Well mostly because mom's paternal side of the family was from the Alsace region and we thought it would be nice to explore that area of France. Also since Strasbourg is well known for its Christmas Market we thought it would be fun to go during that time of year. And, while we were going to France, why not add a week in Paris into the mix. Voila! Another great trip was planned!
As the norm with mom and me, food was an integral part of this adventure and we did not want for good food or wine during our 17 day adventure.
Thursday, Dec. 1, 2011 aka: Departure Day
We arrived at the Savannah airport two hours before our flight was scheduled to depart. Even though I was able to check-in and print boarding passes at the Delta website the night before the gate agent issued new boarding passes to us. Prior to leaving on this trip we decided to check our bags instead of doing our usual carry-on only, and it was nice to walk through the airport with minimal bags. The bag drop-off and check-in at Savannah went smoothly and NO ONE except us was at security, unbelievable! I think the best time to fly out of Savannah must be Thursday mornings around 10am. The Savannah to Atlanta flight on Delta was smooth & we arrived few minutes early.
On previous Air France flights we experienced the frenzy that can be their boarding process. I’m happy to say this time boarding was better than we expected. We settled into our seats and were very satisfied with the Air France Premier Voyager “cabin”.
In March 2011 when we purchased the tickets I was able to find a fare for the Premier Voyager seats that were $200 more than the regular economy seats, and we were willing to splurge. I think this was a pure stroke of luck because after purchasing the tickets I never saw that same price again, it was always more expensive, I know, I shouldn’t check airfares after purchasing, but curiosity was getting the better of me! I have to say the Air France Premier Voyager seats are considerably roomier than regular economy. The cabin has a 2-4-2 configuration instead of the 3-5-3 configuration in the economy cabin and although by no means was it like flying in business or first class, it was a whole lot better than cramming ourselves into the economy seats. There were amenity kits with socks, comb, ear plugs, and toothbrush at each seat, which was nice touch. The food was ok and fortunately since the service started up front where we were seated, the meal was still warm when the flight attendant put it in front of us.
I do believe the pilot really wanted to get to Paris, because the flying time between Atlanta and CDG was 7 hours, in my experience that’s pretty fast, we must have had a great tail-wind! We did manage to sleep for about 2 hours. And the best part of the Premier Voyager seats (IMHO) were the foot rests, I loved that (yes, I can be impressed by the small things!) and I now believe all plane seats should have foot rests.
Friday, Dec. 2, 2011 aka: Arrival Day
Our flight from Atlanta arrived at CDG 25 minutes early. After what seemed like an hour of taxiing to the gate area we deplaned and got onto a shuttle bus to the terminal. We cleared passport control and stopped for a coffee in Terminal 2E before taking the shuttle bus to terminal 2G for our connecting flight to Strasbourg, yes we had another long, four hours this time, lay over. But I most always opt for a long connection time at CDG over a short one. As we traversed CDG we couldn’t help but notice the gray, cloudy skies in the morning, would this be an indication of the weather that was in store for us? You betcha!
Our flight to Strasbourg was on Air France operated BritAir, which we had flown before on a trip to Bilbao, so we were familiar with the shuttle process to Terminal 2G and the layout of this small terminal, which is very straight forward. We took the shuttle from Terminal 2E (about 2 miles), disembark, walk into Terminal 2G, go through security check point (no one else at this one either at this time) and make our way upstairs to the waiting area. When our flight was called we walked down the long ramped hallway and boarded the plane outside on the tarmac. Boarding was smooth and the aircraft was a very small one, but since the flight was less than an hour it wasn’t a big deal, except for the fact that we were just about running on empty in the sleep category and my eyelids were so heavy I don’t even remember taking off. But I do remember looking out the window to see the beautiful country-side around Strasbourg and when we flew right over the old town area and could see the cathedral; my travel adrenaline started pumping again!
We deplaned and made our way to baggage claim. Our hearts sank when the conveyor belt stopped running and our bags weren’t there. Then, out of the corner of my eye I spied an adjacent glass door linking to another baggage claim area where a conveyor belt was still running and I could see our bags there. Since we had not gone through customs at CDG our bags were placed in a separate area at Strasbourg and we had to pick them up there and go through customs.
The customs experience was extremely quick, but at first I was concerned because I witness another passenger having to hoist her gigantic suitcase up onto a platform where it would then go through an x-ray machine. I got on the other customs lane without the x-ray machine. I handed the customs official my passport, he muttered something to me, I muttered back “holiday” and he snapped my passport closed and waved me on. Mom was behind me and about to hand the gentleman her passport when I gestured toward her and said to the official, “mama”…he didn’t even look at her passport, and just waved her through. Then a second customs official came over to the first and looked at us and said, “Canadian”? We said no, American, and this was the first of many encounters when we were assumed to be Canadians. Looking back, it may be because many Americans don’t visit Strasbourg in early December, ashame really, because it can be quite magical, but more about that later.
Once we were situated with our bags we walked right outside the door and smack-dab in front of us is a taxi line. I thought, perfect! The first taxi in line was a smallish/mini SUV and the driver could not have been more pleasant, and let me tell you, the vehicle was gleaming clean both inside and out. His English was very limited but fortunately I had printed the address of our rental apartment on a 3x5 index card and handed it him, it worked like a charm! The driver’s name was Yvan and he too asked if we were Canadian. We weren’t in Strasbourg 30 minutes and the first 2 people we encounter assume we’re not American. To be fair, we also got a lot of are you German and are you English, but we thought it interesting Canadian came out first. By the Way, if you need a taxi in Strasbourg…contact Taxi Yvan at 06 81 87 61 33, he’s very nice, friendly and just remember, he doesn’t speak English.
It was about a 25 minute ride from the Strasbourg airport into the center of the city and we arrived at our rental apartment at about 3:30pm. The taxi fare was about &euro:25. We could have taken the train at the airport to the main station in Strasbourg and then the tram to a stop near the rental apartment, but honestly, after a long travel day, it was just easier to jump in a taxi and with raindrops starting to fall, we didn’t want to “muck about” with trains and trams.
We really liked this apartment, not only because it was spacious (for 2 people, IMHO 4 people would fit nicely too, but it would be more “snug”), it was clean, comfortable, had everything you could possibly want in a rental apartment, great bathroom and once the windows were closed it was quiet, quiet, quiet. The owner is/was a dream to work with. She answered my initial inquiry immediately, and all my subsequent emails were replied to in less than 24 hours. This is the type of rental owner I love working with. The payment process was incredibly easy and the keys were mailed to me prior to our departure so no waiting at the apartment front door on the street for someone to bring the keys (this has happen to us in Italy). Would we rent this place again, in a heartbeat!
While mom took a nap, I ventured out because I wanted to find (1) the tourist office to get a map, (2) an ATM and (3) a Monoprix to stock up on a few essential items like, juice, water, and tissues, yes, I had been battling a very nasty cold prior to leaving home and I was still in the process of “getting over it”, so a box of tissues were a must.In my meanderings I came across a local bar called Le Saxo at 8, rue des Freres. It’s by no means a swanky place, but it’s definitely the kind of place we like to find and then make it “our own” for the short time that we call Strasbourg “home”, in our case, 6 nights. And the €3.50 glasses of Riesling wine were especially nice! Yes, we finally found a Riesling we like…Wolfberger, 2009, it was delicious! Here is a link to a French website that lists Le Saxo: http://www.cityvox.fr/bars-et-boites_strasbourg/le-saxo_30502/Profil-Lieu
My last stop before going back to the apartment was the Monoprix and prior to departing on this trip, I scanned Google Maps several times, zooming in and out to get a feel for where things were located in Strasbourg and I had seen a Monoprix that wasn’t far from our apartment, turns out it was even closer than I thought. After stocking up on maps (tourist office) and money (ATM) and finding Le Saxo I was a bit turned around but heading in the direction I thought the Monoprix would be in. I was partly correct, I over-shot the store by a bit, but I got to see more of the Christmas market stalls and I had the loveliest encounter with a local woman.
