hi, anselm

great start - I thought I'd segued [?spelling] onto the wrong thread, and was reading a maigret novel.

regards, ann

Thanks Anselm, anxiously awaiting more...

Anselm - you really have a wonderful writing style. I'm enjoying your report.

I have what is probably a naive or dumb question - I've been considering renting an apartment on my next Paris trip. You mention that there were resident cats in the apartment. Did you know that ahead of time? I didn't see them mentioned on the website. I ask because I am allergic to cats and would never have thought to inquire about cats in the apartment. It would be a problem for me whether they were there when I was or if there were away because their dander will remain on the furniture. Thanks!

ann, cobbie, cls2paris, thanks. If you love a city it's easier to write about it.

I should have been more clear about the cats! There are no cats in VRBO 28993. The cats are in Guy and Jean-Michel's apartment, which is in the same building. Guy had invited me to drop by for a drink. Sorry for the confusion.

Anselm

Thanks, Anselm! I didn't read it clearly. I saw the word "cat" and my mind just raced!

Looking forward to the rest of your report.

I have been waiting for this!!!...and I am not disappointed.
Now my quandary is whether to wait until it's all posted and splurge like Pavarotti at an all-you-can-eat buffet OR eke it out like a condemned man with an ice cream cone, lick by lick.

Hot diggity-dog... or "sauccise chaud" or some such...
One of my favorite writers...all about my favorite town!
Hip hip...hooray!
Lick by lick Robjame...savor

robjame, that has to be one of the funniest posts I have ever read here.

As you requested, there will be no photos of cats or flowers. Unfortunately, there won't be many food pictures either, as Kate kept forgetting to bring her camera when we went out to dinner. You'll have to make do with Margriet's food posts.

Anselm

Living on rue de Saintonge

I met a childhood friend for dinner on Friday evening at a restaurant on rue de Charonne. It was after midnight when we finished our meal. We walked back to Bastille, where we parted. I rode the Metro a short distance, then walked down rue des Filles du Calvaire towards the apartment. It had been raining; I watched the sidewalk turn from red to green in the reflected light of a traffic signal. There was an occasional car, the buzz of a motorbike, and the footsteps of another pedestrian walking on the other side of the street. I was soon at the apartment, where I tapped out the code, pushed open the door, and stepped into the hall. I reached out in darkness to touch the light switch. There are times when you feel you are a part of this city.

I was a flaneur in Paris, strolling great distances, re-visiting familiar haunts, and exploring other areas for the first time. In eight previous visits I had failed to see Montmartre, so I followed the walk recommended in the Michelin Guide. Despite it being a cool day with gusty winds, there were crowds in Place Tertre and around Sacré-Coeur. Once west of rue du Mont-Cenis, however, the streets were deserted. The walk down rue Cortot and then on past the vineyard and Cimetière St-Vincent was delightful. And for those who have wondered, as they have climbed that spiral staircase at Abbesses Metro station, just how many steps there are, Michelin says 280.

I also wanted to look at Belleville. Starting at the Belleville Metro stop, I followed the Michelin walking route through this fascinating neighbourhood. True, there are plain, modern buildings, but the route shows off intriguing passageways and charming villas with small gardens. Parc de Belleville is a gem, a terraced oasis that offers striking views over Paris. I wandered through the park, followed for a while by a young man who was singing. There is a vine-covered stairway in the middle of the park; climbing the stairs is like walking in a tunnel.

Late one afternoon I bought six oysters at the fish shop on rue de Bretagne, then went a few doors down the street to the green grocer for a lemon. That evening, I opened the bag of oysters and inhaled ocean air, seaweed, and iodine. Standing over the sink, I pried them open, delighted that I hadn’t stabbed the heel of my hand. I put the half-shells on a plate, squeezed a few drops of lemon over each, poured a glass of chilled Chablis, and sliced some baguette. These were the best oysters that I have ever eaten.

On my second day, I was walking along rue Réaumur when a woman stopped me to ask directions. Distracted, I let the bag holding my camera slip off my shoulder and fall to the sidewalk. I picked it back up, got her pointed towards boulevard de Sébastopol, and walked home feeling cold. Amazingly, the camera still worked, although it wouldn’t focus on anything closer than two metres. It could have been so much worse.

Great style, Anselm.
A trip report on Paris written with style - what could be more appropriate ?
I liked your beginning as well as your well organised detail, and am awaiting to read more.

On y va !

Mathieu

Reading this, I think I actually know Jean-Michel's ex, who lived in the same building until about 4 years ago, but in a different apartment. Small world.

Hi, again, anselm,

how did you stop at 6? [oysters that is] my only limit is the number i can open without needing the ambulance.

?flaneur?

regards, ann

flaneur

"An idle man-about-town; a lounger, gossiper."

I love your sytle, Anselm, and look forward to more.

SusieC et Mathieu, many thanks. Kerouac, small world indeed.

ann, nukesafe has it right. Historically a well-dressed man of leisure (so I half fit that description) who strolled about the city, observing more than participating ...

And I just realized I left out an accent. It's supposed to be flâneur. Blush.

Anselm

Love your report so far and can't wait for the rest -- such lovely writing!! It sounds like the beginning of a Cara Black book.

What would be the term for a female "flaneur," because that's my very favorite thing to do in Paris (when I'm not sitting at a cafe!). However, don't know the language enough to gossip!!

joy/luvparee

P.S. I still have the tube of sugar I brought home on my 2004 trip! Can't bear to use it.

You've got me hooked! Love your writing style. Can't wait for your next entry.

Hi, Anselm.
I'm loving your report. It is making me even more eager, if that is possible, to get back to Paris.
More, please.
Judy

Oh, this is going to be good! Like a hot chocolat from Angelina's on a cold Parisian day...something to savour.

Thanks Anselm!

(luvparee: that would be flâneuse)

The second apartment: “Books do furnish a room”

Two-bedroom, two-bathroom apartments are at a bit of a premium. We narrowed our list down to two: a flat on boulevard Henri IV (http://www.vrbo.com/76435) and this one on rue des Petits Champs in the 1st http://preview.tinyurl.com/y3kzl9. (There are additional photos on this site, where the owners also list: http://preview.tinyurl.com/ys5l3e.) We chose the second one; it felt more welcoming, and the bookcases looked intriguing.

