Best of...

1.  Emmy having run of the hotel when we were in Burgundy.*

 

2. Taking Emmy to a 1-star Michelin restaurant and having her fall asleep on the banquette.

 

3. Playing soccer with a balloon with a guy the night the Nouveau Beaujolais was launched.  We never talked, just passed a balloon back and forth.

 

4. Meeting Russians and Poles and French people when Emmy engaged with their dogs.  And having them take an interest in us as a result.*

 

5. My favorite beer bar in this city, Trois 8.  French bartender who spoke English with a Scottish accent, served great beers AND wines, and hand made the charcuterie plates.

 

6. Thanksgiving among 20 French people who welcomed us into their group, largely because they were welcoming, and because I've known their host for 35 years.*

 

7. The fact that the French better understand my speaking French to them than ever before.  Even to the point that twice I was asked to speak more slowly.  We're getting there!

 

8. Being recognized by the bartender at Sherry Butt.  An artist of mixed drinks, we talked about old school rap (Snoop) and I was in awe of the pride he took in his work.  I felt honored.

 

9. The Segway tour of the city.  We had the time to take many more exhaustive walks through Paris, but for an overview, on a warm day, this can't be beat.  Despite the fact that you're virtually waving a flag at everyone to declare the fact that you're a tourist.*

 

10. Christmas Carols at Shakespeare & Co.  United together in sight of perhaps the most awe inspiring church anywhere.  Singing badly.  Experiencing the holiday in a new way, in a new place.  In sight of ground zero of my aspirations to live in this city.

 

11. Celebrating Christmas with people who see us as family and treat us like family.*

 

12. The fact that in this country, even a non-foodie like me, is dragging into paying attention to food.

 

13. Saying, "We're here for 3 months", and being treated differently as a result.*

 

14. Hearing a voice from the apartment above say, "Bon Annee au chien" on New Years Eve.

 

15. The various aspects of this trip that reminded me of parallels to our visit 30 years ago.

 

16. The lights and decorations of Christmas.

 

17. The Bateaux Mouches dinner cruise with our friends.*

 

18. The musicians at the Chatelet Metro station.

 

19. Hugo Desnoyer.  Raw meat and great wine.*

 

20. Juveniles. Spending 20 minutes talking to the owner.  Her saying to call next time and check to see if it would be a good night for Emmy to come too.*

 

21. Reliving our youth by going to the Cat Stevens concert.*

 

22. The Philosophy Meetups because on the one hand what could be more French than to debate philosophy where the existentialists used to hang out, and on the other, they're nothing about food or beautiful buildings.

 

23. The Salon du Chocolat.  Twice!

 

24.  Reading a little of The Hunchback of Notre Dame inside of Notre Dame.

 

25. The weather was very rarely as bad as I feared it would be from my California perspective.*

 

26. There's always a festival or an event to go to!

 

From Maxine  -- I starred the items on Tom’s list that make my best of list.  Here are a few additions:

 

1. Participating in the march against intolerance and terrorism with 1.5 million other Parisians.  It felt good to be a part of the event and to make the statement in common with the French.

 

2.  The food.  Not just in restaurants but in the local bakeries, butcher shops, pastry shops, epiceries.  The standards are so high that it was fun just to window shop.

 

3.  Walking.  One of the things I love most about Paris is just walking around neighborhoods.  I always discover new charming streets, beautiful buildings and interesting shops. 

 

4.  Feeling more comfortable speaking French.  At the beginning of the trip, I was reluctant to speak and asked Tom to talk to storekeepers, waiters, etc.  By the end of the trip, it was natural to speak French, not that my French was fluent but I felt like I could make myself understood.

