). I was happy he didn’t try to steer us to a 100 euro + bottle, not that we would have bought it, but it would have been awkward to say no. I had crème brulee (what an awesome hard, sugary crust) and Den had a tarte tartin with crème fraiche. Dinner was 120 euros and we had a nice 2 hour meal. We stumbled the 2 blocks to our apartment and slept for the next 9 hours.
Notre Dame
Our 1st Parisian Cafe
Day 3, Sunday, May 20
We had a great night’s sleep. Den went to a bakery a few blocks away and picked up some croissants and pain aux chocolat for breakfast while I made coffee. I’ve never had such flaky pastries in my life; they just melt in your mouth, and are still warm when we take them out of the bags. We ate in the apartment and left for the Bastille market around 11am. We spent about 2 hours and 100 euros at the market, buying cheese, bread, olives, spreads and fruit for the apartment. We thought we were headed home, but we went through the Marais area, Les Halles and ended up on the other side of the Louvre near St Honoree. We also bought wine and dessert on the way home, as well as a silver necklace in a little shop in the Marais. We stopped for some café crèmes and crepes, the coffee was sooooo good and hot, it had drizzled rain all day, but we didn’t care, we were in Paris!! We walked about 6 hours that day and didn’t even notice the rain for the most part. Everywhere we looked, we saw treasures. It didn’t matter that we got lost a couple of times, the views were spectacular any way we took. We got home about 5pm, had an early dinner with our market goodies ( including an awesome mushroom spread) and some wine and then…………well, it is our anniversary! Took the rest of the evening easy, read and planned for tomorrow.
The Louvre Pyramid
Me on Pont Alexandre
Day 4, Tuesday, May 21
Den is off to the bakery to buy some Brioche aux Beurre (a kind of loaf made with lots of butter) and we made breakfast with stuff from yesterday’s market ~ scrambled farm fresh eggs with fresh butter and chevre, tomato slices and smoked salmon. We left the apartment about 9:30 and walked towards the Latin Quarter. We had trouble finding anything open at that time. We were less than impressed with the area until we stumbled onto the Sorbone/Pantheon area. We visited the Pantheon, were impressed with Foucault’s Pendulum and the Crypt. We took the tour to climb to the top of the Dome (206 steps!) and they let us stop and look down from the inside of the Dome ~ awesome!
We walked to the Luxembourg Gardens and sat for a few minutes and then on to St Sulpice Church. We saw the infamous “Rose Line” ~ it’s amazing the impact of the Da Vinci Code when the Catholic Church feels the need to put a disclaimer about the Rose Line right in the church for people to read. We then walked to St Germain de Pres and all the shops we can’t afford. We had a great little lunch at Le Jardin de St Germain (onion soups, Beef Bourguignon for Den and Salmon with butter sauce for me, Kirs and wine ~ nice meal for about 36 euros). We then walked to Le Bon Marche department store, again looking at stuff way over our price range (mostly high designer prices in this area). We crossed the street to La Grande Epicerie de Paris and spent about an hour and 47euros on gourmet food and chocolates (there is a wonderful outdoor terrace on the second floor, where we had some café crèmes). We saw that we were close to the Rodin Museum, so we walked about 15 minutes, but were disappointed to find it closed Mondays. Since it was now 4:30 and we had been walking about 7 hours, we decided to take the Metro back to Ile Notre Dame. The Metro was very easy to navigate (I used the Montreal metro for over 20 years, so I’m used to reading subway maps) and we ere back in the apartment about 5:15 to relax before dinner. We took a little nap and a quick refreshing shower and were back out by 8pm. We started to walk towards the Marais area, but Den really wanted to walk down the Seine and enjoy the sunset. We walked all the way down to Pont Alexandre, which is a spectacular bridge with many gilt statues decorating it (anyone who saw the Soprano episode where Carmela goes to Paris, which is the bridge that she looks in wonder at). We walked around the Trocadero area looking for views of the Eiffel Tower. The restaurants that had great views all seemed geared to tourists and I wasn’t crazy about the menu selections, so we continued walking until we came to a little restaurant called Le Jardin de Mars, which was still packed at 10:30pm. We waited about 15 minutes for a table, but it was worth it. Our waiter was friendly and professional. Den ordered pate de campagne to start and then a fillet of beef with béarnaise sauce for his dinner. I had braised leeks, which were delicate and delicious, and a country chicken with morels and rice. We asked our waiter for a wine recommendation and when we found that Den is not really a wine lover (blasphemy, I know!) he recommended the house Brouilly. We started with ½ a liter and enjoyed it so much, we had another ½ liter. I had a strawberry tarte for dessert and Den was lucky enough to order an Ile Flotant, which was light and airy and so yummy. We finished dinner about 11:45 and walked the five minutes to the Eiffel Tower. Five minutes after we got there, the twinkling lights came on and we were both overcome with awe!! We just looked at each other with goofy smiles on our faces, not believing where we were and what we were seeing. We finally took a cab back to the apartment and were home by 12:30.