It rained on the day I moved from rue de Saintonge. A taxi was nowhere to be found, despite Jean-Michel’s best efforts, so I carried my luggage into the Metro and arrived in rue des Petits Champs wet and late. Roland, the owners’ representative, showed me around the flat.

This apartment is large and beautifully decorated. You enter a wide hallway; a bedroom and a bathroom are on either side as you walk towards the living room. A long, large room opens up, windows on the far side overlooking the street. The kitchen and dining area are on the right, then the living room itself, and beyond that, way off to the left, a separate study. The master bedroom and its ensuite bathroom are to the left off the living room. Both bedrooms overlook a quiet courtyard, while the tall windows on the front of the building wash the kitchen, dining area, living room, and study with light. There is a long, wide balcony just outside those windows, with plants and flowers.

I had mentioned to the owner that we would be preparing some of our own meals. She wrote back to say that we would find the kitchen “convivial,” an apt description. As Margriet will describe, we did cobble together some interesting meals.

The dining table seats eight. The living room has good reading lights and comfortable seating. Introverts (that would be all three of the Adorne family) wanting a bit of time to themselves can retreat to the study, where there is a fold-out couch and desk. There are sliding doors between the living room and the study, so the study can be used as a third bedroom. The library is diverse and extensive, the bathrooms elegant, the beds comfortable, and the bed linens—well, the linens are sublime.

One of the big questions here on Fodor’s is “What are the owners like to deal with?” All of my dealings were with Sheila, who was blazingly fast on responding to e-mails and whose humour and good-will were never far from the surface. Roland, their agent in Paris, is gracious and fluently bilingual. I recommend this apartment without hesitation.

This was our first time spending any amount of time in the 1st arrondissement. There is a bakery across the street, and a Paul a block away. Basic groceries can be purchased at a Monoprix on avenue de l’Opéra. Within two blocks is Place du Marché St-Honoré, with its Wednesday and Saturday markets. Nearby is the Le Coq du St-Honoré, where we bought poulet de Bresse. There are at least three wine shops within a few blocks. The nearest Metro is Pyramides. There is some traffic noise during the day, but the apartment is on an upper floor; we didn’t find it irritating or intrusive. It is quiet in the evening.

There are treasures nearby: the beautiful Palais-Royal and the nearly perfect Place des Victoires. The Opéra, rue St-Honoré, and the Louvre are within a ten-minute walk. The Passages Choiseul and Vivienne are very close.

Next: Margriet is going to add a post about the food we prepared in the apartment.

Oh, you two, make Paris blossom before our computer. My husband opens oysters for me on special days. Wish it were every day

Hey Anselm,

This is great...thanks for sharing!

Layla

...The one they picked, the one you'll know by

Don't you ever ask them why, if they told you you would cry

So I'm just looking at those (apartment) photos and sigh....igh...ing...

Sue, you got the reference, LOL ... just wait until we get to the section on the kids and all will be revealed.

Anselm

One of the joys of renting—whether it’s a village house in the Auvergne or an apartment in Paris—is making our own meals, or as we call it, cooking from a suitcase. Anyone who can’t imagine wanting to cook while on holiday can skip this bit (restaurants are coming a little later), but I thought that fellow travelling cooks might get some vicarious pleasure from reading it.

Our first rule is to keep it simple. I enjoy cooking, but I don’t want to be tied to the stove—especially an unfamiliar one. Simple recipes can be cooked from memory or made up on the spot, they don’t require restocking the pantry (about the only herb you can count on finding in a rental kitchen is herbes de Provence), and they don’t create so many dirty dishes that the washers-up revolt. Best of all, they let you compare tastes. I now know that an under-ripe tomato shipped from Morocco to France doesn’t taste any better than an under-ripe tomato shipped from Mexico to Canada.

Breakfast After a few years of research (and for the record I did not spend 20 minutes in the yoghurt aisle at the Carrefour in Uzès—no matter what my brother-in-law says) we have declared Mamie Nova Yaourt Gourmand to be our favourite yoghurt (3.5% BF and 20% fruit). We were very happy to find it at the Monoprix. Unfortunately they didn’t have fig, our all-time favourite, but there was peach, wild cherry, pear and quince, rhubarb, and fresh pineapple and passion fruit. Graham tried the chocolat noir, but even he had to admit that it was a bit much for breakfast.

The bakery was literally across the street from the apartment. We particularly enjoyed their pain au levain (sourdough), which they called “baguette à l’ancienne.” Unfortunately, it wasn’t always ready first thing, but the regular baguette was also very good. Some of us think that breakfast doesn’t get much better than a few slices of baguette with unsalted butter and apricot jam. But the kids were in charge of the morning bakery run, and they tried everything. The viennoiseries (croissants, chocolatines, pains aux raisins, chaussons aux pommes) were excellent—buttery without being greasy or soggy (except for the lovely wodgy centre of the pain aux raisins where they put the pastry cream).

Lunch The charcuterie counter at Monoprix and the shops and market stalls around Marché St-Honoré furnished lunch. Ham (jambon à l'os supérieur), paté or terrine, raw veggies, celery remoulade and herring and potato salad, about four kinds of olives (the guys at the market kept giving us different ones to taste), and, of course, cheese—St-Nectaire, bleu d’Auvergne, brebis, chevre in its many forms, brie de Meaux, Munster—we barely scratched the surface.

Supper We ate supper in on four of the nine nights we were in Paris. Which brings us to our second rule: take advantage of the best that France has to offer. I’d heard of the famous blue-legged chickens from Bresse (http://preview.tinyurl.com/yojk4x) in southern Burgundy, but had never eaten one. On Friday we bought one from our local volaillerie, Le Coq St-Honoré (www.coqsthonore.fr). I coated it with Dijon mustard mixed with chopped shallots and garlic, stuck a branch of fresh rosemary (from a plant on the balcony) into the cavity, and roasted it. With it we had a simple green salad and tiny potatoes sautéed in olive oil and butter. The chicken was incredible, intensely chickeny. It was definitely free range—the meat was lean and tender, but firm, not “wet” like most North American chicken. The shape was quite different, too, with a long body and very long straight leg bones. Such perfection comes at a price; at 10€ a kilo, the 2-kg bird cost over $30 Canadian, including the head, the feet, and whatever else madame kindly removed for me.