 

Lessons Learned

1. Buy a SIM chip with a voice and data plan for your cell phone.

 

2. Download the RATP app.  Familiarize yourself with it, with Google Maps, and with Apple Maps.

 

3. Buy Navigo (transit) cards if it makes sense from a schedule standpoint.

 

4. Cultivate patience!

 

5. Try to speak French.

 

6. Bring your dog!  You WILL be treated differently.  AND you will have a richer experience.

 

7. Clothes washers are imperative.  Elevators are desirable.  Kitchens are not that important.

 

8. You need good walking shoes.  No, really good walking shoes...

 

9. Have a Plan B, or at least something else you're interested in, in the area you're going.

 

10. Embrace the food.  Revel in it. Don't even attempt to hold to a diet.

 

11. You won't find vegetables on restaurant menus.

 

12. The quality of the event is not necessarily correlated with how much it costs.

 

13. Try to come up with groupings of things you want to see in a particular area.  It's a small city and very often you can "kill 2 birds with 1 stone".

 

From Maxine – a few additions

 

14.  Take buses if you’re going a short distance.  It’s much more fun to see the city rather than the subway tunnel.

 

15.  After 3 months in Paris eating bread every day, croissants often, and one 3 course meal daily, I came home 3 pounds lighter.  Eating well-prepared, real food and not snacking combined with walking really worked to stay in shape and to enjoy Paris.

 

Yes I did walk a lot

From Maxine – I wear a Fitbit activity tracker which records my steps and distance traveled.  Since I walked all over Paris, I thought it would be interesting to see just how many steps I took and what distance I traveled during our stay.

 

Total Steps = 1,350,813

Average per Day = 14,844

 

Total Miles = 572.88

Average per Day = 6.3

 

Highest Day = 24, 843 steps and 10.5 miles

 

Random Notes. Didn't make it into other blog entries.

Autolib.  Paris has had Velib, the free or cheap bikes you can borrow, for nearly 10 years.  They now have the same(?) with electric cars.  We never needed one so we didn't try to figure them out.  But, what struck me was the slogan on the side of the cars, "Free, like the air".

 

Before we began the blog I said I'd do some blog posts from Emmy's perspective.  I never figured out how to do this in a way that wasn't just trite.  Paris became her world, probably even more than it did ours.  She made friends.  She played with them.  Language was (probably) not a barrier.  She walked the same city streets often enough that they probably seemed like home.  She spent many hours in our apartment, enough that we're pretty sure she thought she'd simply moved.  The 65 steps up, and down, that she had to take 3 times each day to go to the bathroom never seemed to bother her as much as they did us.  Some variety in food, but she always prefers variety in her food.  Odd things to taste that she found in the gutters.  Less running because she didn't have access to our LA backyard -- the Foch park was often too muddy to let her run on it.  Colder.  Rainier.  More noises, and more variety of noises.  Same bed (crate) to sleep in at night.  And same owners fawning over her.

 

I'm never tired of "downtown" Paris.  The Pont des Arts.  The Louvre.  The view of Notre Dame.  Shakespeare & Co.  The warren of streets and shops in the 6th.  Never tired of it.  I know it's not really Paris, but it is my favorite part.

 

There were a surprising number of furniture, clothing and shoe repair storefronts.  We've read that Parisians are frugal, and this seemed to prove it out.

 

When you get on the bus, you look the bus driver in the eye and say hello.  I love that.

 

I ate so much chocolate in the first couple weeks, attending the Salon du Chocolat with its unlimited offerings, that I never bought chocolate from a shop the rest of the trip.  I did order chocolate based desserts, almost every time, but never bought chocolates at the shops that populated the Salon.

 

Good hot chocolate is worth the price.  And, I still haven't forgiven Starbucks for discontinuing their offering (Chantico???) years ago.  It was a credible option.

 

Paris makes you work, unlike LA.  You've got to walk.  You've got to wait.  Your credit card doesn't work and it's your problem.  There are lots of other people in the way. The stores have much more limited selections.  Kleenex is out of stock.  It's cold.  Then it's warm and you sweat.  You don't always understand what the signs say, let alone the people.  It's new.  Or, is it traditional and you just don't understand the tradition?  Sometimes you have to deposit a euro to get a grocery cart and other times you don't.  Quite a few of the great restaurants don't take reservations.  Without fail your dog is allowed to come in.  Hertz and McDonalds and Starbucks are here, as are hundred year old restaurants.  Some of it is just, "it's just different" and other parts are an onion to unpeel or a level of patience to develop.