When I realized I was turned around I moved over to the edge of the sidewalk, out of the way in order to take out my map. Even before I had the map halfway unfolded an older woman stopped and spoke to me in French. I did manage to catch on quickly and knew she was asking me if I needed help finding something. All I could manage in my VERY limited French, was “I don’t speak French…Monoprix?” She smiled and shook her head in the positive and pointed me down the street and towards the left. When I caught up to her again at the next crosswalk, she walked with me a little and pointed down a side street motioning for me to go there and then straight and turn. It’s amazing what can be communicated through pantomime! I was tickled that she went out of her way originally to stop and help me when she saw me with my map, but even more so, when she continued to help me. This is one of my most lasting impressions of the people of Strasbourg. Everyone we connected with, whether shopkeepers, restaurant servers, or ticketsellers at museums, all were warm and very accommodating, even with our less than stellar attempt at speaking French! Even one of the bartenders at Le Saxo went to his computer and got on Google Translate so he could look up the word for summer…but more on that later!
Now, having purchased what I needed at Monoprix I made it back to the apartment in less than 10 minutes. I rested for a bit and then both mom and I made ourselves more presentable and headed out for drinks at Le Saxo. We started with 2 Kir Royales, because, well, why not? We’re on vacation! After a couple hours we were ready for our 8:30 dinner reservation at Tire Bouchon. I had found this place during a pre-trip internet search and booked the reservation via their website, which is here: http://www.letirebouchon.fr/fr/index.php
I was a bit apprehensive with this restaurant because I had seen mixed reviews on Chow Hound about it, and after a bit of a rough start, they couldn’t find my reservation, they sat us immediately and we had a terrific meal. I had a starter of Alsacean snails and mom had the onion tart. The tart was delicious, the snail, meh…I think I will need to give them another try somewhere else, but they were garlicky! For our main dishes I had perch with sauerkraut, I know, fish with sauerkraut, I had a tough time getting my head around that, but wow! It was absolutely delicious and in subsequent similar dishes, the one I had at Tire Bouchon still stands out. Mom had a huge multi-pork platter with sauerkraut. I can’t even remember all the different kinds of tasty pork products in the dish, but they were all delicious and the sauerkraut, I’m sure people think we are nuts, but the sauerkraut is not like the kind in the cans we have here at home, it is fresh and fantastic! We had a half liter of house Riesling with dinner and as an aperitif we were served a hot white mulled wine, it really hit the spot. With 2 coffees to finish off the meal the total bill came to €77.
After dinner we took a walk around the Cathedral area to gawk at all the Christmas decorations. Even at the end of our time in Strasbourg, the decorations never got old to look at. It was like walking through a fairy tale!
Saturday, Dec. 3, 2011
It dawned, well, if you can call 9am “dawned” a cloudy day, which was pretty much the norm during our stay in Strasbourg, except for the day we left for Paris, isn’t that always the way? In a place for a week with gray, cloudy, rainy days and the day you leave the sun is splitting the sidewalk.
After my croissant purchase I asked the woman at the counter, in my stumbling French, where I might find a fromagerie. Fortunately for me, the woman knew what I was asking for and directed me to the most delightful cheese shop I’ve ever been in. La Cloche a Fromage on rue des Tonneliers. The shop did not open until 8am, and I was a bit early, but I experienced a stroke of luck because just across the street from the cheese shop was an Italian prepared foods shop. Oh my, the prosciutto that hung from the ceiling of this shop was enough to lure me in, not to mention the display counters full of fresh pasta and a window display of pannetone as high as the hanging prosciutto! If you know me, you know it won’t take me very long to find Italian foods in any place I happen to be.
I could have bought cheese here too, but honestly the cheese on display across the street in the fromagerie looked infinitely better, but I did purchase several slices of prosciutto to go with the croissants and future cheese to be bought. I was becoming quite the shopper!
To while away 30 minutes before the fromagerie opened I took a stroll around the neighborhood. I found the ATM I was looking for the night before and realized I “zigged” when I should have “zagged”, but no worries, because now I knew where 2 ATMs where located. I’m always on a mission to find the partner bank to Bank of America to save on the blasted “out of network machine” charge Bank of American charges, but I’m really digressing here!
I made my way back to the apartment and rousted mom so we could get a start to our day, which, mind you, didn’t earn me any “good daughter” points in her book for this day but since I was bearing tasty breakfast treats she let it slide.
We followed the tour along the River Ill and meandered into the Petit France area, which really does look like it’s out of a children’s fairy tale with the timber houses, and the river. We got turned around a bit because we went slightly “renegade” with the tour route, but ultimately hit all the high points we wanted to see on the walking tour.
Just before 5pm we were ready to call it a day and went back to the apartment for a bit of a rest. We had an 8pm dinner reservation at Chez Yvonne, which I had made on their website before leaving home. I wanted to cover my dinner “bases” for the first two nights since it was the Christmas market period (and presumed it would be busy) and a weekend, so I didn’t want to be running around at lunch time finding a restaurant for dinner that night. Chez Yvonne is located at 10, rue du Sanglier and the website is:
http://www.chez-yvonne.net/
When the check arrived at the table it included the business card and I noticed the restaurant is open 7 days a week. Since the next day would be Sunday and I assumed many restaurants might not be open, we made a reservation for the next night, since in all fairness, the meal and service was fairly good.
Sunday, Dec. 4, 2011
The original “game plan” for today was to do a day trip to Colmar, but when the alarm beeped at 7am neither of us were ready to get up. Both mom and I had a really difficult time falling asleep the night before, could it have been the espresso that capped our meal last night? That usually doesn’t affect us, maybe it was still the “new” beds, who knows, but with only a couple hours of sleep, and drizzly weather outside we thought the best approach was to try and get a few more hours of sleep, and we did until about 10am. I simply swapped my Sunday plan with my Monday plan and so today we checked out two museums.
Since it was the first Sunday of the month entry was free and both mom and I really enjoyed this museum, the apartments in the museum are lovely and the collection of ceramics, silverware and furnishings were remarkable.
There are three museums housed in this complex called the Palais Rohan, the other two include an archeology museum and a beau arts museum. After about an hour in the decorative arts museum we decided not to venture into the other two because we wanted to see the Musee Alsacien which is located at 23-25 quai St. Nicolas, right alongside the River Ill. Here is the website: http://www.musees.strasbourg.eu/index.php?page=musee-alsacien-en
The Musee Alsacien showcased what everyday life would have been like in rural Alsace. There was traditional furniture, toys, religious objects, and pottery to name a few items. I liked this museum even more than the decorative arts museum. And, as with the decorative arts museum, there was no entry fee on this day.
After about an hour, and a break in the rain, and a slight thinning of the crowds, we decided to peruse some of the Christmas market stalls, there were still plenty of people around, but not nearly as crowded as Saturday. At this market, Switzerland was the special guest country and on Place Gutenberg there was a “Swiss Village” of market stalls set up. All the stalls were selling items from Switzerland. There were a few interesting items that caught our eyes and we purchased a couple watches and I got a funky/fun scarf.
For our before dinner wine we went back to Le Saxo. We were becoming quite the fixture here and by day number 2 the staff was starting to remember us. We had a dinner reservation at Chez Yvonne at 8:30pm and when we arrived they were packed to the rafters with customers (always a good sign!). We waited a few minutes to be seated and this time we were taken upstairs to a second dining room. We didn’t even realize the night before they had an upstairs! The atmosphere up there was buzzing, this place was very popular, and I can tell you this, heat definitely rises! By the end of our meal I felt like I was melting, but that could be due to the fact that I had a turtleneck shirt and sweater on, while the woman next to me wore a tank top. I’m just not that daring, I live on the South Carolina coast, 40 F is cold to me, in Strasbourg I wouldn’t dream of even packing a tank top! I’ll deal with the warm indoor seating in restaurants.