Us at Sacre Coeur
Our big splurge at Jules Verne
Day 5, Tuesday, May 22
Den went for his regular bakery run; I think I have developed an addition to pain au chocolat (just warm enough that the chocolate in the middle oozes out when you bite it). We sliced some mango, strawberries and some great chevre and St Emilien cheeses and had a great breakfast with fresh coffee and just squeezed OJ (not squeezed by me, of course, I’m on vacation!) We left the apartment around 11am and took the metro to Sacre Coeur. The funicular was out of order, so we climbed the stairs to the top and spent about an hour looking at the views and the church. We started to walk around Montmartre, but it was a bit too touristy for us (reminded me of Old Montreal in the summer, when the tourists outnumber the natives by about 10 to 1), so we took the metro back to the Jewish area and went in search of the As du Falafel. Well, it sure was worth the search. OMG, we have had great meals in Paris so far, but these pita sandwiches were out of this world. We got the lamb schwarmas, all dressed, including roasted eggplant (yum, yum) and munched on the street along with everyone else, sauce and fixings dripping out of the pitas. Den managed to scarf down 2 of these huge monsters. We found an internet café and sent e-mails to family and friends to let them know we were still alive and well. We walked around the Marais area again, had another café crème and crème brulee and were back in the apartment about 6:30. We decided to try the Latin Quarter again ~ we finally found Rue Mouteffard (which ended up being only a 15 minute walk from our place) and after looking at the many options, settled on a tiny Moroccan place called Nomad. We sat at a tiny outside table and ordered a bottle of Moroccan rosee. We then shared a plate of appetizers and each had a tangine (I had wanted to try this while I was in Paris). I had the lamb and Den had the lemon chicken. The plates were huge, with too much meat, and very flavorful broth at the bottom, perfect for dipping the rest of our bread in. We walked around a little more to get the feel for this area (we will definitely have to come back here, so many cute restaurants and bars) and headed back to our island. On the way, we passed the Tour D’argent (maybe next trip), saw the Eiffel Tower twinkling away in the distance and kissed on the bridge over the Seine. Sigh……..We had hoped to finally try the famous Berthillon ice cream, but they were closed again. We settled for a cup of Italian gelato (mango, pistachio and chocolate flavours), swooned and walked back to the apartment at 11:30pm.
High above Paris on the Eiffel Tower
Mr. Van Gough
Day 6, Wednesday, May 23
We have reservations at the Jules Verne restaurant at the Eiffel Tower for 12:30 today. We took the metro to the Eiffel Tower and the private elevator to the restaurant, on the second level of the tower. It has a stark black and white décor, very formal and classy. The restaurant was taken over by Alain Ducasse this year, one of Paris’ premier chefs and now one of the hardest tables to get in the city. We had made these reservations 6 weeks before (we had to settle for lunch because dinner was completely booked the week we were there) and this was to be our big splurge (well, at least until we got to Italy).