 

Meetups.  We signed up for dozens of them before we left.  We got excited as our day of departure for Paris approached and we saw events we could attend.  And now, in the last week, we see events scheduled for places in Paris we'd like to go, but scheduled to occur after we're back in LA...

 

We're travelling outside the laminate map areas (i.e. the tourist areas) of the city.  It really does seem to be a safe city.  And we're spending a decent amount of time doing things, eating and drinking, walking streets, in areas that are outside the part of the city covered by the laminate map we carry with us.

 

Things that seemed novel now seem ordinary.  Many nights I walk Emmy past a suntanning storefront a couple blocks from the apartment.  The name of the place is "Sun and the City".  At first that name seemed odd or amusing.  Now, I don't even notice.  I'm getting used to being here.  But, I still try to notice the Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triomphe during those evening walks.

 

Official France is calcified, but private France is adapting, and that's good.  The other day I saw the postal guy putting address stickers onto magazines in a stack on his cart.  Couldn't that have been done back at the post office, or just automated entirely?  On the other hand, the local bakery has a ready supply of sandwiches for people who just want to grab one and get on with their day.  I don't think I like change -- we've been surprised enough at how much this city has changed in the 8 years since our last visit.  But... change has to happen.  Hopefully we'll recognize enough of "what was new now" when it's older next time we visit Paris.

 

The Chalgrin Apartment

Maxine found us a great apartment for the 3 months.  Roomy.  OK with Emmy.  Quiet (we hardly ever saw or heard the neighbors).  Small building (one unit per floor).  Good neighborhood.

Tom's Photos Jan 9 - end of trip

Paris's city hall, the Hotel de Ville.  The banners reflect what went on this week.

This is a picture of Notre Dame church.  Look for the soldiers guarding it in the lower right corner of the photo.  The military/security presence in the city increased, as did the sirens...

Famous stained glass window inside Notre Dame

A pretty view of Notre Dame from the Left Bank.

Looking the other direction than Notre Dame we see Shakespeare & Co.

Friday evening I'd been checking the news headlines on CNN.COM and saw that they had a photo like this.  Since the Arc was only a 5 minute walk, Maxine, Emmy & I went over to see it for ourselves.

From the right spot you can see both the Arc and Eiffel Tower.

The next several pictures are from Sunday, January 11th's rally.  We joined it at the end point, Place Nation.

Maxine and Emmy at our neighborhood café the last night before we headed back to LA.

Emmy's look after we told her she had to ride in her crate, in the luggage compartment, for 12 hours... again...

At LAX after we got Emmy, who'd been abandoned (in her crate) in an elevator...

Saturday January 10 - Tuesday January 13

Saturday.  We really understand that the time is ticking down.  Yet, we've got 3 full days in Paris -- as much or more time than our first visit. 

 

Early in this trip we visited the St. Ouen/Marche aux Puces flea market.  We saw some things that looked like possible additions for our house, posters and antique kitchen stuff.  Back then we took the bus over, thinking it would give us a different view, and of a different area of Paris, than the Metro would.  It did -- a much more crowded, less quaint, lower income section of the city.  The odd thing about the flea market is that, while the touristic communications of Paris tout it, it's a bit difficult to get to.  First, since it's at the edge of the city, beyond the Peripherique (the border), it's a minimum 45 minutes commute.  Second, both the bus and Metro let you off 5+ minutes walk from the "actual" flea market and in the center of the edgier part.  It's the part where they're selling stolen iPhones, fake Rolexes, knock off clothing, used shoes; basically it’s an area you walk through quickly and keep telling yourself that Paris is very safe.

 

We didn't have as much success with the flea market as we'd hoped.  The things we thought were cute 2 months ago didn't seem that appealing.  And the posters were reprints.  So, after a wander through, we left.  Maxine to do some last shopping and me to go home to Emmy.