We left the restaurant, took the 10 minute stroll back to the apartment and planned to spend the next day in Colmar.
Monday, Dec. 5, 2011 – Day Trip to Colmar
It wasn’t another great night of sleep, but at least I was wide awake at 7am. I was shooting for getting to the train station, buying tickets and boarding the train to Colmar by 9:51am and we did it!
Honestly, when we left the apartment I had my doubts about being able to catch the 9:51am train, but I wasn’t worried about that because there was another train an hour later. We got to the tram stop and purchased 2 tickets. The tram came just after I bought the tickets and we hopped on. I think it was only 4 stops and we were at the train station. We found our way to the ticket machines, but I must have been suffering brain fog because the ticket machine wasn’t “working for me”. I looked over at the ticket window line and there were probably 8 people in it and it was now 9:30am. If I got in line would I complete the transaction and make the 9:51am train? I’m happy to say, yes! The tickets cost €22.60 round trip each.
Our first stop was at the Musee D’Unterlinden. The museum website is:
http://www.musee-unterlinden.com/
After the museum we meandered through town with no real target in mind, just to explore the Colmar Christmas market. If I was pressed for an answer I would have to say that I enjoyed the Colmar Christmas market even more than Strasbourg. Maybe because the town is small and it had a homier vibe.
The reason we were on a jam “mission” was at the request of my sister, a chef and all-around bigger “foodie” than me and mom. She doesn’t usually make any special requests when mom and I travel, but this time she asked us, if we happen to see this jam to buy her a few jars. During our walk around Colmar we saw the jams prominently displayed in one shop window, we promptly went in and purchased 6 jars! And it was my “duty” to see the jams made it home all in one piece. I’m happy to report there wasn’t a crack in any of the jars!
We stumbled upon an area with not only market stalls, but a covered section of a building where a baker had set-up his wares. Mom and I stopped for a moment because we could hardly believe our eyes. On the table of this baker’s stall were huge, possibly 2 feet long loaves of gingerbread and spice bread. There was a young couple stopped to purchase some of this delightfully smelling bread and we couldn’t help ourselves. We didn’t need to know any French to communicate to the baker we too wanted a big slice of the spice bread. It was the perfect breakfast for the next couple days, it was absolutely delicious.
We continued to browse about and we then came across a building which was housing a good variety of vendors selling their wares. Not all the items for sale where of the Christmas theme and here I found another favorite purchase. I have to explain for a moment that I am huge handbag/purse/pocketbook junkie and I love purchasing all kinds of bags during my travels and this trip was no different. In Colmar I found a really unique round purse in orange and purple leather that I just could not leave there, so it is now snuggly home here with me enjoying the mild climate!
We were starting to get a little chilly, so after our “retail therapy” in Colmar we stopped in a café to warm up with chocolat chaud and took some time to write out a few post cards. Yes, we still send a few post cards back home to a couple friends. It was getting close to 4pm and the plan was to catch the 4pm train back to Strasbourg. So we decided to start heading back in the direction of the train station. Which was perfect timing because up until this point we had been enjoying really good weather, even blue skies and a bit of sun, but as we stepped out of the café a light rain started to fall.
We walked back to the train station, passing the post office and dropping our post cards into the postbox. The train back to Strasbourg was a few minutes late, but we arrived back at about 5pm. This was perfect timing because, unlike most evenings tonight we had a 6:30pm dinner reservation.
http://www.le-clou.com/gb/
When I stopped in the restaurant the day before the only reservation time available was 6:30pm, so we took it, a bit early for us, but we can roll with it. I’m happy to say at Le Clou we veered away from sauerkraut for one night. Mom and I each had the onion tart as our starter and we “thought” we each ordered the pot au feu. Since it was cold out we wanted something warm and comforting. In its place we were given a plate with a massive pork knuckle, at least that’s what we think it was and potatoes. Don’t get me wrong, it was delicious and the pork was so tender we did not need a knife to cut it. What’s funny is when we ordered the pot au feu the server even repeated it back to us and we said, “oui”. When the plates were placed in front of us mom and I looked at one another and just shrugged and went with it. When the bill came, the item was not listed as pot au feu but as wadele, and it was less expensive than the pot au feu, so we spent less and still had a great dish! We had a ½ liter of pinot noir with the meal and 2 espresso to cap it all off. The total cost was €63.
Tuesday, Dec. 6, 2011 and Wednesday, Dec. 7, 2011
Originally we planned to take a day trip to Nancy on Tuesday, December 6th. After much discussion we decided to stay in Strasbourg and enjoy getting to know the city a bit more.
The reasons for this adjustments, were (1) because of the shorter days and the 1.5 hour train ride from Strasbourg to Nancy we knew we probably wouldn’t have much day light time to explore Nancy and (2) because of the fewer hours we anticipated staying in Nancy we thought the price of the two round trip train tickets (it would have been about €94) were a bit steep when compared to the amount of time we would be there. I have Nancy on my radar for the future and if I find myself planning another trip to France, I would like to make Nancy a stop, just maybe when there is more time to enjoy all that city has to offer.
On Wednesday morning we enjoyed a leisurely start and had no firm plans other than to eventually start packing up our stuff for the train ride to Paris on Thursday. In the late morning we got ourselves out the door and headed over to the Petit France area since we hadn’t spent much time there, other than during the audio guided tour earlier in our stay. There were more Christmas market stalls we explored and being a Wednesday it was terrific not to have to jostle up against lots of other people, we actually got to see a lot more of the merchandise on offer by the vendors. We stopped at a jam stall (big surprise there!) and the woman working was so friendly and spoke terrific English. She told us a bit about the history of the region, her family and her family business of jam making.
For dinner we walked back over to Petit France and had a terrific meal at Le Thomasien, located at 12, rue des Dentelles. The website is: http://www.lethomasien.fr/
Here are some Impressions of Strasbourg
The people we encountered were very friendly. I would even go as far to say they were the friendliest we've encountered in France. That’s not to say we have never encountered friendly people in Paris, or Nice, or Arles, or Chinon. It just seemed as a whole we found Strasbourg to be welcoming and gracious. We will probably need to plan more visits to other regions of France to be able to do a more fair comparison!
We found many people spoke some English. They were always willing to hear our broken French. We were always made to feel welcome at all the restaurants or shops we went into. Even the post office workers were helpful to us. I will mention that we always said, “Bon Jour, madame/monsieur” upon entering any business establishment no matter how large or small, maybe that helped a bit, who knows, but I was happy when my greeting was always met with a smile or nod and a return greeting.
The city of Strasbourg is lovely. But we found it hard to see the architecture with all the Christmas market stalls and decorations. Was the atmosphere magical/happy/congenial? The answer is a resounding yes, but both mom and I would love to come back in spring or fall when weather is better and days are longer.
We found the food and wine to be terrific. We never had a bad meal, some better than others but all were good.
Thursday, Dec. 8, 2011 aka: We Are On The Move
Our train (TGV) from Strasbourg to Paris was scheduled to leave at 12:10pm. I was able to purchase Prems fare first class tickets prior to leaving home for €38 each. Is first class necessary? Probably not, but we preferred to sit in a first class car especially at the fare we got. We did the same thing on a trip to Italy last year going from Bologna to Rome in first class and found it to be very comfortable and the same was true for this situation.
As you may have surmised, during a “travel day” I typically use an over-abundance of caution and tend to arrive at airports and train station earlier than the average person and this time was no different.
