Sunday, September 27, 2009
Paris Part Trois
Our last day in Paris, so sad :-(
While getting our coffee that morning, we had our first experience with the "Paris waiter", except it was a waitress, but either way. We sat down at a café and ordered our coffees and while we were waiting for them to be brought out, an older couple sat at the table next to us (and proceeded to smoke while the wind blew right at us....yuk!) which still happened to be still dirty. The waitress took their order and in a few minutes, came back with their drinks, at which time, all hell broke loose. The man next to us (of course, this is all in French, therefore, our translation is mainly speculation) said something to the waitress about needing to clear the table before giving them their drinks which escalated into an all-out yelling match between the waitress and the man (something that would never be tolerated in the US's "customer is always right" restaurant industry) with the waitress making the argument that they could have sat at any of the clean tables while the man got angrier and angrier. Eventually, what seemed like a manager or head-waiter came by and tried to calm everything down but by this time, the customer was livid and said to his wife, "let's go". The waitress was in tears while the manager tried to comfort her, telling her it was ok and not to worry about it. It was a very strange incident for me to witness after all of my years of restaurant work, but on the whole, that was the only negative experience we had with the servers in France.
After coffee we did a lot more walking around; we went to Île de la Cité (island on the river, originally, the city was sequestered to this island) to see Notre Dame de Paris and other landmarks that I don't remember anymore(such as the one pictured below).
By this time, we started to get anxious for lunch so we began to search for a store to supply the lunch we had in mind. Eventually we found an open grocery store, well, it was only open for 5 more minutes so we ran in, grabbed a round of cheese and some wine (which took some strategy, since we hadn't brought the corkscrew...mental note for next trip), then a few streets over, we managed to find an open bakery where we bought a baguette, then we took our loot to the other side of the river to eat our lunch on the river bank 
with a beautiful view of Notre Dame and Île Saint Louis, which was thoroughly enjoyable. After lunch we walked across the bridge to Île Saint Louis which was the French's first attempt at city 
planning resulting in blocks and blocks of magnificent mansions connected by one way streets. They were gorgeous but I can't imagine living somewhere so massive. I thought we had a lot of stuff, but I'm sure that everything filling up my parents basement and the guest room at the Reindl's wouldn't even be able to fill one floor of the 7 or 8 floor houses on the island. We then walked back to Île de la Cité where we contemplated climbing the stairs to the top of Notre Dame, but we were already planning to walk up to the 2nd floor (remember, 43 flights of stairs) of the Eiffel Tower and decided that doing both would just be too much. We did get the typical touristy pictures in front of the church though.
The walk back to the hotel/Eiffel Tower was fairly uneventful although I did find my Parisian
dream house. It's the little one with the big blue door, squashed between the two 6 story houses. And to go along with my adorable house with the big blue door, I will drive this will blue car. It will be perfect!
The walk up to the second floor of the Eiffel Tower was not nearly as strenuous as I had imagine it would be, but I have also been walking at least 2 miles (and some days, many more) every day since moving here over a month ago. So I guess in a way, we had been "training" for this ascent. The view was amazing and only one girl came running down the stairs crying and looking as though she would be sick from the height. Here I am after the climb.
After walking up the first half (roughly) of the tower, we bought tickets and got in line to ride the elevator to the top floor; unfortunately, there aren't stairs to the top, otherwise we would have done the whole thing. The Tower was pretty packed, which wasn't too much of a surprise since all of the stores were closed and what else are the tourists going to do on a Sunday?
The photo above is my favorite view from the top of the Eiffel Tower, although we still haven't figured out what the building is.
And here is a super cheese picture of Michael and I on the top floor. I hate kissing pictures, I guess I'm just really not a PDA (public display of affection -- for you clueless people) type of person, but Mary made me promise to get a kissing picture on top of the Eiffel Tower. So Mary, this one's for you!
And the whole time in the tower we were 5,849 km or 3,634 miles from home, or close to home at least.