 

Dinner was great!  We decided that our last Parisian restaurant meal would be back at Juveniles.  The history of our interest in Juveniles is this.  We've long been fans of a restaurant called Willi's Wine Bar.  The two partners who owned it were Mark Williamson and Tim Johnson.  At some point they opened Juveniles around the block from Willi's.  At some later point the partners split up and Tim Johnson got Juveniles.  This trip we made our first visits to Juvenile and loved it!  Tim Johnson's daughter Margaux and her boyfriend have taken over.  Good value and GREAT food.  This was our 3rd meal there in roughly a month.  If we lived in Paris, we would definitely be regulars there.  Some highlights from our meals – excellent terrine, duck breast with truffles, a wonderful potato salad also with truffles, beef bourguignon, potatoes dauphinoise, mushroom soup with parmesan, the list goes on and on. 

 

Our first meal at Juveniles was a lunch where we talked to Margaux about her dog (who was in the restaurant) and about raising dogs in Paris.  Then later a great dinner.  And now another great dinner, after which Margaux came over and we talked dogs, Paris, 2nd generation restaurants, and the like for 20 minutes.  We felt part of this tiny place (no more than 30 seats) and extremely welcome.  And, of course, sad that we were leaving.  Margaux told us that next time we come (she knew we were heading back to LA) we should call ahead and she'd let us know if Emmy could come too.  What seemed sad is that we know this nascent feeling of belonging will evaporate, that it will be years before we would next be at Juveniles...  The choices we make.

 

Sunday.  The Rally.  There's not much point in recanting public history here, only our intersection with it.  This past week was a horrible one for Paris, and for France.  Seventeen people died at the hands of terrorists.  The French 9/11 event had occurred and, having killed the terrorists, the city and country were trying to get back on its feet.  Numerous marches were held across the country with a final one in Paris on this day.  Starting at Place Republique and ending at Place Nation.  Crowds expected to be so large that there were to be 3 march routes, "a" and "b" (the text announcing the number of routes didn't match the fact that only 2 were mapped out).  On Thursday we'd gone to the Place Republique site, so we decided to go to Place Nation today.  It was tricky to get there.  It seemed like most of Paris was going, at least based on the crowds on the Metro trains.  But, eventually we made it.  We're glad we did.  Throughout this trip, as well as in our planning for it, we had the intention to feel part of this city.  We were here long enough -- we wanted to experience the city as residents did.  And being surrounded by crowds of thousands, who occasionally broke into song (Marseillaise) or applause, was inspiring.  We knew we were only very slightly peripherally part of all of this, but yet we felt a solidarity with the anguish the residents felt and were glad to join them in making a statement against terrorism and intolerance.  "Je suis Charlie"...

 

From Maxine -- During our trip, I was reluctant to embrace France given the evidence of resurgent anti-Semitism and attacks on Jewish institutions (both rhetorical and actual).  After seeing the sentiments of the French people at the march including the many signs referencing Hyper Cacher and “Je suis Juif” (I am Jewish) and the statements of government officials, especially Prime Minister Manuel Valls, I was very relieved. 

 

Sunday night was one last "salon", at Jim Haynes'.  Someone we met the week before, a chef who was simply another guest, had offered to cook.  As always, it was fun to randomly talk to the people you meet at one of Jim's parties.

 

Monday was a day of packing and last moments to savor the city.  We spent the morning packing and organizing and didn't get out till 1pm.  And we had to travel with one-use Metro tickets since our passes were no longer valid.  We took the neighborhood bus over to the Eiffel Tower and from there walked along the Seine.  And ran into the chef (from Jim's, the night before) and his wife who were also walking this city.  Lunch at a cafe on Boulevard St. Germain.  Some macarons from Pierre Herme for Maxine, and some last wistful views of the Louvre and other aspects of the city that we'll miss.  Then home to finish packing, for Maxine to make dinner from the last of what was in our refrigerator, and one last drink.  Yes, Emmy got her last Paris experience, one last trip to the neighborhood cafe that she visited 3-4 times already.  A last look at both the Arc de Triomphe and the Eiffel Tower, then we were done.  We'd said our goodbyes to this city that we'd lived in for 3 months.  And we were ready for the arduous day back to Los Angeles.