We had a table not quite next to the window but close enough to enjoy the view. We both had the prix fixe menu at 65 euros each (about $110 Canadian each, so it better be pretty good!) We started with a Kir Royale and just enjoyed being there. We both had the chicken terrine and duck (why a no chicken?) foie gras for appetizers, Den had chicken with crayfish and I had a sea bass for my main dish. They brought a little teaser of cauliflower and asparagus mousse in a shot glass before the appetizers, which was exquisite. We had a bottle of Sancerre which went down quite nicely. I had a baba aux rum with fresh cream and glazed pineapple for dessert and Den had a caramel brick with a glacee of cocoa. Little pastries and a little box of chocolate truffles were also brought to the table. We finished with 2 café crèmes. Lunch was 272 euros (about $400 Canadian) and worth every penny (at least until I get the MasterCard bill!). We had delightful lunch companions on either side of us (Americans to my right and Italians to my left), the waiters were friendly and professional and it was a wonderful, special way to celebrate our 25th anniversary. After our 3 hour interlude, we walked down to the 2nd level and Den took more pictures (he took some of every food course we had, we had never seen such pretty food!) and then we went down to the first level to mail some postcards home to get the Eiffel Tower postmark. We walked along the Seine with the intention of visiting the D’Orsay Museum on the way home, but we got there a few minutes after the last admissions. We continued walking home and got a phone call from Sebastian that made us smile for the next 5 kilometers. We stopped at the Café Fleur de L’Ile for a little tea and some more people watching, then picked up some beer, wine, bread and dessert and had dinner in the apartment with the stuff from Sunday’s Bastille market run. Tomorrow we will try D’Orsay again.
Den & Whistler's Mom
Arc de Triomphe
Day 7, Thursday, May 24
Out the door before 9 this morning, after our usual pain aux chocolat and coffee. We took the metro to D’Orsay and were in the doors right at 9:30. We spent 3 hours wandering around, admiring both the art and the building, which is a converted train station. I really enjoyed the Van Goughs, as did Den. We saw some Rodins, some neat sculptures by Degas and some really awesome African head sculptures by an artist whose name I can’t remember. We left the museum about 12:15 and walked across the bridge and had a bland lunch at the open air café at the Jardin des Tuilleries. The food wasn’t bad, just not the spectacular fare we’ve become used to. We then walked down the Champs Elysees to the Arc de Triompe, but opted out of going up the 280 steps to the top (we’ve been walking about 6 hours by now). We took the metro to Les Galleries Lafayette and had moules/frites at a little place on one of the side streets. The meal was wonderful; the fries were crunchy and just greasy enough that I couldn’t resist them! We shopped for about 3 hours and took the metro home. We freshened up and went to Chez Marianne in the Jewish Quarter ~ had a plate of 10 different spreads, salads and meats with a bottle of house wine (of course!). We just sat outside for a few hours and enjoyed a balmy evening. The place was still packed when we left around 10:30. We walked around a little more to digest and were home at 11:15.
The Inverted Pyramid at the Louvre
A rainy evening in Paris
Day 8, Friday, May 25 ~ Our last full day in Paris!!
Out the door by 9:15 and took the metro to the Louvre to see the masterpieces we missed on Saturday (has it really been a week already!). We saw the Marley horses, Michelangelo’s Slaves and the French Crown Jewels, among others. We went in through the Metro Jardin de Louvre entrance with no problems and saw the inverted pyramids (remember the Da Vinci Code?) We stayed about 3 hours and headed back to L’as du Falafel again for a quick lunch. I don’t know how I will go without a fix of these again, they are awesome. Had a quick nap in the apartment and out again by 5, getting stuck in a thunderstorm for about 15 minutes. Den took some great pictures of the rain, the river and the cars headed home for the weekend along the Seine with their headlights shining in the rain. We finally had some Berthillon ice cream and it was worth the wait. I had cassis and salted caramel flavours and Den had pear and pistachios. We walked around the island for the last afternoon and got a lesson on foe gras by a lady who has a tiny shop there. Her family raises their own ducks and geese and everything is made from scratch. We bought a couple of jars to bring back home and remind us of Paris. Our dinner at Aux Fous de L’Ile was very good, Den had snails and lamb stuffed with pate and I had bruschetta with chevre and a perfectly rare rib steak. We both had baked potatoes with some kind of cream and chives that was delicious. Sure didn’t taste like the sour cream we put on our potatoes at home. Den has Crème Brulee (again!) and I had the Marquis de Chocolat, which was like sex on a plate, only better! We practically ran to the Vedettes de Pont Neuf to take the last Seine cruise of the night at 10:30. It was cold, but really cool to see all the sights we had seen all week, but from a totally different perspective. Got back to the apartment around midnight, we are exhausted but ecstatic about our week in Paris. Everything we could have hoped for and more. Tomorrow……..Italy!!!
