Lazy Parisians eating at home
 

This evening I was walking around one of my favorite streets, rue Caulaincourt, a very wealthy speck of the extremely variable 18th arrondissement. Except for one significant detail -- public transportation -- I would be very tempted to move to that area if I had sufficient funds.

Anyway, today I was examining some of the aspects of putting together a meal there, if one is in the neighborhood, and it gave birth to this thread: http://tinyurl.com/klsrwm

Everything looks SO good! Great photos also.
I think the little 'ol lady with short white hair and sunglasses epitomises the look of a retired well-off very chic Parisienne woman. Sans the handbag I must add.

How fondly I remember those potatoes after they had been roasted under the roated chicken.

I can almost (but not quite) taste them.

Okay: you post things like this, and then wonder why Paris is infested with tourists?

No, I don't wonder.

And I have known many expats over the years who spend all of their leisure time enumerating all of the reasons that Paris is horrible and the French are the scum of the earth (I really regret not writing down some of the things I have heard in that department.).

No way. They don't deserve it.

Do you know if there is a Marche Franprix around Saint Germains or Rue Bonaparte? I am hungry just looking at the photos..The tiny roasted potatoes looked so good..

Dh and I are looking forward to chicken and potatoes.
Thanks for the pics. I enjoy your approach and style.

There are Franprix stores everywhere in the Paris metropolitan area.

www.franprix.fr

Just enter your address or the postal code of the arrondissement (75006 for Saint Germain des Prés) to get the addresses of all of the local Franprix stores.

I think the principal supermarket on rue de Buci in that neighborhood is a G20 or something like that. It's fine, too.

I know that there is a Monoprix very close to Rue Bonaparte..Thanks I will check it later.

Monoprix and Franprix (and Leader Price and Casino) are all owned by the same company anyway (which also owns Galeries Lafayette). Monoprix is just more expensive.

Hi Kis,

There is a Monoprix at Rue de Rennes, open 09:00 - 22:00.

((I))

Hi Ker,

I was pleased to note that those were very pricey stores.

((I))

Do the Monoprix and Franprix sell wine and is it cheaper in those stores than in a proper wine shop? I keep hearing about cheap wine but I don't know where it is coming from.

Niolas wine stores are all over Paris, and they have some very good cheap wines. The Franprix that I usually go to in Paris also sells wine, some of it cheap, but I don't think markedly cheaper than anywhere else.

Thanks for this StCirq. I shall make a note of the name and keep and eye out for them.

kerouac,

Like many others here, I always enjoy reading your posts for the glimpses of real Paris you give us (I had the pleasure of spending a year there in college, 1976-77, and a few visits since).

But this time, I am just struck and amazed and in awe. I LOVE the way you live in the moment. Smelling the roses. Enjoying the gifts of every new day where you live.

And thank you so much for sharing it with us!

s

Hi Kerouac, Thanks again for your (where is my thesaurus for a suitable adjective?)inspirational photos! This is the street I would love to stay in and have even picked out my apartment for next time!!! Now you are telling me everything is too expensive to buy there. Can you give me the names of the streets where I should actually purchase rather than window shop when I am next back in your (insert adjective of your choice) city. (This is relating to the pet peeves thread you understand.

I loved the bakery that you photographed, I walked past it several times whilst I was in this area. I also liked one on Rue Lamark which sold the biggest meringues in the world!!

Your posts are so pleasurable to read.

Schnauzer

lol. I see I'm not really missing out too much not frequenting the Europe forum as I used to - when I actually traveled.


Lazy Parisians, indeed! lol ;)

They probably don't even take the escargot out of the shells anymore!

Kismet, there is a Champion Supermarket at the corner of rues de Seine and Buci. The rotisserie chickens outside either are sold there or by the sopecialty butcher next door. I've never figured out who they belong to! An excellent cheese shop is across the street on Seine and a Nicolas next door on Buci. There is a Monoprix near the intersection of rue Bonaparte and Blvd St Germain. There is also a Picard neaby

Note: the Champion name is disappearing slowly but surely as the owner rebrands the stores "Carrefour Market."

Schnauzer, the real place to shop not far away would be down at Jules Joffrin on rue du Poteau.

Kerouac, being pedantic here, but Franprix and Leaderprice (among others) are part of the Casino group, which co-owns Monoprix (50/50) with the Galeries Lafayette group.

Ditto swandav.

Yes, I know that, hanl. Here's another factoid: Franprix was actually owned by Beatrice Foods for a few years in the 1980's when Beatrice was the largest black-owned company in the U.S. It was probably one of the strategic errors that caused the demise of Beatrice Foods, because they really had no idea how to run a Parisian supermarket chain and you should have seen some of the weird products that showed up in the stores for a few years.

On the subject of Franprix, when we were in Paris in March, the only place we encountered a problem with using our Visa credit card was in the Franprix store in the rue de la Cerisaie. The cashier would not accept it, saying that it was their policy not to accept cards with a magnetic strip. When I explained that we had been using the card extensively, she summoned a man who confirmed that it was indeed their policy. Could this be true of all Franprix stores, or perhaps just this one location?

I would say it is that one location. It means they got screwed by someone with a stolen foreign card once and didn't think to check the signature. The Chinese supermarket in my neighborhood also refuses non-chip cards.

This is not technically "illegal" but it is contrary to the Visa/MasterCard contract that these stores signed.

Thanks for those pics, kerouac . . . almost as good as taking a stroll down the street myself!
And a lovely reminder of my times in Paris - thanks to all the little hints from Fodorites, I can safely return many times and still look out for different sights each time.
Happy travels, Di

kerouac,
How long does it take to walk along Seine from Notre Dame to
Musee d'Orsay? and from Pont Alma to Eiffel Tower?
Can you walk along the river the whole time?

thanks

Hi jet,

Go to www.viamicelin.com, www.mappy.com and www.maps.google.com. Thake the average of the three.

((I))

Kerouac,

Thanks for sharing - sometimes the 18th gets a bad reputation for being too touristy and some/most tourists only see the Sacre Couer, Place du Tertre, and Pigalle area but having lived there back in '06 (if only for a short while) I found some of my favorite streets and places in Paris in the 18th. This brought back memories.

Thanks Avalon, I have been to the Monoprix near Rue Bonaparte. THe rotissery chicken and the frites sound good at this moment..:)

I always remember the first time That I visited Montmartre and the SacreCoeur..I felt so Bohemienne and could Pictures the struggling artists,the painters living in a cold attic doing their stuff.
Of course I was only 18 years old and was extremely lucky to spend a month in Paris at my Aunt Home.

Those are not very long walks, jetsetj, and you can stay along the river the whole way.