 

Tuesday was sort of a bad day for Emmy...  Air France had a "reputation" for taking very good care of pets, but they did not live up to it this time.  We were able to watch how she was treated from inside the plane!  First, the guy who brought her, in her crate, out to the plane did so swinging it back and forth.  We can only guess how it felt to her inside the crate!  Second, they left her on the runway for over a half hour!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Third, they dropped 3 different other pieces of luggage on her, knowingly.  And, all of this with winds outside strong enough that we saw a suitcase roll 20 feet pushed by the wind.  We tried to get help and spoke to 4 flight attendants, one of whom supposedly spoke to the pilot.  But, despite the assurances, it wasn't handled well.  And as I write this days later, I'm still pissed at Air France.  Or actually furious.  Yes, Emmy survived with no sign that she even remembers being badly treated.  But, it shouldn't have happened.

 

And fourteen hours later, we're in Los Angeles.  All of our luggage arrives.  We wait 20 more minutes for Emmy and finally an unattended elevator door opens and she (in her crate) had simply been put into the elevator.  We have no idea how long she was in the elevator waiting for us...

 

OK, enough of that.  We got home.  The house was intact.  I'd forgotten our alarm system security code and Maxine had to remind me!  We missed the elections, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years.  We were reminded of all of those missed holidays as we went through the mail we'd accumulated.

 

Here in LA the weather is in the mid-70's without a cloud in the sky.  Our home is our home and we're back in it.  We're currently waking up very early and eating lunch at 11am as our bodies gradually readjust to living in this time zone.  But, we are home.

Food, food and more food - Part 2

Thursday night we continued our "best of" restaurant week at Verjus.  They have a 6-course fixed menu with the option of wine pairings (we took it).  They modified the menu for Tom to eliminate all sea creatures so there were additional menu items.

Maxine's 1st course -- scallop ceviche with Jerusalem artichokes, buttermilk, chili oil and horseradish.  Delicious!

Tom's 1st course -- celery root dumplings with tahini sauce.  I think this was even better than the ceviche!

2nd course -- cauliflower and orecchiette with a spicy harissa and burnt lemon sauce served with labneh to cool things down.  I would make this at home, if I could.

Tom's 3rd course -- pasta with sautéed mushrooms.

Maxine's 3rd course -- squid and squid ink gnocchi with salsify, garlic butter and piment d'espelette.

Course 4 -- Duck breast with smoked celery root, orange and caraway seeds served with red cabbage sauerkraut.

Course 5 -- pigeon served with winter cabbage and apple gastrique.  It isn't until right now that I realized that the chef served cabbage with both main courses.  They were completely different flavors and textures.

And additional optional cheese course that Tom ordered -- 12 month aged cantal, salad with walnut vinaigrette.

Course 6 -- Dark chocolate and espresso cake with wine poached pears.  Tasted much better than it looked!

Another great meal with many interesting flavor combinations. 

Monday Jan 5 – Friday Jan 9

This is the last of the posts which were written/put together before the shootings at Charlie Hebdo and the Vincennes grocery store.  Today, Sunday Jan 11th, we're going to try to participate in the rally at Place Republique.  We'll have photos and thoughts from that.  But, we're spending the morning catching up on things, including documenting our trip as we experienced it...

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I think we’re so behind on blogging because we see the end of this trip coming and are trying to get every last Paris experience, even repeats of things we’ve already done, into our days.  So, we’ve tried to keep notes on the week towards this entry.