One of our favourite winter dishes is saucisses lentilles (we braised the sausages with garlic and red wine; the lentils, of course, were lentilles de Puy, which Anselm cooked with onion and carrot). It’s a perfect meal from a suitcase, accompanied with a salad of fennel, orange, and frisée. Leftover lentils mixed with vinagrette make a nice salad for lunch.

And on another night it was lamb chops from Monoprix. They were very good, though not quite as good as the agneau de pays from the butcher in Nyons or the lamb from Besse-en-Chandesse, just a few kilometres down the road from the house we rented in the Auvergne. With the chops we had tomatoes provençales, spinach with cream, and more of those sautéed potatoes.

There you have it, good simple meals eaten in the comfort of our apartment. We usually started with smoked salmon and capers and ended with patisserie from the local bakery. Along the way we drank a bottle of Badoit and a couple of bottles of wine. We found some very good Chablis, Sancerre, Corbière, and Côtes du Rhône Villages in the €6–10 range.

WOW!
<<There you have it, good simple meals eaten in the comfort of our apartment.>>
We have got to find a couple of neighbouring gites 1n 2008. Margriet - those meals sound wonderful.
More! More!

Finally, the trip report I've been waiting for! Thanks, Anselm. I'm truly enjoying your journey and devouring every tidbit about the apt. on rue des Petits Champs and its environs. Merci mille fois, EJ

mmmm, oysters. I was thinking of oysters too on my last night but I wanted to eat out.

So I guess that dull butter knife that made me think, "man, they should probably replace this," was an oyster knife!

Fun report, looking forward to more. Is your camera still working?

Thanks to all for the comments. More tomorrow, including a link to some photos.

Fishee, the camera worked as long as I didn't try to focus on anything close. I took it in to my camera shop last week and the conclusion is that the lens is damaged, not the body of the camera. So, the lens is now in the hands of Nikon, who will let me know how much it will cost to repair.

I have mixed feelings about this. I am still smarting over my stupidity in letting it fall, but every cloud has a silver lining: it may cost so much to repair that the best solution is to buy a new lens. Now that sounds like an upgrade opportunity, right? (I hope Margriet misses this post.)

Anselm

bookmark

Oh wonderful, merci, this tale has everything. Apartments to fantasize about, new neighborhoods, shopping and cooking to make me want to be your neighbor and stop in to borrow a cup of lentils and be invited to stay for dinner. And a tale of two degrees of separation.

Keep it coming.

Robjame, thank you. It certainly adds another dimension to eating in France, and I hope it further convinces you that the difficulty of finding the right place to rent is worth it.

Nikki, you'd be more than welcome. We'll have to find some place where there are three houses to rent, because robjame is going to be our neighbour too.

Anselm

Living on rue des Petits Champs

Margriet and I meandered from museum to museum and from café to café, interspersed with resting in parks, shopping trips for groceries and wine, and cooking. I’m not sure whether it is our age or our growing comfort with the city, but we’re doing less and seeing more.

Warm February sunshine brings parents and children into the parks. Toddlers trip over the tiny fences that separate the paths from the lawn, while those a little older bend over to rearrange pieces of gravel on the paths. Older children kick a soccer ball or run under trees. Kids have a particular fascination with the Daniel Burin sculpture in Palais-Royal, those striped stone pedestals of varying heights. They race back and forth between them or stand on top, laughing and waving. Adults chat, read, doze, or watch ducks grooming themselves on the edge of a fountain.

Paris employs an army of lime green men who clean sidewalks, groom parks, and drive lime green vehicles that vacuum streets and pick up garbage. When a sweeper arrives at the end of a block, he kicks a roll of old carpeting into position and leans over to open a valve on the curb. Water starts to flow along the edge of the street, diverted one way or the other by the carpeting. With a long broom he sweeps litter across the sidewalk towards the running water. Pigeons, who seem to have been waiting for this moment, settle in the water for a bath. When the sweeper finishes, he turns off the water and kicks the roll of carpeting back in beside the curb. It will be there for next time.

Margriet and I ate lunch in a café near Place des Vosges. The owner walked by our table and remarked that we were enjoying food from Auvergne, his birthplace. We told him we had spent a couple of weeks there and we spoke for a few minutes about food and volcanoes. “You know the geography of France?” he asked. We said we did. “You know, then, that Auvergne is the centre of France and that the rest of the country is just a tiny border around the edge?”

Anti-smoking laws are driving workers out onto the sidewalks, where they stand smoking in doorways. Balconies provide an alternative. I glanced up at one of the offices on avenue de l’Opéra and saw a woman standing on the fourth floor balcony, cigarette in hand. A second later a tall window opened on the fourth floor of the adjacent building; another woman stepped out onto her balcony and lit a cigarette.

Kate ordered crème brûlé for desert. “Listen,” she said, holding up her spoon. We all leaned towards her. Grinning with Amélie-like pleasure, she tapped the crusty surface with the back of the spoon. We all heard it fracture.

Here is a link to some of our photos: www.pbase.com/anselmadorne/paris__07_2 Click on the first photo and then move to the next one by clicking “next” on the upper right side of the image.

Loving every word! The food sounds marvelous! Your pictures are soooo good -- loved the Montmartre ones and the water fountains -- you can just hear and feel the water splashing. Thanks so much, both of you, for sharing Paris with us and making us feel like we're right there!

luvparee/joy

Thanks, Michael Paris, for the correct female flaneur -- sounds wonderful -- "flaneuse."

But doesn't flâneuse suggest - however unfairly - something, well, a bit like Mistinguett's "Je cherche un millionaire": "C'est pour ça que j'fais les boulevards!" ?!

Anselm and Margriet, I'm savouring your report and looking forward to more! The photos are wonderful too. What kind of Nikon camera do you have, Anselm? All the CSIs on TV seem to use Nikon DSLs with huge lenses.

My daughter did the same trick with the crème brûlée last month - I had completely forgotten that scene until she told me who she was imitating.