Us and Eiffel
The Eiffel Tower from our Seine cruise
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Jo & Den’s European Adventure
May 18 – June 9, 2007
Prelude
I actually kept a journal during our trip, so this is really a day by day account of our trip. It is very long and really goes into detail about what we ate, drank and saw, since I really wanted to be able to remember it all. It is probably too long for most people, so feel free to skip parts or even the whole damn thing. This was a trip of a lifetime for Den & I and we were changed by the things we saw and experienced. We hope to go back to Europe many more times (sadly, this will leave less time and money for Hedo, but we just feel the need to see more of the world at this time. I know we will go back to Hedo one day.)
Day 1, Friday, May 18
Our flight was leaving Dorval at 8:25pm, but we were so excited to finally be leaving that we were at the airport at 4:30! We had a quick check-in at the Zoom counter and then went for a totally bland dinner at Casey’s in the airport. This should be the last blah meal I have for the next 21 days! We left on time, I tried hard to sleep and I think I did, but they were showing 3 movies I wanted to see: Dreamgirls, Music & Lyrics and The Queen! I caught snippets of each in between snoozes. Took pictures of the sun rising over the Atlantic and pinched myself that after a year of planning, this was really happening.
We landed about ½ an hour early, customs was a breeze. We called Gail, the lady we had rented our apartment from, caught a taxi and were in our apartment on Ile St Louis by 10:30am. Gail gave us a quick tour of the place and we were on our own!!
Day 2, Saturday, May 19
We took a quick tour of Ile St Louis, which is a little island smack dab in the middle of Paris, right behind Ile Notre Dame, where the cathedral is. We realized we were exhausted after walking for about 2 hours and came back and slept for about 3 hours. We still had time to try our 1st pain aux chocolat (heaven) and some great cold pizza slices with eggplant and zucchini and cheese (yum, yum). We had a quick shower after our naps to revive ourselves and started back out. We walked to Notre Dame and were in about 5 minutes. What a church! I really enjoyed the 2 mosaics of Jesus’ life, from birth to the resurrection. Den took lots of pics and we were there for about 1 hour. We were too tired to climb the tower, but there’s lots of time for that later. We had a little snack at the café opposite the church (some Beaujolais, a Croque Monsieur and fries). The food was OK, but the view and atmosphere of sitting in the sunshine people-watching with one of the great cathedrals in the world as a background was priceless.
We decided to walk to the Louvre as it was the Nuit des Musees (Night of the Museums), and all museums in Paris (and France, I think) were open that night and free! We decided to take a chance and go, but if there’s a lineup, we’ll just come back later in the week. Well, we walked right in (through the Pyramid, no less!)We rented a couple of audio guides and off we went in search of Mona & Venus. Den and I are not great art buffs, but when in Rome…….. (oh, wait, that’s in 2 weeks!). Well, to say that we were overwhelmed by the treasures in the Louvre is an understatement. The audio guides helped us understand more of what we were seeing. But the surprise of the night was being able to walk right up to the Mona Lisa, there was no lines (after we had been warned that we would probably only be able to see her over the top of the 50 people in front of us) and we were able to look at her for a good 10 minutes, with no one pushing or telling us to hurry up. Den even took a clandestine photo of her (he would continue to do this throughout the trip, earning a few rebukes from angry museum guards, but we do have the pictures to look at now, so hahaha!). It was the same thing with the Venus de Milo and everything else we saw. We spent about 3 hours there and briefly thought of going across the river to see the D’Orsay, but we were hungry and tired. We walked back to Ile St Louis and found a cute little restaurant called L’Ilot Vache. We had seen it earlier in the morning and commented how cute the cow motif was, but no menu was posted then. We looked at the offerings on the prix fixe and went in. It was 10:00 pm by this time and except for our 3 hour nap and fitful zzzzs on the plane, we had been up and about for about 33 hours. Their fixed price menu was 37 euros and included appetizer, main course, cheese plant and dessert. Den had the avocado terrine and I had a smoke salmon salad for appetizers. Den has duck (why a no chicken?) confit (he was determined to try duck (why a no chicken?) while he was in Paris) and I had filet of beef. Everything was very good. We asked our charming waiter if they had either a house wine or a reserve, they didn’t, but he recommended a nice Burgundy in our price range (which is cheap). I was happy he didn’t try to steer us to a 100 euro + bottle, not that we would have bought it, but it would have been awkward to say no. I had crème brulee (what an awesome hard, sugary crust) and Den had a tarte tartin with crème fraiche. Dinner was 120 euros and we had a nice 2 hour meal. We stumbled the 2 blocks to our apartment and slept for the next 9 hours.