Monday I had in mind to go to an area called Belleville.  We were there 8 years ago for 2 Meet the French events, the first to meet one of the best bakers in the city, and the second a coffee roaster.  Unfortunately, today was Monday and both were closed!  So, we walked the streets but it was a relatively short visit.  We then hopped down to the area by Bastille and managed to find a great lunch.  Again, an example of our “new French” restaurant experience, each day this place makes batches of 6 different soups and that’s what you eat, along with salad and cheese, if they haven’t run out.  No table cloth.  Simple service.  Great food.  Le Bar de la Soup (or that’s what we recall).  Dinner was a bit of a challenge with places closed because either a) they still thought it was Xmas/New Years break, or b) they just aren’t open on Mondays.

*Maxine’s been doing our food commentary, as is appropriate!  I just wanted to add that even for someone like myself, who’s largely indifferent to food, it’s impossible to stay that way in France.  Truly, they celebrate it.  The window displays are often amazing, and there are MANY of them.  The restaurants are respectful places where you get such a cross section of people.  Yes, their approach is changing and you do see both fast food and eating on the run.  But, because of the food culture, you get caught up in planning your next meal, and the meal after that.  And they’re so good that I’ve been doing very little snacking on this trip (which isn’t to say that I’ve lost weight…). 

Tuesday Maxine went to the last museums on her list – Picasso and Carnavalet (history of Paris) and I did a wander through some “best of” parts of the city.  The Picasso Museum reopened in October after a major remodel and she wanted to see it.  In the end, while it was an interesting presentation of his work, she decided that she’s not a big Picasso fan.  

I took the local bus, which (pretty ideally) goes past the Eiffel Tower.  Interestingly, when the bus was stopped for a light I looked out the window to see 2 plain clothes police frisking a couple guys.  Having never seen that done before, it all seemed more amicable than I would have expected.  One of the guys being frisked kept his cigarette in hand the whole time.

I then headed to the 6^th arrondissement, which is the area where we stayed with Cassie 8 years ago.  My biggest worry is this – I just don’t have the depth of memories of the neighborhood that I think I should.  Half seems to be the fact that there’s been a fair amount of turnover in businesses, and the like.  The other half – my memories are fading?!?!?!?  Even some areas where intellectually I know I should have vivid memories (where we took Cassie each morning or evening) the memories are vaguer than I’d like.  Not good!  I don’t mean that I don’t remember having been there, only that the memories don’t have the depth of “you were there” that I can evoke thinking about our home in LA despite having not been there in 3 months.  Or, for that matter, of my parent’s house which I haven’t been to in even longer.

The winter sales are starting tomorrow.  Yes, they legislate sales.  And the official one starts tomorrow.  I saw numerous stores with “soldes” signs up and prices/percentages blocked out.  I saw one store whose sign read (roughly translated), “prices murmured inside”. 

A comment on international retailing…  There’s a company that makes heavy cookware, Le Creuset, and they’ve got a store that I walked past.  20 or 30 years ago I would have mentioned the store to Maxine and she might have gone there on her own to see about buying something.  But, things are different now, retail is international, and Le Creuset has an outlet store 20 miles from our home!  Good ideas go international, which is good for the consumer but bad for the uniqueness of the place.

I eventually wandered to Place Madeleine where Fauchon and Hediard are.  They’re “high end” grocery stores, or used to be.  Now they seem to have reoriented themselves to be food souvenir stores.  Equally high end.  But more oriented towards the crowd looking for “something to take home”.  Oh well.

One last story for the day about Parisians and life here.  At one point in the day I was heading towards a bus stop to catch a ride.  I got there a minute or 2 late and the bus was 20 feet down the block (past the bus stop) and waiting at a red light.  I gave the driver a pleading look and showed him my metro pass through the window.  He nodded surreptitiously and opened the door to let me on the bus!

Tuesday night we went back to Frenchie’s Wine Bar for dinner.  We got there early since they don’t take reservations and were seated overlooking the kitchen.  Maxine describes the experience in her post with photos.