Since it was a Sunday and so many places were closed, we couldn't find anywhere we would rather eat than the little place next to the hotel. It was nice and familiar by this point. Michael ordered a croque madame which is exactly like the croque monsignor I had earlier in the weekend (opened faced ham and cheese) but with a fried egg on top and I ordered french onion soup; I think we were still trying to recover from the massive amount of food we had eaten on Saturday. By this time we were getting a little depressed at the though of having to go home, but we had an hour left so we got our bags from the hotel and did one last lap around les Invalides which is a large block of buildings which was originally used as a war hospital but is now a museum and the final resting place of Napoleon. Here is a picture of it all lit up at night:
And finally, I'll leave you with a favorite picture of Paris taken with the help of a stone wall because we don't have a tripod.
While getting our coffee that morning, we had our first experience with the "Paris waiter", except it was a waitress, but either way. We sat down at a café and ordered our coffees and while we were waiting for them to be brought out, an older couple sat at the table next to us (and proceeded to smoke while the wind blew right at us....yuk!) which still happened to be still dirty. The waitress took their order and in a few minutes, came back with their drinks, at which time, all hell broke loose. The man next to us (of course, this is all in French, therefore, our translation is mainly speculation) said something to the waitress about needing to clear the table before giving them their drinks which escalated into an all-out yelling match between the waitress and the man (something that would never be tolerated in the US's "customer is always right" restaurant industry) with the waitress making the argument that they could have sat at any of the clean tables while the man got angrier and angrier. Eventually, what seemed like a manager or head-waiter came by and tried to calm everything down but by this time, the customer was livid and said to his wife, "let's go". The waitress was in tears while the manager tried to comfort her, telling her it was ok and not to worry about it. It was a very strange incident for me to witness after all of my years of restaurant work, but on the whole, that was the only negative experience we had with the servers in France.
After coffee we did a lot more walking around; we went to Île de la Cité (island on the river, originally, the city was sequestered to this island) to see Notre Dame de Paris and other landmarks that I don't remember anymore(such as the one pictured below).
By this time, we started to get anxious for lunch so we began to search for a store to supply the lunch we had in mind. Eventually we found an open grocery store, well, it was only open for 5 more minutes so we ran in, grabbed a round of cheese and some wine (which took some strategy, since we hadn't brought the corkscrew...mental note for next trip), then a few streets over, we managed to find an open bakery where we bought a baguette, then we took our loot to the other side of the river to eat our lunch on the river bank 
with a beautiful view of Notre Dame and Île Saint Louis, which was thoroughly enjoyable. After lunch we walked across the bridge to Île Saint Louis which was the French's first attempt at city 
planning resulting in blocks and blocks of magnificent mansions connected by one way streets. They were gorgeous but I can't imagine living somewhere so massive. I thought we had a lot of stuff, but I'm sure that everything filling up my parents basement and the guest room at the Reindl's wouldn't even be able to fill one floor of the 7 or 8 floor houses on the island. We then walked back to Île de la Cité where we contemplated climbing the stairs to the top of Notre Dame, but we were already planning to walk up to the 2nd floor (remember, 43 flights of stairs) of the Eiffel Tower and decided that doing both would just be too much. We did get the typical touristy pictures in front of the church though.The walk back to the hotel/Eiffel Tower was fairly uneventful although I did find my Parisian
dream house. It's the little one with the big blue door, squashed between the two 6 story houses. And to go along with my adorable house with the big blue door, I will drive this will blue car. It will be perfect!
The walk up to the second floor of the Eiffel Tower was not nearly as strenuous as I had imagine it would be, but I have also been walking at least 2 miles (and some days, many more) every day since moving here over a month ago. So I guess in a way, we had been "training" for this ascent. The view was amazing and only one girl came running down the stairs crying and looking as though she would be sick from the height. Here I am after the climb.
After walking up the first half (roughly) of the tower, we bought tickets and got in line to ride the elevator to the top floor; unfortunately, there aren't stairs to the top, otherwise we would have done the whole thing. The Tower was pretty packed, which wasn't too much of a surprise since all of the stores were closed and what else are the tourists going to do on a Sunday?
The photo above is my favorite view from the top of the Eiffel Tower, although we still haven't figured out what the building is.