Notre Dame
Our 1st Parisian Cafe
Day 3, Sunday, May 20
We had a great night’s sleep. Den went to a bakery a few blocks away and picked up some croissants and pain aux chocolat for breakfast while I made coffee. I’ve never had such flaky pastries in my life; they just melt in your mouth, and are still warm when we take them out of the bags. We ate in the apartment and left for the Bastille market around 11am. We spent about 2 hours and 100 euros at the market, buying cheese, bread, olives, spreads and fruit for the apartment. We thought we were headed home, but we went through the Marais area, Les Halles and ended up on the other side of the Louvre near St Honoree. We also bought wine and dessert on the way home, as well as a silver necklace in a little shop in the Marais. We stopped for some café crèmes and crepes, the coffee was sooooo good and hot, it had drizzled rain all day, but we didn’t care, we were in Paris!! We walked about 6 hours that day and didn’t even notice the rain for the most part. Everywhere we looked, we saw treasures. It didn’t matter that we got lost a couple of times, the views were spectacular any way we took. We got home about 5pm, had an early dinner with our market goodies ( including an awesome mushroom spread) and some wine and then…………well, it is our anniversary! Took the rest of the evening easy, read and planned for tomorrow.
The Louvre Pyramid
Me on Pont Alexandre
Day 4, Tuesday, May 21
Den is off to the bakery to buy some Brioche aux Beurre (a kind of loaf made with lots of butter) and we made breakfast with stuff from yesterday’s market ~ scrambled farm fresh eggs with fresh butter and chevre, tomato slices and smoked salmon. We left the apartment about 9:30 and walked towards the Latin Quarter. We had trouble finding anything open at that time. We were less than impressed with the area until we stumbled onto the Sorbone/Pantheon area. We visited the Pantheon, were impressed with Foucault’s Pendulum and the Crypt. We took the tour to climb to the top of the Dome (206 steps!) and they let us stop and look down from the inside of the Dome ~ awesome!
We walked to the Luxembourg Gardens and sat for a few minutes and then on to St Sulpice Church. We saw the infamous “Rose Line” ~ it’s amazing the impact of the Da Vinci Code when the Catholic Church feels the need to put a disclaimer about the Rose Line right in the church for people to read. We then walked to St Germain de Pres and all the shops we can’t afford. We had a great little lunch at Le Jardin de St Germain (onion soups, Beef Bourguignon for Den and Salmon with butter sauce for me, Kirs and wine ~ nice meal for about 36 euros). We then walked to Le Bon Marche department store, again looking at stuff way over our price range (mostly high designer prices in this area). We crossed the street to La Grande Epicerie de Paris and spent about an hour and 47euros on gourmet food and chocolates (there is a wonderful outdoor terrace on the second floor, where we had some café crèmes). We saw that we were close to the Rodin Museum, so we walked about 15 minutes, but were disappointed to find it closed Mondays. Since it was now 4:30 and we had been walking about 7 hours, we decided to take the Metro back to Ile Notre Dame. The Metro was very easy to navigate (I used the Montreal metro for over 20 years, so I’m used to reading subway maps) and we ere back in the apartment about 5:15 to relax before dinner. We took a little nap and a quick refreshing shower and were back out by 8pm. We started to walk towards the Marais area, but Den really wanted to walk down the Seine and enjoy the sunset. We walked all the way down to Pont Alexandre, which is a spectacular bridge with many gilt statues decorating it (anyone who saw the Soprano episode where Carmela goes to Paris, which is the bridge that she looks in wonder at). We walked around the Trocadero area looking for views of the Eiffel Tower. The restaurants that had great views all seemed geared to tourists and I wasn’t crazy about the menu selections, so we continued walking until we came to a little restaurant called Le Jardin de Mars, which was still packed at 10:30pm. We waited about 15 minutes for a table, but it was worth it. Our waiter was friendly and professional. Den ordered pate de campagne to start and then a fillet of beef with béarnaise sauce for his dinner. I had braised leeks, which were delicate and delicious, and a country chicken with morels and rice. We asked our waiter for a wine recommendation and when we found that Den is not really a wine lover (blasphemy, I know!) he recommended the house Brouilly. We started with ½ a liter and enjoyed it so much, we had another ½ liter. I had a strawberry tarte for dessert and Den was lucky enough to order an Ile Flotant, which was light and airy and so yummy. We finished dinner about 11:45 and walked the five minutes to the Eiffel Tower. Five minutes after we got there, the twinkling lights came on and we were both overcome with awe!! We just looked at each other with goofy smiles on our faces, not believing where we were and what we were seeing. We finally took a cab back to the apartment and were home by 12:30.