Wednesday was a good day and a bad day.  The bad, of course, being the Charlie Hebdo shootings…  Again, Maxine and I are doing some “best of”’s.  So we started with a hop on the bus down to the Avenue Wilson Market, the best of the nearby ones.  It was, for us, very very poignant.  We could recall things we’d seen at the market 2 ½ months ago, meals we’d planned on purchasing there, unfulfilled Paris dreams.  We surprised ourselves – after all, after 3 months shouldn’t we have done EVERYTHING!

Lunch was back at Hugh Desnoyer, the raw meat place.  (Actually, he’s a butcher shop with seating for 8-10 people lucky enough to get to eat his products, cooked or otherwise, and as fresh as fresh can be.  We both had the steak tartare again.  In my case, because raw meat seems enough of a risky thing that I’d only want to have it someplace really safe and this is probably the best anywhere.  Along with my meal I had a glass of champagne and later of Bordeaux.  Maxine had a Burgundy and then the Bordeaux.  Along with good food, he serves very good wine!

There was one very odd thing during the meal…  French people are generally very quiet (in an earlier post I mentioned that it was the only place that I’ve ever seen people holding iPhone microphones to their lips so they could talk more quietly).  So, we were surprised that at one point the people at the next table had a smart phone out and were watching streaming video.  It didn’t last long, but was odd.  Later, at the end of our meal, I checked my emails to find one from a friend in North Carolina asking if we were safe in light of the shooting.  What shooting!?  Thus the meal ended.

We did stay with our original plans for the evening.  I went to a Philosophy debate group and Maxine to the Full Moon Picnic on the Pont des Arts.  My group debated a Charlie Hebdo topic, whether the pen was mightier than the sword.  Just an apple for dinner after our big lunch.  My group event also (started and) ended earlier than Maxine’s so I met up with her and others on the Pont des Arts for a glass of wine.  After the picnic, we went out with a few people to have a beer (Monts des Cats) at a place suggested by a guy we met who pilots one of the Seine boats.  Really fun to feel more and more part of things.

One Emmy story…  Late at night, I’m walking her and she engages with a Jack Russell terrier (apparently the most popular breed in the city) and I say a couple words in French to the girl who owned the dog.  No big deal, Emmy’s friendly and it happens every day.  But when Emmy decided to leave, the girl said, “Have a nice evening” in English, completely startling me.  Why?  Not a touristic area.  Out at midnight.  With a dog…

Thursday was Maxine’s and my day to check out the sales.  We started, though, at Place Republique, where they had the Charlie Hebdo memorial the day before.  Sad, very sad.  Melted candles.  Piles of pens people had left behind in memory.  Puts things in perspective. 

Dinner was another one of our “best of”’s, a restaurant called Verjus, which Maxine will separately write about.

Friday we took it easy.  Didn’t even leave the apartment till after lunch.  I took the metro over to Hotel de Ville so I could walk across to Notre Dame.  Spent a little time there.  Then continued the rest of the way across the river to Shakespeare & Co so I could pay homage one more time.  Then home.  Maxine did some shopping and enjoyed the city on a beautiful,almost warm and sunny day.

Food, food and more food

This is our last week in Paris and we're doing a "best of..." circuit of the restaurants we've liked the most during our stay.

First up, Frenchies Bar a Vins.  This is a first come, first served place and we got there early on Tuesday.  We were seated at the window overlooking the kitchen, basically the chef's table.  It couldn't have been better!




Here are photos of the food prep of the food we ate.  This is the lobster roll.

Endive salad

Burrata with mushrooms and balsamic

Cheddar gnocchi with truffles

We didn't actually eat this fish but we were impressed with the attention to detail in a wine bar where the customers sit at high tables on stools.

The chef knew I was watching and "played to the audience".  It was a night of great food and a lot of fun.

Food market on Avenue Wilson.  We were so sorry that we couldn't buy more but we're leaving too soon.

Doesn't this look like a still-life?

We returned to Hugo Desnoyer for a steak tartare lunch.  I'm not sure I'll ever eat steak tartare again; well, maybe if we can go back to Hugo's.