I think I need to be adopted by this family


suggested reading: Le Flanuer by Edmund White

This is great! We're getting robjame and Nikki as neighbours and we're adopting cigalechanta into the Adorne family. Perfect.

moolyn, the camera is a Nikon D70. The pictures of the poulet de Bresse and the lamb chops were taken with my daughter's Canon A540 PowerShot. My next post will have a link to the photos Kate and Graham took on her Canon and his point-and-shoot Nikon (that has, so I'm told, survived an immersion in water).

Anselm

Feed them on your dreams

Margriet and I hoped that our daughter would grow up sharing our love of travel. As much as you try to “teach your children well” (as Graham Nash suggested), you can never be certain that they will share your tastes or interests. But you can “feed them on your dreams,” giving them the opportunity to feel it and to decide for themselves.

Released from Ottawa snow and mid-term exams, the kids went exploring. Kate had been to Paris before; this was Graham’s first time. They visited the Eiffel Tower, the Arc de Triomphe, Père Lachaise cemetary, the Louvre, the Musée d’Orsay, and Montmartre. They made a day trip to Reims (including a tour of Mumm’s), took an evening cruise on the Seine, and wandered through the Latin Quarter. They joined us for an organ concert at Notre-Dame and a walk through Île-de-la-Cité and Île-St-Louis. Kate and Margriet went shopping, while Graham and I looked at Napoleon’s Tomb and the Musée de l’Armée.

Each afternoon they showed us their photographs, with enthusiastic accounts of what they did, how they did it, and how they felt. They loved the rhythms, textures, shapes, and proportions of Paris. They loved the formalities of dealing with others, the way people dress, the shopping, art, history, and architecture. They loved sitting in cafés and dining in restaurants. They loved the taste of the food. I think we have a couple of travellers. You can see Paris through their eyes here: www.pbase.com/anselmadorne/paris_07_3

"But doesn't flâneuse suggest - however unfairly - something, well, a bit like Mistinguett's "Je cherche un millionaire": "C'est pour ça que j'fais les boulevards!" ?!

Definitely not. 'Flâner' means to stroll with no purpose, to look around taking one's time. No "unfair" meaning whatsoever - except if you resent people taking their time to walk around -.
I've never the word used as a synonym to "gossiper".

Thank you for the report. I am so enjoying it, especially the information about the food shops and cooking (thank you Margriet!).

We are staying for a week in a Palais Royal apartment in a couple of months. Did you notice any fish shops in the area. We do plan on cooking in once or twice.

CW

Your kids took some great pictures as well -- same camera?

If anyone is into postmodernist theory and cinema studies and visual culture, I recall a book from grad school on the 19th century figure of the flaneuse called "Window Shopping".

There's another book I just saw -- an edited collection of essays that might be more accessible (less jargon): The Invisible Flaneuse: Gender, Public Space, and Visual Culture in 19th Century Paris. Looked really interesting.

CW, I'm so glad you're enjoying the report. There's a fishmonger among the stalls of the Wednesday/Saturday market that's held in Place du Marché St-Honoré. There is also a fish store on the street called rue du Marché St-Honoré, which runs south from the place toward rue St-Honoré.

I just checked in pagesjaunes.fr where there's a search page called "Recherche à Proximité." By plugging the word "poissonnerie" under "Vous cherchez" and the address of the apartment we stayed at under "Saisissez une adresse" I found four more in the 1st and 2nd arrondissements within about a 10 minutes' walk.

Have a wonderful stay!

Beautifully written by both of you! I'm very much enjoying reading this.

(And also, am I seeing right, your daughter sans socks in February in Paris? You Canadians are tough.)

Feed them on your dreams--

Oh, how I love your dreams for your children. You have touched such a soft spot in my heart. My dream is that our son will share our love for travel as well. Please continue to share your wonderful adventure with your children.

Margriet,

Thanks so much, not only for the stores but for the vocabulary so I can plug it in to our address in the pages jeunes. Merci.

I love the way you both write and can imagine that the pace is translated into your excursions.

Looking forward to reading more.

CW

fishee, the kids used a Canon and a Nikon point and shoot.

Leely, LOL, yes, Canadian girls are as tough as nails. Mind you, she had just left -30C in Ottawa and discovered +12C in Paris, so you can understand how she felt.

Ralstonlan, thank you, thank you. I had been listening to Teach Your Children on my iPod before we left Canada and suddenly realized what we were doing.

cw, " ...the pace is translated into your excursions ..." That makes me smile. We're s-l-o-w travellers. Margriet said to me earlier this evening that the nice thing about writing a non-chronological trip report is that we don't have to account for all the time we spent sitting in cafés.

And finally, I think I may have been a bit unclear about "the kids." We have one child: Kate. Graham is her boyfriend (and a fine one, too).

Tomorrow we finish: the restaurants from Margriet and a then a final few paragraphs from me.

Anselm

bookmarking to read later

A breath of fresh air! or at least Parisian air. More please!

Thank you for a great trip report from your family. My husband and I just returned from France and are deciding whether to go back for our anniversary (25 years how did that happen?) in June. The idea of an apartment so I can cook is one we have discussed. Margriet makes it sound like a good idea.
In regards to teaching your children your love of travel, my parents tried the same thing. For a few of their major birthdays (60,70,80) they took any of the family who wanted to go on trips. We have been to Ireland, the Caribean sailing, self driving boating in France, Paris and London that way. They particularly enjoy seeing the places they love through their grandchildrens eyes.

What a great report Anselm. Your photos are great and I can see you spent time on getting the right shot!

Great pictures and the glimpse inside your family was wonderful.
<<They loved the formalities of dealing with others>> one of my favourite things about France but it is a difficult to explain or justify to a non-believer. I felt this first in Japan.
<<I’m not sure whether it is our age or our growing comfort with the city, but we’re doing less and seeing more.>>
... another Anselmism that is right on the mark... no longer fettered by the haste of youth but rather constrained by the need to savour everything...

Restaurants

I’m in charge of choosing restaurants when we travel, and my job was made immeasurably easier this trip with the latest edition of Time Out Paris: Eating and Drinking. We say that we’ve never gone wrong with any restaurant that has made its way into the Michelin red guide, but all you know beforehand is the price range and that the food will be good. The expanded descriptions on the website help a bit, but they’re rather spare.