We left the apartment at about 10:30am. I was pleased with how easy it was for us to maneuver our way, with our bags to the tram stop. We were hoping at this time of day the tram would not be crowded with commuters. Well, we were half right. As we experienced the other day, a tram arrived at the stop within minutes of our arrival there. We were a bit surprised to see such a full tram, but it wasn’t jam-packed, so we were able to get on, but we did not get seats. Actually, mom was offered several seats, but declined since we were strategically wedged together with our bags we feared if one of us moved that would upset this configuration. And, truly, the train station was only 4 stops (less than 10 minutes away).
Yes, we had about a one hour wait at the train station, but we found fairly comfortable seats and I scoped out the elevator to tracks situation. If it were just me traveling alone, I’d probably forego the elevator and bound up the stairs to the track with my bags, but I was traveling with mom, who by her own admission, hasn’t “bounded” anywhere in many years.
About 15 minutes before the train was scheduled to arrive the track was posted and we made our way to the elevator and up onto the track. What I loved about this station was there was a diagram on the platform indicating each numbered car on the train and a corresponding lettered area on the platform. I looked at the diagram and our tickets and knew exactly where to stand to wait for the train.
Boarding the train was a bit chaotic with people disembarking and the waiting passengers ready to board. But fortunately this was not a 3 minute stop, and we did have about 10 minutes to board before the train departed. Snugly seated, we were ready for the two and one half hour train ride.
As we approached Paris the sunny skies we left in Strasbourg gave way to gray clouds and drizzling rain. We were resigned to the fact the weather was not going to cooperate with us.
We took our time disembarking from the train and walked to the end of the platform at Gare de l’est, where the taxi driver I had booked was waiting for us. I booked Victor Cabs which was a recommendation from Paris Perfect Apartments. His email is: victorcabsparis@aol.com The driver spoke good English and the car was clean and comfortable. It was a flat rate of €35 to go from Gare de l‘est to the apartment on rue St. Dominique in the 7th. With the looks of the Paris traffic, I’m glad we had the taxi.
We rented the Paris Perfect Corbieres apartment. Here is a link to the apartment webpage: http://www.parisperfect.com/apartments-for-rent-in-paris/corbieres.php
We were greeted at the apartment building front gate by a very friendly young man by the name of Sam, who works for Paris Perfect. He escorted us into the building and then to my mom’s horror announced the lift was being repaired and we had to walk up 6 flights. Boy, was mom the ultimate trooper. Sam took her bags, I had mine and mom and I slowly made our way up 6 (which would be 7 American) flights. I owed her big time! Thankfully, the elevator was not broken, just routine maintenance was being done and by the time mom was ready to go out again it was working and continued to work for our entire stay…thank God!
While mom rested and “monitored” the washer/dryer, I went out to pick up a few essentials, from the store and fromagerie (of course!) and a carnet of metro/bus tickets. I have to give a huge shout-out to Fodorite friend GraceJoan for giving me the confidence to learn the Paris bus system. I was always, always a metro rider, but as I mentioned before, stairs are a challenge for mom, so this trip we mastered the buses and I’m pretty darn proud of myself for that.
Manned with the list of Joan’s bus routes I would most probably use, prior to leaving home I went to the RATP website and printed off the route maps for bus lines #80, 92, 87, 42, 69, 28, 82, 32, 63, & 22. And I used them all except for one, which I recall being the #22. The buses could not be easier, but I felt better having my own personal copy of the route map in my pocket, although the route maps are posted inside each bus and on each bus stop. I liked begin able to follow along the stops with my map. And the stops are scrolled on LCD screens inside the buses too. But not to worry if you miss a stop because, generally I found the next stop to be just a very short distance away. I’m not going to say I will never use the metro again, but I am a complete bus convert!
I did also use the RATP website while I was in Paris to look up routes that I wasn’t sure I had the maps for. It’s a good website. If you have your starting address and ending address you can enter them and get route options for both metro and bus. I’m nothing if not prepared!
We knew prices would be more in Paris, heck, we’ve been to Paris before (once after spending a week in San Sebastian, Spain…were we could get wine for €1 a glass!) and we even told ourselves this prior to arriving in Paris, but still, that first time getting the check and having it be almost twice the amount of meals we had in Strasbourg, it was painful to swallow, yes, pun intended!
Prior to leaving home for this trip I had asked Fodorite friend Joan to make a reservation for us at Le Florimond for our arrival night and she graciously did so. We arrived at Le Florimond just in time for our 8pm reservations. This was a “3-peat” for us here. We really enjoy this restaurant, and Laurent, the maitre‘d could not have been nicer; we were greeted like we were long lost friends. What a sweet man! He had the charm to tell us he remembered us from our last visit, hmmm, 19 months ago? Maybe not, but he did say he recognized our faces, what a charmer!
We had a terrific table right in the front window and were seated next to a delightful American couple who have a second home (apartment) on rue Cler and for all you House Hunter International fans, they live in the same building that was featured on a recent episode where a young American girl rented an apartment that was way over her budget. Apparently it was too much over her budget, because after 6 months she moved out. How neat is it to get the scoop on a TV show I am ga-ga over!
We walked back to the apartment, chilly, but happy to be in Paris for 8 nights!
Friday, Dec. 9, 2011
Today started out dark and dreary, at 8:30am it looked like 7pm. I did manage to pull myself out of the extremely comfortable bed and traipse across the street to the boulangerie for a small loaf of bread. After I paid the woman behind the counter and placed my hand on the bag to take it from its resting place, the loaf was still warm! God, I loved that.
The agenda for today was to visit the Musee Marmottan Monet located at 2, rue Louis Boilly in the 16th arrondissement. When consulting my bus route maps and the RATP website I came up with a route that would require a change of buses at Place d’Iena. Now, maybe there was a more direct route, but this was my first attempt with the bus system, so I’m going to go with the fact that we actually made it to the museum and back without getting lost, turned around, or otherwise misdirected.
Now here is where I will digress for a moment. I have a dear friend who I met when I worked in the hotel business. He still works in that field, for Shangri-La hotels. Before leaving on this trip he mentioned mom and I should check out the Shangri-La hotel that recently opened in Paris. I told him I would do my best, to initiate the place with a raised glass of wine in the bar there.
Well, as the #87 bus pulled to a stop in Place d’Iena I noticed a beautiful building festooned with white Christmas lights. From the inside of the bus it had the look of hotel and I glimpsed what I thought to be a doorman. As mom and I emerged from the bus, I looked up in an effort to see if I could find a name for this building. All I could do was smile when I saw the Shangri-La sign. Wow, what an impressive spot. Mom and I planned to go for a drink one night later in the week, since we were on a mission to get to the museum, we did not stop in this day, and unfortunately when our “verve” took a downturn later in the week we didn’t make it there. But there is always hope for a future stay at this lovely looking hotel! If you’re interested in this hotel here is the website link:
http://www.shangri-la.com/en/property/paris/shangrila
And now back to the bus transfer. We got off the #87 bus, walked across Place d’Iena and found the bus stop for the #32 bus which would take us to the Porte de Passy stop and just a short walk to the museum. Fortunately for us, the bus stop at Place d’Iena had a shelter, (some are simply a tall pole with a sign and the bus route information) and when it started raining we were happy to have the refuge. Here is where my planning maybe faltered slightly. We waited for probably close to 30 minutes for the bus. I was glad to see at the bus stop/shelter there was an electronic sign board posting the estimated wait time for the next bus, but it was a little disconcerting to see the arrival minutes continue to flip between 15 and 20 every minute or so. Then some information would scroll by on the sign which we interpreted to say due to heavy traffic circulation the bus was late. No worries for us, we pulled our scarves tighter around our necks and waited. The bus did eventually arrive and we hopped on for a nice ride up into the 16th.