Us at Sacre Coeur
Our big splurge at Jules Verne
Day 5, Tuesday, May 22
Den went for his regular bakery run; I think I have developed an addition to pain au chocolat (just warm enough that the chocolate in the middle oozes out when you bite it). We sliced some mango, strawberries and some great chevre and St Emilien cheeses and had a great breakfast with fresh coffee and just squeezed OJ (not squeezed by me, of course, I’m on vacation!) We left the apartment around 11am and took the metro to Sacre Coeur. The funicular was out of order, so we climbed the stairs to the top and spent about an hour looking at the views and the church. We started to walk around Montmartre, but it was a bit too touristy for us (reminded me of Old Montreal in the summer, when the tourists outnumber the natives by about 10 to 1), so we took the metro back to the Jewish area and went in search of the As du Falafel. Well, it sure was worth the search. OMG, we have had great meals in Paris so far, but these pita sandwiches were out of this world. We got the lamb schwarmas, all dressed, including roasted eggplant (yum, yum) and munched on the street along with everyone else, sauce and fixings dripping out of the pitas. Den managed to scarf down 2 of these huge monsters. We found an internet café and sent e-mails to family and friends to let them know we were still alive and well. We walked around the Marais area again, had another café crème and crème brulee and were back in the apartment about 6:30. We decided to try the Latin Quarter again ~ we finally found Rue Mouteffard (which ended up being only a 15 minute walk from our place) and after looking at the many options, settled on a tiny Moroccan place called Nomad. We sat at a tiny outside table and ordered a bottle of Moroccan rosee. We then shared a plate of appetizers and each had a tangine (I had wanted to try this while I was in Paris). I had the lamb and Den had the lemon chicken. The plates were huge, with too much meat, and very flavorful broth at the bottom, perfect for dipping the rest of our bread in. We walked around a little more to get the feel for this area (we will definitely have to come back here, so many cute restaurants and bars) and headed back to our island. On the way, we passed the Tour D’argent (maybe next trip), saw the Eiffel Tower twinkling away in the distance and kissed on the bridge over the Seine. Sigh……..We had hoped to finally try the famous Berthillon ice cream, but they were closed again. We settled for a cup of Italian gelato (mango, pistachio and chocolate flavours), swooned and walked back to the apartment at 11:30pm.
High above Paris on the Eiffel Tower
Mr. Van Gough
Day 6, Wednesday, May 23
We have reservations at the Jules Verne restaurant at the Eiffel Tower for 12:30 today. We took the metro to the Eiffel Tower and the private elevator to the restaurant, on the second level of the tower. It has a stark black and white décor, very formal and classy. The restaurant was taken over by Alain Ducasse this year, one of Paris’ premier chefs and now one of the hardest tables to get in the city. We had made these reservations 6 weeks before (we had to settle for lunch because dinner was completely booked the week we were there) and this was to be our big splurge (well, at least until we got to Italy).