And here is a super cheese picture of Michael and I on the top floor. I hate kissing pictures, I guess I'm just really not a PDA (public display of affection -- for you clueless people) type of person, but Mary made me promise to get a kissing picture on top of the Eiffel Tower. So Mary, this one's for you!
And the whole time in the tower we were 5,849 km or 3,634 miles from home, or close to home at least.
Since it was a Sunday and so many places were closed, we couldn't find anywhere we would rather eat than the little place next to the hotel. It was nice and familiar by this point. Michael ordered a croque madame which is exactly like the croque monsignor I had earlier in the weekend (opened faced ham and cheese) but with a fried egg on top and I ordered french onion soup; I think we were still trying to recover from the massive amount of food we had eaten on Saturday. By this time we were getting a little depressed at the though of having to go home, but we had an hour left so we got our bags from the hotel and did one last lap around les Invalides which is a large block of buildings which was originally used as a war hospital but is now a museum and the final resting place of Napoleon. Here is a picture of it all lit up at night:
And finally, I'll leave you with a favorite picture of Paris taken with the help of a stone wall because we don't have a tripod.
Paris Part Deux
So I forgot to mention the significance of the dog poo in my post about Friday. Funny story actually -- after our aforementioned nap and coffee, we met Harry and Camille in the lobby but instead of leaving for the boat tour right away, as we had expected, Camille told us that because of the dog poop incident and because they had been so late in getting our room ready for us, the hotel was treating us to a glass of champagne in the garden, go figure :-) So we were treated, by the hotel, to our first glass of champagne in France; I should step in dog poo more often!
What a lovely sleep we had Friday night on a bed without a crack that expanded through the night!
We were on our own Saturday morning, and when in Paris, the first thing we had to do was go out and get coffee and pastries for breakfast. On our trek for breakfast, we spotted the lovely Jaguar (knew you'd like that Dad) above with a view of la Tour Eiffel in the background. After a delicious chocolate croissant (Michael's) and 
chaussons aux pommes (apple turnover - mine), we trekked our way up to l'Arc de Triomphe which is so much larger in person than I had ever emagined. We continued our tourist walk down the Avenue des Champs-Élysées (very famous commercial street leading from the Arc toward the) Louvre. I won't attempt to describe everything we saw along the way; there is just way to much and I couldn't begin to relate the incredible history to you. We made our way back across the river and towards our hotel to meet Harry and Camille for lunch at le Jules Verne, Alain Ducasse's restaurant on the second floor of the Eiffel Tower. This was also our first time up close to the tower, which seemed, at first glance, much smaller than it does in the movies; that feeling quickly changed, however, as we were riding the glass sided elevator up to the restaurant. Just being on the 2nd floor of the tower (2nd floor = 43 regular building floors) seemed incredibly high and that was only half way up the tower!
Lunch was pretty amazing. I've had some nice muli-course meals before, but the food coupled with the incredible view made it that much more enjoyable. We did a 5 course degustation menu including both entrées, one of the two meats, and both desserts. We first had champagne cocktails with passion fruit and something else...I can't remember anymore, but it was delicious! Then the meal started off with an aperatif, a tiny serving of a gazpacho-like cold soup with smoked goose (I think...it may have been smoked duck though). I have copied the menu below (in French and English) for you to look over, and of course, Harry's wine pairings were wonderful with the meal.
Entrées
HOMARD de nos côtes Bellevue, sabayon au fumet de crustacés
Bellevue lobster, zabayon with shellfish broth
CHOU braisé et foie gras de canard, sucs de cuisson
Braised cabbage and duck liver, cooking juice
POISSON & VIANDE / FISH & MEAT
Blanc de TURBOTà la plancha, poireaux à peine crémés,
sauce à la figue noire
Pan-seared turbot, lightly creamed leeks, black fig sauce
Michael chose this main course (which was awesome), while the rest of us opted for:
Grenadin de VEAU cuit au sautoir, pommes Anna
Pan-seared veal, potatoes Anna
The veal was the only thing that wasn't excellent...it could have been a little more rare. But, the potatoes were absolutely amazing!