When we got off the bus there was a sign at the corner pointing us in the direction of the museum and I’m pleased to note it was pointing in the same direction I thought it would be. You see, along with reviewing bus routes prior to going on this trip I also am a huge Google Maps fan and once I knew the bus stop we needed, I checked Google Maps to see which direction we would need to walk to get to the museum. Yes, trip planning at its finest!
I have to say both mom and I really enjoyed the Musee Marmottan Monet. It’s a former belle epoch mansion and contrary to the use of the word mansion, it was a small-ish museum and we easily saw all we wanted to in just over one hour. We decided not to rent the audio guide. The entry fee was €10 each. The ground floor had all the Monet paintings and they were as lovely as we knew they would be. We had the good fortunate to be there while the Henri Edmond Cross exhibit was being held in the lower level and thankfully there was elevator access, so mom could enjoy these wonderfully colorful paintings. As much as we loved the Monet paintings, there were several on the Henri Edmond Cross paintings that I was taken with. After perusing this temporary exhibit I walked up to the second floor. There seemed to be an elevator that did access the second floor, however it was roped off with a sign which although we did not understand looked a little foreboding. So, mom told me to have a look upstairs and she would wait for me on the ground floor.
I did take a spin around the second floor, which seemed to me to contain a lot of portraits that were slightly darker in color, so did not appeal to my “Technicolor” outlook on life! Give me color over black and gray any day! After about 15 minutes I made my way back downstairs to meet up with mom and check out the gift shop where we purchased a few post cards.
By now we were looking at our watches because we had an appointment to meet Fodorite friend Joan for tea at 2:30pm at her apartment. There is a bus stop right across the street from the museum for the #32, however, this being my first day of “bussing it” in Paris it was what I refer to as a smaller stop, with just the pole and route information, no bus shelter, no arrival time sign. After just a few minutes we did determine the bus stopped here on Fridays, but I was antsy, what if we weren’t reading the schedule correctly? So we walked back to the stop around the corner where there was a shelter and an arrival sign and waited about 15 minutes for the next bus, which after getting on made the next stop across from the museum front door. Lesson learned, trust my instinct!
We did a complete reverse of our trip to the museum and changed buses in Place d’Iena and disembarked the bus at the Champs de Mars at 2:15pm. I made a quick phone call to Joan to tell her we would be at her front door in 15 minutes and off we walked across the park back to rue St. Dominique and into the welcoming arms of Joan.
Joan is one of the most gracious ladies one could meet. She welcomed us into the apartment she was renting and showed us around and the view…right on the corner we could see just about the entire Eiffel Tower in all its glory. After a few minutes we pulled our hats, gloves and scarves back on and walked over to Avenue Duquesne, to Flirt The, a tea salon run by Joan’s friend Florent who is absolutely delightful.
We arrived back at “our” apartment about 5pm, perfect, wine time! Yes, another stop while eyeglass shopping was the Nicolas wine shop conveniently located adjacent to the optical shop, coincidence? Hmmmm….I’m not sure. But we did enjoy a lovely bottle of white wine, which I can no longer remember the name of.
Shortly after mom and I arrived at Joan’s apartment Florent and Michael arrived and what a lively pair they are. We laughed so hard and the champagne flowed! It’s incredible how quickly a bottle of champagne can be consumed by 5 people; a second bottle of wine just had to be opened.
Before we knew it, it was almost 8:30 and we had an 8pm dinner reservation. No worries, Joan called Reed to say we were on our way. A good thing she did this too, because Catherine Reed, the chef/owner had us down in the reservation book for the next night! No problems though, she could accommodate us.
As we left the apartment Joan and mom took the elevator and the boys and I took the stairs. They did not plan on joining us for dinner, but by the third floor they had changed their minds and I am so glad they did. We had a wonderful evening with them!
It was about a 15 minute walk to Reed located at 11 bis rue Amelie. We were greeted by Catherine Reed with flutes of bubbly champagne, can you see a pattern here! And we proceeded to have one of the most enjoyable meals of our trip!
By 11:30pm our stomachs were not only full, but sore from all the laughing we had done. This was one memorable evening and mom and I have Joan to thank for it.
Today was going to be our day trip to Chartres. Note the phrase “going to be”. We decided we wanted to have an easy-going day and although it’s not a long train ride to Chartres, we felt we’d have just as a good a day staying in Paris.
Thanks to Fodorite Beachgirl247 we got the “skinny” on a champagne tasting event being held at Auge, a wine shop at 116 Blvd. Haussmann. The event was scheduled from 11am to 6pm, so we spent a leisurely morning in the apartment and then at about 11am we walked a few blocks to Blvd. De La Tour-Maubourg and hopped on the #28 bus which deposited us perfectly across the street from the wine shop. I really was getting better with the bus system!
There must have been 6 or 7 different champagne houses represented and we sidled up to the first one slowly grasped a glass and held out our flutes for a taste of “The Veuve”, Clicquot that is. Ahhh, it was lovely. It was followed by tastes of Moet & Chandon, Bollinger, Tattinger, and Billecart-Salmon (one we were not at all familiar with). Mom’s pick was the Tattinger Particular in a lovely orange bottle. I liked the Billecart-Salmon. With the 20% discount being offered we looked at each other, shrugged our shoulders and said, “Why not?” So, I managed to flag down a sales clerk and through a combination of English and French and with some help from the champagne sales reps we bought a bottle of each of our favorites. The Tattinger for mom the Billecart-Salmon for me.
The procedure to purchase the bottles was interesting, at least for me it was. I went into the shop, which was filled floor to ceiling with what looked like to me every conceivable wine ever produced. I’m sure that wasn’t the case but every nook and cranny was filled with cases of wine. I made my way to the cashier, paid for my bottles and was given a receipt. Then a shop clerk descended into what I can only describe as the bowels of the building to fetch the bottles I had just purchases.
All I can say, is it must be a labyrinth down below this shop because I think I waited 20 minutes before the young man popped back up into the shop with my bottles. Now mind you, while I’m waiting the shop continued to fill up with more and more customers and with only a couple narrow aisles in the shop it was like a game of musical chairs without the chairs, people behind me, people in front of me, excuse me, move forward, to the side and back. You can imagine the picture I’m sure. The place was bursting. I was happy to see “my” sales clerk with the bottles which were neatly placed in a brown shopping bag and I emerged from the dark and crowded shop like a person seeing daylight for the first time.
Once outside I quickly opened my handy-dandy tote bag and in went the 2 bottles of champagne. Mom is still amazed that I carried those 2 precious bottles around with me all day with nary a complaint. I have to say my handy-dandy tote is great for stuff like this and it fits perfectly on my shoulder.
After the tasting we walked down Blvd. Haussmann in the direction of the big department stores, Galleries Lafayette and Printemps. Being a Saturday we had no desire to jump into the craziness of the huge crowds inside the stores, we would save that adventure for a weekday, when hopefully the crowds would be lighter. But we did pass on the sidewalk to ogle the Christmas window displays.
Not only were the stores jam-packed but the sidewalk outside the stores was filled with people checking out the window displays. The crowds in front of the windows were about 5 deep, so I wasn’t able to take any good photos, but we did get a few glimpses of the windows…Wow! Our favorites were the displays done by Chanel. They were adorable, one with a replica of an airplane with what I call puppets dressed as flight attendants and pilots all dancing about the wings of the plane. Another scene was the same type of puppets but this one had them dressed up as a rock band giving a concert in a replica of a stadium. Very cute and clever.
Honest to God, I think it took us close to 30 minutes to make our way past the 2 department stores and it was close to 1pm. I had the name of wine bar/bistro (J’Go) that wasn’t too far away and since we had probably had the equivalent of a glass and a half of champagne at the tasting we thought it would be a good idea to have some lunch, which of course, would include a glass of wine for each of us!