The wonderful thing about Time Out is that it gives not only the specialties and descriptions of typical dishes (helpful for those who can’t bring themselves to eat offal), but also the ambiance: the look and feel of the place, who eats there, what the staff are like. As soon as our copy arrived, I checked out a couple of places we’d been to and was delighted that the reviews agreed with our impressions. About Thoumieux, for example, a restaurant we’ve enjoyed for the people watching as much as the food, it says, “ ... it is nonetheless a pleasure to sit back and watch this juggernaut roll on.”

It’s by no means a complete guide to Paris restaurants, but there are suggestions for every arrondissement, at a range of prices; ethnic restaurants, bars, tearooms, and places that serve light meals (le snacking) are also included.

In making our choices we decided that location was no object. One of the advantages of slow travelling is that you’re not exhausted at the end of the day. We also restricted our choices to restaurants with a prix fixe menu of €30 or less (although we did not limit ourselves to those choices when we got there). Luckily, this was not difficult. I’ve read that along with the return to less-formal bistro-style dining, the €35-and-under menu is becoming common. After adding in aperitifs all round, a bottle of wine, and a litre of fizzy water, our restaurant meals averaged €35–40 per person. We always made reservations, usually on the same day.

Au Pied de Cochon 6 rue Coquillière; 1st; Metro: Châtelet/Les Halles
This was where we ate the day I arrived. Our chief criteria were that the restaurant had to be within walking distance and to be serving dinner at 7. The restaurant is about 10 minutes from the apartment, and it’s open 24 hours a day. It’s also a Paris institution and we wanted to give it a try.

Soupe à l’oignon, salade des crevettes.
Pied de cochon grillé, sauce béarnaise; frites. Magret de canard, pommes dauphinois.

The food was tasty. I found the soup a little salty, but it had an impressive blanket of cheese and the bread didn’t disintegrate. I prefer my recipe, but onion soup is the subject of endless controversy.

Would We Go Back? Probably not. It’s big and mechanical, and there are many other, better places to choose from.

L’Écume 25 bvd Henri IV, 4th www.imagespro.fr/lecume/);; Metro: Sully-Morland, Bastille; Menu: €25.80
This one isn’t in Time Out, but it’s one we’ve been back to, and it hasn’t disappointed. It specializes in beef from Salers—grass-fed and dry-aged—which the owner chooses himself. This is an unpretentious place, with a warm welcome and excellent service. There’s nothing fancy about the cooking, but that simplicity allows the quality of the ingredients to shine through. If you order à la carte, there is excellent charcuterie from the Auvernge, and the main courses include chicken and fish.

Menu Parisienne: noix d’entrecôte de Salers aux trois sauces, purée beurre maison, salade verte, pignons de pin, Brie de Meaux A.O.C.

The steak is superb, thick and perfectly grilled, and it’s hard to choose a favourite among the sauces: béarnaise, sauce au poivre, and huile de tomate. The mashed potatoes are delicious and buttery; the pine nuts add a lovely dimension to the lightly dressed salad; the brie is nicely aged. Some of us ordered dessert: a pleasant vanilla-flecked crème brûlée, dark chocolate mi-cuit, and orange and strawberry sorbet.

Would We Go Back?. Definitely! The steak is the best we’ve eaten anywhere, and since they now have brasserie service (12 to 12), it might well be our choice for an early meal.

Le Duc de Richelieu 5 rue Parrot, 12th; Metro: Gare de Lyon; Prix fixe: €14.50
Time Outgives a red star to a restaurant that is a critic’s favourite, one that is the best in its category, not only for good food, but for a fun atmosphere. I had read other positive reviews of the Le Duc de Richelieu, but it was the red star that decided the matter. It turned out to be a wonderfully warm, noisy, traditional bistro. It’s only a few years old, but is decorated to take you back to the 1950s, and the scary-looking electrical panel is only for show. The clientele are a mixture, from office workers and business people to, well the distinctly bohemian—men with huge dark beards, old, lived-in faces, and hair in a twist. Leather-clad motorcyclists were standing at the bar having a beer, helmets perched on nearby tables. Newcomers were greeted with animation, regulars with warmth and laughter. The hard-working waitress kept things moving with banter and good humour.

The prix fixe and the specials didn’t appeal (the St-Jacques were gone), so we ordered à la carte: oeufs mayonnaise, escargots (Kate’s first—she approved), jambon bourgignone persillade, followed by steaks, entrecotes and onglet (flank), served with superb frites. This place is not for the vegetarian—apart from a token garnish of lettuce and a crock of eye-wateringly vinegary cornichons for the ham, there wasn’t a vegetable anywhere near our plates. Dessert was a well-torched crème brûlée, a lovely pear poached in spiced red wine, and chocolate ice cream (trois boules, Graham kept repeating)—with chunks of chocolate that melted in your mouth. With this we drank the house Morgon, a firm Beaujolais that was surprisingly appropriate for the full-flavoured steaks and their pan reductions.

Would We Go Back?
Definitely! ... in fact one of us did.

Le Souk 1, rue Keller, 11th; Metro: Ledru Rollin; www.lesoukfr.com/; Prix fixe, 26.50.

We’d been meaning for a long time to eat at a North African restaurant, so with Time Out’s recommendation (and a red star) we decided to try Le Souk. This place has a wonderful way of taking you away from a Paris street right into Morocco. At the entrance to the ochre-washed building, you lift aside a kilim rug and find yourself in a dim anteroom—a spice store smelling of saffron and cardamom and cumin. Pull open the metal-studded door and you’re greeted by music, heat, and animated conversation. The room is dim, with pierced brass lamps, metal grillwork, and carved wood. And the cooking aromas! We knew we were in for something special.