DESSERTS
Palet FRAMBOISE/CITRON, sorbet fromage blanc
Raspberry and lemon shortbread, cottage cheese sorbet
My favorite dessert out of the two, very light and refreshing...
L’ÉCROU AU CHOCOLATet praliné croustillant, glace noisette
Tower bolt, dark chocolate praliné, hazelnut ice cream
This was delicious, but too heavy and rich to end with (after being stuffed)
And of course we got the little treats at the end of the meal. This was a very loose egg white (I think...) custard with chocolate at the bottom and caramel on the top. To the left were french macaroons and to the right was a citrus cookie. There was also a bowl of coffee flavored marshmallows and dark chocolate truffles. Mmmm...I could have eaten them all if I hadn't been so incredibly full!
Here we are, enjoying our lovely lunch
And our wonderful hosts, Harry and Camille, we miss you already!
After lunch we took the metro up to the north of the city to Clingancourt which is the open-market (non-food) area. It was a shock when we first came out of the metro station to see the masses of people and bumper-to-bumper traffic; it was the first time we realized that we were in a city comparable to New York. The first part of the market was very up-to-date with lots of vendors selling purses, jewelry, shoes, and for some odd reason, Franklin and Marshall sweatshirts. F&M must have vastly over-produced sweatshirts last year because every other vendor was selling them. Past that open area was the antique area that Camille was looking for. Back when they had lived in Switzerland, this area had apparently been just like shopping at a thrift store, but at that time, the dollar had been very strong in comparison to the franc which is not the case with the dollar vs. the euro. So unfortunately, everything we saw, although incredibly beautiful, just wasn't feasibly to actually buy. It was slightly disappointing but was still very enjoyable to see so many beautiful antiques in one place...maybe someday.
Then we were back on the metro on our way to Montmartre and Sacré-Cœur. Montmartre, for those not familiar with the history, is the highest point in the city, a little hill where, in the 1800's, the artists congregated. Sacré-Cœur is a beautiful basilica located at the summit of the hill (pictured above). There was an impromptu rap-ish concert taking place on the stairs, so the stairs were filled with people sitting, enjoying and drinking Heineken that they bought from a random guy selling cans out of a cooler. We walked through the little village area and stopped for our own Heinekens, when made our way down the many flights of stairs and almost vertical streets (huge exaggeration) to the bottom.
We kept it very light that night for dinner, since we were all still stuffed from lunch. We sat down at Le Source, the restaurant next door for wine, a couple baskets of fries, a cheese plate, charcuterie plate, and nice, crusty french bread, the perfect french meal. After dinner, we sadly said goodbye to Harry and Camille who would be leaving the hotel at 6:30 the next morning for their long-anticipated flight back to Pittsburgh and the pugs; they had been in Europe for almost as long as we had by this time. We were so grateful to them for the incredible trip and for showing us the in's and out's of Parisian travel. We will always have Paris...right? :-)
What a lovely sleep we had Friday night on a bed without a crack that expanded through the night!
We were on our own Saturday morning, and when in Paris, the first thing we had to do was go out and get coffee and pastries for breakfast. On our trek for breakfast, we spotted the lovely Jaguar (knew you'd like that Dad) above with a view of la Tour Eiffel in the background. After a delicious chocolate croissant (Michael's) and 
chaussons aux pommes (apple turnover - mine), we trekked our way up to l'Arc de Triomphe which is so much larger in person than I had ever emagined. We continued our tourist walk down the Avenue des Champs-Élysées (very famous commercial street leading from the Arc toward the) Louvre. I won't attempt to describe everything we saw along the way; there is just way to much and I couldn't begin to relate the incredible history to you. We made our way back across the river and towards our hotel to meet Harry and Camille for lunch at le Jules Verne, Alain Ducasse's restaurant on the second floor of the Eiffel Tower. This was also our first time up close to the tower, which seemed, at first glance, much smaller than it does in the movies; that feeling quickly changed, however, as we were riding the glass sided elevator up to the restaurant. Just being on the 2nd floor of the tower (2nd floor = 43 regular building floors) seemed incredibly high and that was only half way up the tower!