We were experiencing fairly good weather, and by this I mean it simply was not raining. We continued to walk down Blvd. Haussmann and I knew we had to be getting closer when I saw the metro stop Richelieu-Drouot because this wine bar was located at 4, rue Drouot. Here is the website: http://www.lejgo.com/menujour-resto_drouot.html
We walked in at about 1:30pm and there were several free tables. From the moment we walked in I liked this place, an eye-catching red front door, and inside lots of light colored wood, a great looking bar, warm yellow walls, and tall (chest height) tables and chairs. We were able to grab a table in the front window which allowed us a little bit of extra space to rest the coveted champagne bottles so they would be out of harms way.
There is also a wine and specialty food shop associated with J’Go right next door, so after lunch we popped in for a look around and purchased 2 bags of the delicious rose infused chocolate covered raisins that were served to us with our espresso at lunch.
As luck would have it, there was a #42 bus stop right around the corner from J’Go that would take us directly back to our neighborhood. Once back on our home “turf” we stopped back at the optical shop so mom could pick up her new eyeglasses, tres chic! And we made another wine shop stop for a bottle of pre-dinner wine to enjoy at the apartment.
Tonight’s dinner reservation was at Le Violon d’Ingress and it was a late seating, 9:45pm. Here is the website: http://www.maisonconstant.com/eng_violon.htm
We wiled away a few hours in the apartment enjoying some wine and cheese. Our apartment was just next door to Violon, so at 9:40pm we left the apartment to arrive at the restaurant right on time.
Sunday, Dec. 11, 2011
Today was our “Day in the Marais”. Well, that was until mom woke up not feeling very well. The cold I had for 2 weeks before leaving home had finally caught up with mom. She thought the best thing would be for her to rest and stay at the apartment.
Just after 10am I bundled up with hat, scarf, gloves and coat and headed off in the direction of the #69 bus stop. The great thing about this bus route is that it went right from rue St. Dominique to the Marais. And on a Sunday morning there were very few people on the bus.
After a spin around the Place Vosges I walked over to the Maison Europeenne de la Photographie (AKA the MAP) at 5 rue de Fourcy. Here is the website: http://www.mep-fr.org/
My main interest in going to the MAP was to see the William Klein photo exhibit called Rome + Klein. Leave it to me to find a photo exhibit of Rome in Paris! Here is a description of the exhibit from the MAP website:
“In 1956, after the publication of his already famous visual diary of New York, painter, graphic artist and photographer William Klein arrived in Rome at the request of Federico Fellini, who hired him as his assistant for the film "Notte di Cabiria". Filming was delayed and Klein took the opportunity to wander around the city, armed with his camera and guided by such famous personalities as Pier Paolo Pasolini, Ennio Flaiano, and Alberto Moravia: the new stars of the Italian literary and art world.
In the enchanting context of the 1950s, the photographer produced a new photographic series on Rome which was also to become a book, published in Italy in 1958 by Feltrinelli and in 1959 in France by Le Seuil.
Fifty years on, this exhibition, along with the republication of the book, once more celebrates Klein's incredible visionary talent and his gesture of love for the Eternal City.”
I really enjoyed these photos. Unfortunately for me, I was not able to read and understand the descriptions adjacent to the photos. But there was one photo that was a bit of “comic relief” because there were thought bubbles above several of the people in the photo. The thought bubbles were in Italian and fortunately for me, my Italian language lessons paid off, because I was able to get the “gist” of what was being “said” in Italian. I wasn’t much interested in the other exhibits at MAP so after about 45 minutes I decided it was time to leave.
I was now in the Marais, and decided to do a little window shopping and found a fabulous handbag in a beautiful shade of blue. I reigned myself in and refrained from making a purchase, for now at least.
Since it was looking fairly nice in the “weather department” and I was on rue de Rivoli I thought I’d take a nice leisurely walk. Well, the walk continued for several hours and I meandered down rue de Rivoli popping into a shop here and there. I walked past the acclaimed Angelina’s and considered stopping in for their famous hot chocolate, but the line was enormous and I wasn’t in the mood to stand in line, so I continued moving on.
I found myself not far from Place de la Madeleine and wondered in that direction to check out a few shops. I knew mom and I wanted to come back this area if only for a stop at the Maille mustard boutique, yes, we are nuts about mustard. I also found LaVinia a mega-wine shop and I had to peruse the Lipault luggage shop. I was so close to buying a new piece of luggage, and I’ve been dying to touch the Lipault brand. I’ve seen it here at home only in travelware catalogues and I really wanted to be able to touch it to see if it really was as light as they say, and yes, it was. And they have some fabulous colors; I’m partial to the purple! The window shopping would not be complete without a stop at Fauchon and Hediard to see what they had on offer.
I arrived back at the apartment to find mom up and relaxing in the living area. I thought she might have hunkered down and stayed in bed all day, but she rallied and we enjoyed an early pre-dinner wine time in the apartment.
It was an early night and by 8:30pm we were back in our comfortable home away from home for the night.
Monday, Dec. 12, 2011
Wow! The exterior of the building is beautiful, we should know, because my “directional radar” must have been a bit off and after exiting the bus, we ended up walking around (almost) the entire building to get to the entrance. I “zigged”, when I should have “zagged” again! For information on the opera here is the website: http://www.operadeparis.fr/
We slowly made our way up the stairs to the orchestra level. There were lots of young people, art students we assumed, scattered about sitting on the floor and stair with sketch pads, some drawing in black and white, others in color. It was fun to watch them create. We meandered about for a bit and the auditorium doors were not open on this level. I said to mom I was going to go up one more level to see if the auditorium doors were open there because the major reason for visiting this building was to see the Chagall ceiling.
After exploring a bit more of the foyers we found an elevator that would take us to the orchestra level. This didn’t go all the way to the ground floor, but at least it saved mom’s knees a few steps! We browsed through the gift shop, purchased a book on the history of the Opera Garnier and a few post cards and then headed around the corner to the Galleries Lafayette.
I have to pat myself on the back for deciding to go to the department store on Monday instead of Saturday. Was it crowded? Yes, but not nearly as much as on Saturday. As soon as we walked into the store we stopped at the information booth and picked up a map of the store, believe me, we needed it. This store is enormous! Our main goal was really just to check out the domed ceiling here, yes, I guess you could say today was our “ceiling day”.
We left Galleries Lafayette with plenty of euro still left in our pockets and went off in the direction of Dehillerin. We did get detoured a bit because I was in need of a Starbucks “fix”, hey, I’ve gone more than a week without visiting “The Buck” (as we refer to it) and I was intrigued to try the Blanc Mocha Cranberry drink. I believe this to be the French Starbucks version of a holiday drink and I loved it. Now I wish I could get them here at home, but I will just have to be happy with the peppermint mochas I drink during the holidays at my local Starbucks. Now that we were sufficiently caffeinated on we continued to Dehillerin at 18 & 20 rue Coquilliere. Here is the website: http://www.e-dehillerin.fr/index.php
If you are familiar with Julia Child’s biography, My Life In France, or the movie Julie & Julia, you may know of Dehillerin. Or if you like to cook, and/or have culinary knowledge, you might know of this place. It’s a huge, some might call “mecca” of cooking paraphernalia. Not just pots and pan, but all kinds of utensils, and cooking and baking equipment. Since mom is an avid cook I thought she might want to browse the shop. We found it without any trouble and walked in. Another “Wow” for the day. I have never seen some much cookware or kitchen utensils in my life, and I’m talking floor to ceiling, things were jammed into any available nook and cranny!