We had a table not quite next to the window but close enough to enjoy the view. We both had the prix fixe menu at 65 euros each (about $110 Canadian each, so it better be pretty good!) We started with a Kir Royale and just enjoyed being there. We both had the chicken terrine and duck (why a no chicken?) foie gras for appetizers, Den had chicken with crayfish and I had a sea bass for my main dish. They brought a little teaser of cauliflower and asparagus mousse in a shot glass before the appetizers, which was exquisite. We had a bottle of Sancerre which went down quite nicely. I had a baba aux rum with fresh cream and glazed pineapple for dessert and Den had a caramel brick with a glacee of cocoa. Little pastries and a little box of chocolate truffles were also brought to the table. We finished with 2 café crèmes. Lunch was 272 euros (about $400 Canadian) and worth every penny (at least until I get the MasterCard bill!). We had delightful lunch companions on either side of us (Americans to my right and Italians to my left), the waiters were friendly and professional and it was a wonderful, special way to celebrate our 25th anniversary. After our 3 hour interlude, we walked down to the 2nd level and Den took more pictures (he took some of every food course we had, we had never seen such pretty food!) and then we went down to the first level to mail some postcards home to get the Eiffel Tower postmark. We walked along the Seine with the intention of visiting the D’Orsay Museum on the way home, but we got there a few minutes after the last admissions. We continued walking home and got a phone call from Sebastian that made us smile for the next 5 kilometers. We stopped at the Café Fleur de L’Ile for a little tea and some more people watching, then picked up some beer, wine, bread and dessert and had dinner in the apartment with the stuff from Sunday’s Bastille market run. Tomorrow we will try D’Orsay again.
Den & Whistler's Mom
Arc de Triomphe
Day 7, Thursday, May 24
Out the door before 9 this morning, after our usual pain aux chocolat and coffee. We took the metro to D’Orsay and were in the doors right at 9:30. We spent 3 hours wandering around, admiring both the art and the building, which is a converted train station. I really enjoyed the Van Goughs, as did Den. We saw some Rodins, some neat sculptures by Degas and some really awesome African head sculptures by an artist whose name I can’t remember. We left the museum about 12:15 and walked across the bridge and had a bland lunch at the open air café at the Jardin des Tuilleries. The food wasn’t bad, just not the spectacular fare we’ve become used to. We then walked down the Champs Elysees to the Arc de Triompe, but opted out of going up the 280 steps to the top (we’ve been walking about 6 hours by now). We took the metro to Les Galleries Lafayette and had moules/frites at a little place on one of the side streets. The meal was wonderful; the fries were crunchy and just greasy enough that I couldn’t resist them! We shopped for about 3 hours and took the metro home. We freshened up and went to Chez Marianne in the Jewish Quarter ~ had a plate of 10 different spreads, salads and meats with a bottle of house wine (of course!). We just sat outside for a few hours and enjoyed a balmy evening. The place was still packed when we left around 10:30. We walked around a little more to digest and were home at 11:15.
The Inverted Pyramid at the Louvre
A rainy evening in Paris
Day 8, Friday, May 25 ~ Our last full day in Paris!!
Out the door by 9:15 and took the metro to the Louvre to see the masterpieces we missed on Saturday (has it really been a week already!). We saw the Marley horses, Michelangelo’s Slaves and the French Crown Jewels, among others. We went in through the Metro Jardin de Louvre entrance with no problems and saw the inverted pyramids (remember the Da Vinci Code?) We stayed about 3 hours and headed back to L’as du Falafel again for a quick lunch. I don’t know how I will go without a fix of these again, they are awesome. Had a quick nap in the apartment and out again by 5, getting stuck in a thunderstorm for about 15 minutes. Den took some great pictures of the rain, the river and the cars headed home for the weekend along the Seine with their headlights shining in the rain. We finally had some Berthillon ice cream and it was worth the wait. I had cassis and salted caramel flavours and Den had pear and pistachios. We walked around the island for the last afternoon and got a lesson on foe gras by a lady who has a tiny shop there. Her family raises their own ducks and geese and everything is made from scratch. We bought a couple of jars to bring back home and remind us of Paris. Our dinner at Aux Fous de L’Ile was very good, Den had snails and lamb stuffed with pate and I had bruschetta with chevre and a perfectly rare rib steak. We both had baked potatoes with some kind of cream and chives that was delicious. Sure didn’t taste like the sour cream we put on our potatoes at home. Den has Crème Brulee (again!) and I had the Marquis de Chocolat, which was like sex on a plate, only better! We practically ran to the Vedettes de Pont Neuf to take the last Seine cruise of the night at 10:30. It was cold, but really cool to see all the sights we had seen all week, but from a totally different perspective. Got back to the apartment around midnight, we are exhausted but ecstatic about our week in Paris. Everything we could have hoped for and more. Tomorrow……..Italy!!!
Us and Eiffel
The Eiffel Tower from our Seine cruise
LOL Here is some Karma for you!