Lunch was pretty amazing. I've had some nice muli-course meals before, but the food coupled with the incredible view made it that much more enjoyable. We did a 5 course degustation menu including both entrées, one of the two meats, and both desserts. We first had champagne cocktails with passion fruit and something else...I can't remember anymore, but it was delicious! Then the meal started off with an aperatif, a tiny serving of a gazpacho-like cold soup with smoked goose (I think...it may have been smoked duck though). I have copied the menu below (in French and English) for you to look over, and of course, Harry's wine pairings were wonderful with the meal.
Entrées
HOMARD de nos côtes Bellevue, sabayon au fumet de crustacés
Bellevue lobster, zabayon with shellfish broth
CHOU braisé et foie gras de canard, sucs de cuisson
Braised cabbage and duck liver, cooking juice
POISSON & VIANDE / FISH & MEAT
Blanc de TURBOTà la plancha, poireaux à peine crémés,
sauce à la figue noire
Pan-seared turbot, lightly creamed leeks, black fig sauce
Michael chose this main course (which was awesome), while the rest of us opted for:
Grenadin de VEAU cuit au sautoir, pommes Anna
Pan-seared veal, potatoes Anna
The veal was the only thing that wasn't excellent...it could have been a little more rare. But, the potatoes were absolutely amazing!DESSERTS
Palet FRAMBOISE/CITRON, sorbet fromage blanc
Raspberry and lemon shortbread, cottage cheese sorbet
My favorite dessert out of the two, very light and refreshing...
L’ÉCROU AU CHOCOLATet praliné croustillant, glace noisette
Tower bolt, dark chocolate praliné, hazelnut ice cream
This was delicious, but too heavy and rich to end with (after being stuffed)
And of course we got the little treats at the end of the meal. This was a very loose egg white (I think...) custard with chocolate at the bottom and caramel on the top. To the left were french macaroons and to the right was a citrus cookie. There was also a bowl of coffee flavored marshmallows and dark chocolate truffles. Mmmm...I could have eaten them all if I hadn't been so incredibly full!
Here we are, enjoying our lovely lunch
And our wonderful hosts, Harry and Camille, we miss you already!
After lunch we took the metro up to the north of the city to Clingancourt which is the open-market (non-food) area. It was a shock when we first came out of the metro station to see the masses of people and bumper-to-bumper traffic; it was the first time we realized that we were in a city comparable to New York. The first part of the market was very up-to-date with lots of vendors selling purses, jewelry, shoes, and for some odd reason, Franklin and Marshall sweatshirts. F&M must have vastly over-produced sweatshirts last year because every other vendor was selling them. Past that open area was the antique area that Camille was looking for. Back when they had lived in Switzerland, this area had apparently been just like shopping at a thrift store, but at that time, the dollar had been very strong in comparison to the franc which is not the case with the dollar vs. the euro. So unfortunately, everything we saw, although incredibly beautiful, just wasn't feasibly to actually buy. It was slightly disappointing but was still very enjoyable to see so many beautiful antiques in one place...maybe someday.
Then we were back on the metro on our way to Montmartre and Sacré-Cœur. Montmartre, for those not familiar with the history, is the highest point in the city, a little hill where, in the 1800's, the artists congregated. Sacré-Cœur is a beautiful basilica located at the summit of the hill (pictured above). There was an impromptu rap-ish concert taking place on the stairs, so the stairs were filled with people sitting, enjoying and drinking Heineken that they bought from a random guy selling cans out of a cooler. We walked through the little village area and stopped for our own Heinekens, when made our way down the many flights of stairs and almost vertical streets (huge exaggeration) to the bottom.
We kept it very light that night for dinner, since we were all still stuffed from lunch. We sat down at Le Source, the restaurant next door for wine, a couple baskets of fries, a cheese plate, charcuterie plate, and nice, crusty french bread, the perfect french meal. After dinner, we sadly said goodbye to Harry and Camille who would be leaving the hotel at 6:30 the next morning for their long-anticipated flight back to Pittsburgh and the pugs; they had been in Europe for almost as long as we had by this time. We were so grateful to them for the incredible trip and for showing us the in's and out's of Parisian travel. We will always have Paris...right? :-)
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