We ordered from the prix fixe menu:
Salade d’aubergines; bastilla de poule; briwates et salads
Tajine de poulet, tagine sucrée d’agneau; couscous et brochettes de trois viandes

The intensity of the flavours was superb. The salade d’aubergines was a creamy purée served with leavened bread; the bastilla, a chicken-filled pastry dusted with powdered sugar and cinnamon, and the briwates, phyllo-wrapped triangles filled with chevre. We were familiar with the look of a tagine. What we did not realize is that those things are hot! When the waiter whisked away the cone-shaped pottery lids, the food was bubbling, and it stayed almost too hot to eat for several minutes. Tajines can be salé or sucrées. We had both, the chicken, tart with olives and preserved lemons; the lamb shank, sweet with prunes and crunchy with almonds. The couscous was served in a beautiful pottery bowl that lifted to reveal another bowl filled with vegetable sauce, and side dish held plumped-up raisins, chickpeas, and harissa, a searingly hot sauce. The grilled meats were turkey, chicken, and merguez sausage. With all this we drank a bottle of Cuvée du President, an Algerian red, which proved to be a good choice.

The service by dejellaba-clad waiters seemed at first reserved, but proved to be not only impeccable, but friendly as well. Pastries arrived on an enormous tray, and our fresh mint tea was poured with a flourish from shoulder height. It was very very sweet, but it ended the meal perfectly.

Would We Go Back?
No question. Come to think of it, can anyone recommend a gîte in Marrakesh?

Au Vieux Chêne 7, rue du Dahomey, 11th; Metro: Faidherbe Chaligny; Menu: €29
At 8 pm, when we pushed out way past the velvet drape at the entrance to this restaurant, we found the staff, including the chef, all eating together. They sprang into action, and the sense of a happy team working together is one of the things that stands out. For our last night, we thought we should give one of the newer restaurants a try—one that takes a new twist on traditional ingredients. Interestingly the 11th has a lot of these—Time Out listed a number of places that intrigued me (Le Temps au Temps, Le Marsagny, Le Bistrot Paul Bert ...) but it was the red star awarded to Au Vieux Chêne that tipped the balance.

There is a sort of manifesto printed in the menu. It talks about what they’re against (intensive agriculture) and what they are for (a rapport with suppliers who are passionate about their craft, respect for the seasons, and above all, taste. Kate was so impressed that she wrote it out:
Contre une agriculture ultra intensive et non respective de l’environment,
Pour un rapport proche et humain avec des fournisseurs passionés pour leur métier,
Pour un respect des saisons qui seul guaranti qualité et fraîcheur
Et surtout, pour le goût! ...

The cooking entirely lived up to this promise—so much so that I didn’t write down the details, but it was all excellent.

Pain perdu (French toast) enclosing thin slices of ham, topped with a poached egg and garnished with a little mound of creamed spinach; Foie gras de canard with pear compote
Raie with a ragout of mushrooms; Pork; Pigeon
Dark chocolate paté with a light praline layer, Chestnut île flottant with a sauce of marons glacés and orange; Florentines with bergamot sorbet and creamy bitter orange sauce

In part, the review from Time Out says, “what makes this place so special is the earnestness of their desire to please—everyone here wants you to eat and drink to your heart’s content.” That was certainly our impression. We were particularly impressed by the time the waiter spent with the Spanish couple who sat next to us—explaining, in Spanish, every dish, and bringing several glasses of wine for them to try before they made their choice.

Would We Go Back?
Yes. There were other interesting dishes on the menu, and with their stated aim to serve food in its season, there will be other, equally interesting, choices at other times.

The Montpellier Hurricanes

Last summer my neighbour, Gord, told me that he was going to the south of France to coach football. I thought he was talking about soccer, but finally understood that he was referring to North American football. “They play our kind of football in France?” I asked. “They do, but not very well, which is why they need us,” replied Gord. He and his friend Pierre had played football together at university and then coached university and high school football for more than 30 years. They had both recently retired and had somehow connected with the Montpellier Hurricanes. I said that I would be in Paris in February and that I’d drop down for a beer.

On Saturday the 24th, Margriet and the kids flew back to Canada. I took the TGV to Montpellier, where Gord, Pierre, and his wife Pat met me. The team had arranged a flat for them in Juvenal, and one of the players had lent them a car. With an incredibly relaxed training schedule—three practices a week, and a game every two or three weeks—they were happily playing tourist.

“Coach Pierre” and “Coach Gord,” as they referred to themselves, had nudged the Hurricanes from a forgettable record last year to four wins and one loss by the time I arrived. Their Sunday game against Aix-en-Provence had been cancelled at the last minute, so they organized an intra-team practice game instead. In rain, I watched them warm up, practise, and then play an hour of offence against defence. I chatted with three of them, a gendarme, a pastry chef, and a realtor. All the players—young men between 18 and 35—are passionate in their love of football. They have learned a lot from Gord and Pierre, including a full range of English swear words. Pierre, a native of Montreal, has passed on Quebec’s unique curses. I heard an earful from the quarterback when a perfect pass went sailing through the receiver’s fingertips.

We filled the rest of the time exploring. We walked the beach at la Grande-Motte (there is nothing as desolate as a seaside resort on a cold and windy winter’s day), watched a different league playing football in Aix, and took photos of the new bridge at Millau. All this was punctuated with frequent stops in cafés for espresso, beer, or vin chaud, depending on the time of day and temperature. (As I think about it, the time of day had nothing to do with it. Here are the rest of the photos; one of them shows three retired guys drinking beer at 10:43 in the morning in St-Guilhem-le-Désert: www.pbase.com/anselmadorne/paris_07_4)

You must remember this

When I left Montpellier, Gord, Pierre, and Pat were headed back to the beach. I took the train up to Paris and in the early evening sat in Café des Phares. I watched people on the sidewalk and cars wheeling in waves through Bastille. There were low grey clouds, so low that I thought they might catch on le Génie de la Bastille. I was moody, aching to get home and hating to leave.

I finally stirred and walked down rue de Lyon to Le Duc de Richelieu. There were a few people already there, and it soon filled up. I tried the herring fillets as an appetizer and, recollecting the tastes of the week before, ordered the entrecôt and frites. I had more of the Morgon, too, just to be sure that it was as good as I remembered. It was all perfect. A couple with two young children sat down across the room. The youngest—perhaps three years old—lined up three toy horses on the narrow ledge behind the banquette. The horses were one behind the other; reflected in the mirror, it looked as if there were six of them. Someone started to play the piano near the bar. I walked back to my hotel humming As Time Goes By and flew home the next morning.