To my surprise, mom, who is an excellent cook was not the one making a purchase, I was! This is a shocker because I am what I call the most amateur cook you can possibly imagine. However, when I saw a double bladed mezzaluna knife, I was in love and made the purchase.
It was just before 5pm by now, which was perfect timing because we had booked a wine tasting at O Chateau for 5pm. I found out about O Chateau from a trip report written by Fodorite Flygirl and from her description I knew we would love this place, and we did. The wine bar is located at 68, rue Jean-Jacques Rousseau, just around the corner from Dehillerin. Here is the website: http://www.o-chateau.com/
Let me tell you, if you like wine, even if you don’t like wine, go to this place. The owner and staff are some of the friendliest people we encountered, and just plain fun. The owner, Olivier Magny, has written a booked titled “Stuff Parisians Like” and if you love Paris, and haven’t read this book, take a look at it. I read it during this trip, and it made me laugh out loud.
I had booked this wine tasting prior to leaving home (€50 per person) and I’m so glad I did. There were 13 participants at the tasting, the sommelier spoke excellent English and he really knew his stuff. We enjoyed this tasting a lot and would recommend it to others without hesitation. I have to admit, I’ve only become interested in wines over the last 5 years or so, but usually when I travel I like to experience a session like this to learn more about wine and I’ve been reading a lot more about wine in my leisure reading. I have come to the conclusion, after listening to the sommelier, that I actually know more about wine than I think I do!
After the tasting we decided to purchase 2 of the 6 wines we tasted. I opted for the Domaine de la Garenne, a sancerre from the Loire and mom opted for the Mas Champart, a red from the Languedoc. Yes, our suitcases were going to be heavy! Now we are up to 4 bottles of wine/champagne and 6 jars of jam and we haven’t even been mustard shopping yet. You may have guessed, the purchase of an “el-cheap-o” rolling duffel bag was going to be in our future!
The wine tasting was scheduled to run for 1.5 hours, but we went closer to 2 hours and after the wine tasting we walked a few blocks, hopped on a bus and were back at the apartment in less than 30 minutes. We had just enough time to drop off our wine, freshen up and head back out for our 8:30pm dinner reservation.
I have to say my main dish, the entrecote with fried potatoes was perfectly cooked and the best part of this dish was the red onion puree, it was very flavorful. Mom had the veal stew for her main dish and on the plate it looks delectable and it had plenty of vegetable to accompany the meat, but unfortunately not much flavor, where’s a dose of salt when you need it? We had a half carafe of pinot noir, at €14.50 I think it was the best wine deal we had all week. We ended the meal with our espresso and the total cost was €80.50.
By 10:30pm we were leaving the restaurant and by 10:33pm we were back at the apartment. Tomorrow is our BIG lunch day…Joel Robuchon, look out!
Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2011
When the alarm went off this morning there was pounding rain on the windows and howling wind outside, I hit the off button and rolled over.
About an hour later I pulled myself out of the bed and walked across the street to the boulangerie for some croissants. With the gloomy weather lingering all morning we stayed in and caught up on emails (me) and read (mom).
At 12:30pm the sun was beginning to peek out of the clouds and we left the apartment to take the bus to L’Atelier Joel Robuchon at 5, rue de Montalembert. Here is the website: http://www.joel-robuchon.com/
In my usual style we arrived about an hour before our 2pm lunch reservation, so we first checked out the menu on display outside the doors. And here is something interesting I noticed while perusing the menu. The doors to this restaurant had no handles on the outside, yes; you had to be “let into” the place, interesting I thought.
While reading the menu, of course, it was in French, I thought I had read a chicken dish in the “main dish” category. After discussing the menu and knowing we didn’t want to “break the bank”, mom and were both inclined to order the chicken dish. So, off we go to walk about the neighborhood until 2pm.
Right at 2pm we arrive at the restaurant door and are let in. I tell the maitre’d my name and we have a 2pm lunch reservation. We were then walked through the restaurant and shown to the lobby of the adjacent hotel where we were told to wait. Now, I’m not sure if this is normal, here, but we waited 25 minutes in that hotel lobby. Honestly, we were beginning to think they forgot about us, when the maitre’d return and seated us.
It’s all bar seating here, but we liked it, and we were seated at 2 corner spots, so it worked nicely. We ordered 2 glasses of sancerre, because in our minds we were going to have chicken. When we placed the order with the server she looked at us a bit oddly and said, “You just want chicken soup?” Here is where my error came in. When looking at the menu, I thought I was looking at main dishes and I forgot the word for starter in French is entrée, which is the word we Americans use for main dish. Did I know this? Yes, I did. Did I remember this? No I didn’t.
So, we asked for a few more minutes and looked at the menu again. I was frantically scanning the menu when I thought (thought being the operative word here) I read a menu item to be an onion tart, hey, it was all those onion tarts we were eating in Strasbourg that I blame on my onion tart induced haze. So I quickly ordered 2. Now I’m thinking we are good to go!
We’re sipping our wine, enjoying our surroundings; mom is still fighting the cold, but making the most of it. The next thing we know plates are placed in front of us with a very large portion of steak tartare with a cup of pomme frites. Mom and I just look at each other and I instantly know my mistake. What I thought was the word tart, was in fact the term L’onglet en tartare et ses frites a l’ancienne. Yes, we were having steak tartare.
I had never had steak tartare before and MANY years ago mom had an “incident” in NYC with a steak tartare she will never forget. Knowing this about mom and the former steak tartare, I “manned-up” and grabbed my fork and took the first bite and OMG! This was the most flavorful meat, cooked or not, I had ever had. It was absolutely delicious, would I order it again? Yes, in a heart beat, but I’m afraid that I have probably been spoiled on any other steak tartare. In my mind, I’m thinking this is probably the best I could ever have tried, I’d be reluctant to order it anywhere else. Can you imagine your first steak tartare at Joel Robuchon and then trying to compare any other to that? Honestly, I can’t.
In the end both mom and I were really happy with my big language faux pas! Lucky for me it turned out so well. Should I have asked for help with the menu? Yes, most certainly, sometimes I just have to learn the hard way. The total cost of the meal, including 2 espresso was €99.
After lunch, instead of heading right back to the apartment we hopped back on the bus and went to the Marais, since mom had missed out on that on Sunday. While I was there on my own on Sunday I spied a very pretty leather handbag in a boutique window. I hesitated buying it on Sunday, but visions of this electric blue bag kept creeping back into my head.
We got off the bus near the St. Paul metro stop and meandered through the Marais and to the boutique. I was happy to see the handbag was still there and as luck would have it, the price was reduced by €25. It must have been a “sign” for me not to buy the bag on Sunday! We did a little more wandering about and then took the bus back towards our apartment. We relaxed for a few hours until it was time for our 8pm dinner reservation.
We started with a charcuterie of Basque hams, always delicious. I had the croquette starter with included cod croquettas and a luscious pepper dipping sauce. Mom’s starter was a lentil salad veloute and it was creamy and delicious. We must have been doing something right here because the 2 men dining next to us ordered the same starters.
After coffees and a quick exit, because I had turned red as a tomato after spilling the wine we were home by 9:30pm. The total cost of the meal was €105. We really enjoyed Pottoka and would happily recommend this restaurant to anyone who asked us for a Paris restaurant recommendation.
Wednesday, Dec. 14, 2011
We had another leisurely morning in the apartment and in the late morning we took the bus to Place de la Madeleine for our “mustard excursion”. Our first order of business was to “high-tail it” to the Maille mustard boutique. I was happy to see the store was not packed to the gills with customers. We’ve been in this shop before when we could hardly move. This time we could browse and really check out all the different flavors on offer, and believe me, there were plenty to see, cassis mustard anyone?