Paris. We traded dreams for memories.

I'm loving your report! Good pictures of Montpellier Hurricanes and pretty town Montpellier. Brings back memories.

I am so disappointed it's over...
Time to build the dreams as the foundation for the memories of tomorrow....
Wonderful Margriet and Anselm. Thank you.

Great, stylish report. Wonderful photos. Thanks Anselm & Margriet!

Excellent report. May I say that the Moroccan pastry appetizer is a "pastilla" and not a "bastilla"?

Kerouac,

I thought it was odd, but I checked my notes against Le Souk’s menu on line, and they spelled it bastilla in three different places (au canard, au pigeon, and aux amandes). They also spell tagine with a "j," so they seem to go in for spelling variants.

Margriet

THE BEST!

Your photos are wonderful. Time for me to start dreaming again!

Anselm and Margriet, Thank you so much for sharing this wonderful experience of Paris and the soul enriching reality of travel to somewhere you obviously love very much.

I am also blessed that we passed on the travel gene to our daughter who has passed us by with her adventures in Asia and South America but still loves to go to Europe with Mom when the oppurtunity presents itself! Adult children can be the best of companions.

Your restaurant reviews were terrific, many thanks. My Paris withdrawal symptoms are now acute!! lynda

Thanks, Anselme

Where next ????

Stu Dudley

Yes, where next? I have to get started on that gite rental next to you and robjame, and you have to attend to Mimi's adoption. I have a feeling this is going to be a crowded neighborhood; everyone wants to share in your vacation.

Thanks for the taste.

Thanks to all for the comments. It was a pleasure to share Paris with anyone else who enjoys the city.

Stu, we just booked tickets for Christmas in Paris. There's something about that place ...

Anselm

We were in Paris between Christmas & Jan 1 - perhaps our best trip to Paris. You'll love it that time of year.

Stu Dudley

Thank you, Anselm and Margriet for brightening my day. Such a delightful report.

A fun read. Especially the part about cooking at the apartment. Thanks!

Back to pastilla/bastilla. Both are correct, but pastilla is a Spanish word and the dish is of Spanish origin, later adopted by the Moroccans as a national dish (just as couscous is the #2 national dish in France). However, as the Arabic language does not have the letter P, a B is used instead (Paris is Baris). "Le Maroc à Baris" -- now that would be an interesting name for a restaurant....

A wonderful and inspiring report. I'm glad I have just over a month to wait before I'm in Paris again (for 4 days only but that's better than nothing). Your report made me want to go NOW.

Just read your wonderful accounts of various aspects of your Paris trip. Anslem, you and Margriet show thoughtfulness, taste, accuracy, imagination, and integrity in your observations, and in your experiences. It is a great pleasure to read of this adventure. Your photos, probably taken in early morning, are very special, mesmerizing. I've been trying to get back to Paris again for a while, and hope to accomplish it soon, and in some way like you both did. Mundane question: were the beds in second apt. the same size as those in the fishee studio? I would hope for a little wider for a tall, wide DH. Thank you for this wonderful experience which has kept me up much later than usual.

Thanks, betsys. We're glad you enjoyed it.

I notice the listing on Holiday Rentals describes the beds as "double," but we both thought the bed in the master bedroom was larger than a North American double. I'm not really certain, though, so it might be best to check with Sheila, the owner. I found her very helpful on all of our questions.

Anselm

Anselm and Margriet, I thoroughly enjoyed your report and share your dedication to slow travel, “doing less and seeing more”. I’d love to be included in your gite compound along with Robjame and Nikki or to be Chigalechanta’s adoptive sister!

Thanks for the camera info! I know that it’s the photographer and not the camera but I’m researching a replacement for my antique Nikon 4300. The kids took some great pictures with their point-and-shoots but the detail in your DSL shots makes me consider moving way up, if only learning curves weren’t so much steeper than they used to be.

You Paris family experience reminds me of the time we took our son and daughter there as teenagers. Sometimes the guys headed off to explore stuff like the sewers or catacombs while the girls visited yet another art museum. Other times, my husband and I went our sedate way while the kids went to more lively places. In any case, the travel bug bit them and they have since traveled around the world together and have visited more countries than we have. Now they are now introducing their own young children to travel.

Out of curiousity, did your daughter talk you into a year in Reims or vice versa, meaning did you persuade her to give you another excuse to visit France? I wondered whether this might be your reason for planning to be in Paris next Christmas.

Hi moolyn, you're welcome to join the crowd! Days spent sitting in the village square under the plane trees, sipping drinks and planning meals. Every once in a while someone would actually get motivated enough to drive somewhere to look at something ... my kind of vacation.

I'd forgotten that we had "spoken" about the exchange. It's a convoluted tale, but she is going to a university in Denmark this fall. We half-heartedly searched for an apartment in Copenhagen

ooops!

We half-heartedly searched for an apartment in Copenhagen at Christmas and then said "Why don't we go back to Paris?" So the plan is that she will zoom down from Denmark and meet us in Paris. (At this point none of us have the slightest idea how she will do this "zooming" -- by air, I suppose, although it might be an interesting train journey.)

Anselm

Anselm, you should go, even if it isn't France. I always associated Danish with pastries and modern and I can't eat pastries so I was quite astounded when a friend returned from a visit to Denmark with photos of beautiful half-timbered buildings. My husband travelled there on business many years ago and loved it.

Oops too! We were posting at the same time. So Christmas in Pais but maybe you can get to Denmark at another time while she's there.

Go and find out if there is Danish Pastry like there is English muffins.

Henrietta has 4 gites in Saignon in Provence for Spring or Fall 2008!?

moolyn, a trip to Denmark? Maybe this could happen. (Pause here while I search aircanada.com ...)

robjame, visions of Fodorites taking over a village!! Have you settled on where you will be in France next year? We have been thinking about the Dordogne, but Provence always beckons.

Anselm

Anselm: just opened your post and was immediately transported by some of the Paris references (we were there March 11-17).

I thought it was I who had discovered the rue de Bretagne (see my trip report)!! But of course you got there first.

And the rue de Charonne: Love it.

When time permits I will wade through all 82 posts (and counting).

Meanwhile, this guilty poster still has your France road-map book. Let's meet for a drink here when you are next in Ottawa -- I'm unlikely to visit NS until a family wedding in July.....

tedgale, it is always a delight to hear from you.

I was in Ottawa while you were away on your most recent vacation. Don't worry about the map book. I'll be back up there some time in the next few months; we can have another glass of wine and talk about travel.

Anselm

Hi Anselm
Nothing in stone for 2008 but our thinking so far is some combination of your Henrietta in Provence (2 weeks?), your Christabel Montaigut (1 or 2 weeks?)(we thought these looked and sounded great) and something in between(1 week). Found nothing appealing IN Millau but like the look of Najac (great website)

http://www.najac.com.fr/

particularly http://tinyurl.com/3ynsb2

OR in Nant

http://tinyurl.com/2sfpwu

As to when - Sometime in May/June 2008 or September/October 2008...
probably 5 week total.
Probably too soon for us to return to Dordogne.
Also thinking of Burgundy again some time.

Hi robjame. I think you'd love both Saignon and Montaigut-le-Blanc. Both are good bases for day trips and we were very happy with both rental experiences. If you decide to book them, I can give you a couple of parking hints (especially important in Montaigut).

Najac and Nant look like excellent finds. I like those kinds of villages and I am intrigued by that area (we have not been that far west). Very good rates, too, which I think reflects the fact that they are off the beaten track. (Montaigut-le-Blanc certainly was. We were there in May and heard not a single word of English and saw very few others who appeared to be touring.)

Our plans for 2008 are still pretty fluid, but if we can find a way to cross paths, we will.

Anselm

Having just returned from Paris and Dijon with a suitcase full of different flavored mustards I made your simple chicken recipe with the tarragon dijon mustard, onions, garlic and rosmary....YUM..Thanks so much.

Great trip report too, thanks

bookmarking for later reading!

Just finished reading all your reports, loved your attention to small details.

thanks to you both for putting the time in to share such a thoughtful and helpful report. I'm definitely saving your restaurant rec's and I might even try Margriet's recipes...

Just finished reading your wonderful report - thanks so much for taking the time to give us so many intriguing details. Your writing style (as well as Margriet's) is terrific. I'm going to peruse all your pictures in a little while. Can't wait!

Well, Anselm, I'm still looking for traces of "the fears that [you] grew by" unless you count the possibility of your local Paris market being out of lamb chops. (Maybe my difficulty in this area suggests that I am still "of tender years" -- oh, how I would like to think so.....)

Margriet, I loved your restaurant reviews, which struck just the right balance for a non-foodie such as myself: enough detail to be informative, but not so much as to be intimidating.

Thank you both for a fine report. Now, how to wait just 28 more days to takeoff....

fishee, sue4, and sue_xx_yy, thanks for the comments.

Sue, those 28 days will go by in a flash. I hope you have a wonderful time in Paris.

Anselm

Anselm

regarding your dropped camera, you might find this article of interest

http://tinyurl.com/ypsszg

regards, Sue

Thanks, Sue. Interesting indeed, especially that comment about people tending to think that electronic gear is not worth repairing if older than three years.

I must say that in this instance the fellow in the camera store (in Ottawa, where I bought it) was very helpful. He showed me the part on the lens that was damaged in the fall and said he thought it could be repaired at reasonable cost. He left himself a bit of wiggle room, saying that if there were other, unseen damage, the repair cost could prompt me to buy a new lens.

Come to think about it, I should be hearing an estimate any day now, as Nikon has had the lens for almost three weeks. In the meantime, my ever-helpful brother keeps sending me links to reviews of other Nikon lenses that are tempting (but expensive).

Anselm

Had dinner on Saturday night at L'Ecume. I hadn't written anything down, but I remembered the name and that they keep brasserie hours. It was great! So relaxing to be in such a low-key environment and the steak was terrific. Thanks for the recommendation; it was just what the doctor ordered at that point in my trip.

Just the tonic I needed as I plan for our first ever trip to Paris! I love this forum - it is definitely the friendliest travel forum on the web.

Leely,
I'm delighted that you enjoyed L'Ecume. We stumbled across it a couple of years ago, and we haven't been disappointed. It belongs in the category of great little places that no one's ever heard of, and it shoots holes in the theory that the French don't do steak well.

Ness. You'll love Paris. Just don't try and do everything on your first trip. Leave yourself a reason—or a hundred reasons—to go back.

M

Thanks again, Anselm. I'm anxious now for my day trip to Saignon and sip my pastis in front of the fountain of the Presbytere.

Cigalechanta, we spent a week in Saignon 2 years ago.....my fondest memories are of that fountain! Enjoy your pastis!

JUDY, they are such nice people who run the auberge, We stayed in the funky, Chambre avec Vue. Th auberg also gets their goat cheese from th gioat farm whre we stayed one year in silvergues,

We were renting one of Henrietta Taylor's places right by the fountain. Our daughter went out to the fountain every morning to have her coffee with 2 french bulldogs who lived up the street!
We had dinner at the auberge and enjoyed it very much....hope to get back someday.

Judy, you must have rented the house Henrietta calls Place de la Fontaine. We rented Rose cottage in 2003. It's about 75 metres further into the village. It was one of the best rentals we've ever had.

cigalechanta, think of us all while sipping your pastis.

Anselm

It was Place de la Fontaine! It was one of our favorite rentals as well....she was a joy to rent from. We found Rose Cottage while we were there. It looked delightful.

anselm/judy, is she the writer?

She had just published a book when we were there. I believe it was Veuve (or Vueve) Taylor and was about her move to Provence with her children after the death of her husband in Australia. She was very entertaining so I imagine her book might be good.

Judy/Anselm: found this:


http://tinyurl.com/k4n2l

I have just read the first installment, and I am captivated. I cannot wait to read more.

Merci!

cigalechanta, thanks for that. Nice photo of Henrietta, too. That's Rose Cottage directly behind her, all that stone and the beautiful blue shutters.

Sigh. So many wonderful places to see.

Tiff, thanks.

Anselm

I've just found this, and it looks like a treat. I will be back for further reading. Thanks, Anselm.