I think we left the Maille mustard boutique with no less than 10 jars of all different kinds of flavored mustards and 3 crocks of fresh mustard. Since we were so close, we also took a spin around the Hediard shop, but with our tote bag busting with Maille mustard we choose not to purchase anything at Hediard.
Since we were loaded down with heavy jars and crocks of mustard we decided to take the bus back to the apartment to drop them off. After all, I wouldn’t have wanted to drop the bag and have mustard all over the sidewalk!
After the mustards were safely back at the apartment we ventured back out and took a new bus route. This time to the Musee du Luxembourg. Here is the museum website: http://www.museeduluxembourg.fr/
There was a Cezanne exhibit going on at the museum and I thought it might be nice to see. We found our way to the museum without a hitch and purchased the tickets which were €12 each. The exhibit was fairly crowded, there were several groups ambling about with guides and they all had those earphones on. At a quick glance, mom looked perplexed, and asked, why do all these people have earmuffs on? Wow, she must not have been feeling very well! I gave her a look and she finally realized the “earmuffs” were actually the earphones for the tour group could hear the tour guide.
The exhibit was interesting, but with the crowd, coupled with the warm temperature inside the exhibit space and the way they had the lighting, mom was not feeling well at all. We probably stayed for about 30 minutes before we left. Once outside in the fresh air mom started to feel a little better. I believe this is when mom’s cold really started to kick-in. We did manage a quick peak inside the St. Sulpice church before catching the bus back towards our neighborhood.
I left the apartment and hopped on the bus, which should have been a fairly quick ride to the area of the Arc de Triomphe. The bus was not full however, there was quite a bit of traffic and at one point the bus lane was blocked by workers doing what looked to be some street repairs. The bus was blocked and the driver would not move into the other lane to go around the workers. It was then like watching a mutiny on the bus with the other passengers yelling at the driver and the driver yelling back at them. I had no idea what was being said, but it made for an interesting 10 minutes. In about 10 minutes the workers moved and cleared the lane and the bus continued on.
It was pretty to stand up there, with the wind blowing at a brisk pace and see the Champs Elysees, the Eiffel Tower and Montmartre. I was up there for about 30 minutes, happily taking pictures. When I was finished I slowly descended to the bottom of the Arc and walked down the Champs Elysees checking out the Christmas decorations and popped into a store here and there.
I arrived back at the apartment at about 7pm and mom still wasn’t feeling great. But she pulled herself up by her bootstraps and we went to La Taverna for our 8pm dinner reservation. We had been to La Taverna before and enjoyed it and we were in the mood for Italian food, so thought we’d give it another try.
We both had the eggplant starter, which was good, but didn’t seem as good as we had remembered. For her main dish mom had the sword fish special, which was moist and tender and delicious. I had the risotto which was warm and satisfying. We each had the chocolate and coffee tiramisu, which has never failed to please us, it was terrific! We had our espresso and since we were being Italian tonight, we also had 2 glasses of limoncello, which oddly had a faint licorice taste. The total cost of the meal was €113.
Thursday, Dec. 15, 2011
The cold mom had been trying to battle over the last few days won the war today. The coughing, sneezing and runny nose was full-blown today. I ran out to buy more tissues, and some soup. The Tylenol mom had been taking was getting low in her supply so I went to the pharmacy to re-stock with the French version of Tylenol. The pharmacist spoke excellent English, so I was pretty confident the stuff I purchased was not going to kill her.
I took this day to go out and about in our neighborhood. Since we hadn’t really explored the area in the 15th arrondisement, which is just across the Champs du Mars. I took a walk over there. I managed to find my way to rue de Commerce and had an enjoyable few hours window shopping. The skies turned to gray and the rain really started to come down, so I found myself at Starbucks for a warm cup of coffee and then made my way back to the rue Cler area and did a little grocery shopping.
We decided, since mom wasn’t feeling great, that we would have dinner in the apartment tonight. I had my handy tote bag with me, and I stopped in shops here and there to pick up some roasted chicken, potatoes, vegetables, cheese, wine, crackers. All we would need for a nice, comfortable dinner in the apartment.
Friday, Dec. 16, 2011
We had arranged to take a cooking class today with Cook’n with Class. Here is the website: http://cooknwithclass.com/
The schedule was to meet the chef at 9:20am in Montmartre at the Jules Joffrin metro stop. When the alarm went off at 6am I knew mom was in pretty bad shape, she had been coughing badly all night.
I said to mom, I thought it was not a good idea to go to the class. I told her I didn’t think it practical for her to be around food or in a small kitchen in the state she was in and others in the class would probably not be happy with the coughing and sneezing. She put up a fight, but ultimately agreed with me. She did insist that I go on my own. However, this was the same class I had taken on a previous trip to Paris, which mom had missed out on, and the only reason I was going again was so she and I could do it together. You see, I am truly a novice cook, and having done the class once on my own, I really didn’t want to do it a second time on my own. Plus, it was another gloomy morning with lots of rain, and I just did not feel like walking in and out of shops purchasing the provisions for the cooking class, getting soaking wet. Call me a wimpy, but I just wasn’t “into” it.
Just after 6am I called the cooking school office number and left them a message and followed it with an email. Then at 8am, a more reasonable hour, I called the chef’s mobile number to let him or her, know mom and I would not be attending class. It’s a shame, because I knew this was one of the things mom was looking forward too, but there’s always another time. I have to give kudos to the staff at Cook’n with Class, because they did send back an email offering us spots in a baking class later that day, but there was still no way mom could have done that.
Once it was settled that we wouldn’t be doing the cooking class, we had a leisurely morning at the apartment and started to gather our things and for our journey home. We were hoping with the resting for the last few days mom would feel (slightly) better for the flight home since it’s no fun flying when you’re sick.
We took our last walk back to the apartment and called it an early night because the car service was scheduled to pick us up at 7am the next morning.
Saturday, Dec. 17, 2011 aka: Return To Home
We began the process of getting ourselves and our luggage to the ground floor level 20 minutes before the car was to pick us up. By 6:50am we were outside the apartment door waiting. At 7am when the car hadn’t arrived, I was starting to get worried. We’ve used Inter-Shuttle before and they were always early. Here is the website: http://www.shuttle-inter.com/
By 7:10am the car arrived and we were on our way to CDG. We arrived at Terminal E at 8am and proceeded to check-in. It was a bit confusing at first because we had Premier Voyager seats and there is a separate check-in for that, but once we got in the right line it moved quickly and we got our boarding passes and checked our luggage.
Going through passport control was a breeze. Getting on the shuttle to the gate area was a breeze. Going through security was not a breeze. I had read on the Air France website the night before there was a strike of security personnel and to plan on arriving at the airport early. Our flight was scheduled to leave at 11am, so I figured arriving at 8am would be ok.
When we saw the line for security, we were a bit surprised! There was only one check-point/x-ray line open. The line was long and it was not moving. As we inched our way closer, after 45 minutes we had not moved very far. Fortunately as we continued to wait, a few more check-point lines were opened and we managed to get pulled into another, shorter line.
We arrived at the gate area at 10am and the flight began boarding at 10:15am. For the most part, the flight was fine, food was ok, seats in Premier Voyager were comfortable, but with the strong head-winds the 9 hours flight felt like forever to us, especially mom, who still wasn’t feeling 100%.
We landed in Atlanta and made our way through passport control, where there was no line at all (this was a happy surprise), then onto baggage claim where we waited for close to an hour for our bags, then through customs and over to the area where we re-check our baggage for the final flight to Savannah.
We had about an hour to wait for our connecting flight and we were happy to see a flight attendant friend of ours flying home on our Savannah flight, that made the waiting time to board go by quickly since we were chatting away with him.
Once we deplaned in Savannah we were happy to see all 3 of our bags made the journey with us and before we knew it we were back home.
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