Paris- Cold, Rainy & Wonderful! Mar 13
Apr 5th, 2013, 04:34 PM
#21
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On Wednesday we went over to the Orangerie and it was opened. Armed with audio guides we spent a lot of time in the Water Lilies rooms. Then we went down and went through the lower level until I started to get burned out. There are a lot of rooms on the lower level. After another pass through the Water Lililes room we headed towards the Louvre. On the way we decide we were hungry so walked one block in from rue de Rivoli to Mont Tabor and found Da Rosa. A friend had sent us the Raisins au Sauternes which are fabulous so it was a place I had on my list to get to. We stopped and had a light lunch. A bowl of vegetable soup, a plate of jamon, olives and a pasta dish and wine made for a nice lunch.
We weren’t sure if we wanted to go into the Louvre after the hours in the Orangerie. We walked through the Carousel and decided that since we had the museum pass we should just stop in. That morning we had looked online at the Louvre website. There are thematic self-directed tours on a variety of subjects. http://www.louvre.fr/en/parcours My BIL was able to get the ‘Living in the Louvre’ tour on his cell phone so we followed that. It was really cool almost like a treasure hunt. In addition to following the tour and looking at the rooms that were the focus of the tour we got a bonus with the contents of the rooms. There are 27 thematic fours including one on lion sculptures and another on the Da Vinci Code. It was a new way to look at the Louvre for people who have been many times.
My sister wanted to go to Le Comptoir for their ‘anniversary dinner’. I tried to get reservations for Friday evening but it was closed for a private party. So we had reservations for Wednesday evening. We ordered a bottle of champagne to celebrate and they brought us warm gougeres!
The five course menu is €60 and there was a lobster with penne and a bisque sauce for a €30 supplement. We decided not to splurge on that. The first course was an asparagus puree with a soft poached egg, slices of cooked & raw asparagus and herring roe. My DH asked what the crunchy things were and I told him croutons. My sister got a strange look on her face, took something out of her mouth and said ‘that isn’t a crouton’. It was glass- a piece of wine stem about ½ cm long. She was very lucky that she didn’t get hurt. My DH gave it to the maitre d’ who said he was ‘désolé’. My S & BIL were taken aback by the casual response but the face of the guy was anything but casual.
After the second course of a spelt risotto with escargot we were each served the lobster penne dish as an apology for the glass. It was yummy! The plat was veal with a truffle jus, asparagus and cubed roasted new potatoes. This was followed by the cheese platter which they just put on your table and let you help yourself. Dessert was a quenelle of chocolate with passion fruit puree and buttermilk ice cream. We followed the champagne with a bottle or Beaunes and with two teas and an Armagnac the total was €370.
We agreed that the five courses are a perfect amount of food where you don’t leave stuffed. The sixth course of the lobster was almost too much but oh so good.
We weren’t sure if we wanted to go into the Louvre after the hours in the Orangerie. We walked through the Carousel and decided that since we had the museum pass we should just stop in. That morning we had looked online at the Louvre website. There are thematic self-directed tours on a variety of subjects. http://www.louvre.fr/en/parcours My BIL was able to get the ‘Living in the Louvre’ tour on his cell phone so we followed that. It was really cool almost like a treasure hunt. In addition to following the tour and looking at the rooms that were the focus of the tour we got a bonus with the contents of the rooms. There are 27 thematic fours including one on lion sculptures and another on the Da Vinci Code. It was a new way to look at the Louvre for people who have been many times.
My sister wanted to go to Le Comptoir for their ‘anniversary dinner’. I tried to get reservations for Friday evening but it was closed for a private party. So we had reservations for Wednesday evening. We ordered a bottle of champagne to celebrate and they brought us warm gougeres!
The five course menu is €60 and there was a lobster with penne and a bisque sauce for a €30 supplement. We decided not to splurge on that. The first course was an asparagus puree with a soft poached egg, slices of cooked & raw asparagus and herring roe. My DH asked what the crunchy things were and I told him croutons. My sister got a strange look on her face, took something out of her mouth and said ‘that isn’t a crouton’. It was glass- a piece of wine stem about ½ cm long. She was very lucky that she didn’t get hurt. My DH gave it to the maitre d’ who said he was ‘désolé’. My S & BIL were taken aback by the casual response but the face of the guy was anything but casual.
After the second course of a spelt risotto with escargot we were each served the lobster penne dish as an apology for the glass. It was yummy! The plat was veal with a truffle jus, asparagus and cubed roasted new potatoes. This was followed by the cheese platter which they just put on your table and let you help yourself. Dessert was a quenelle of chocolate with passion fruit puree and buttermilk ice cream. We followed the champagne with a bottle or Beaunes and with two teas and an Armagnac the total was €370.
We agreed that the five courses are a perfect amount of food where you don’t leave stuffed. The sixth course of the lobster was almost too much but oh so good.
Apr 5th, 2013, 07:01 PM
#23
I'm just finding this report, must have been distracted, glad to see it now.
Really, you were going to leave that concert early if you didn't like it? Glad I found you all at the end with smiles on your faces.
Really, you were going to leave that concert early if you didn't like it? Glad I found you all at the end with smiles on your faces.
Apr 5th, 2013, 08:05 PM
#24
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Love this report. I so hope the weather improves next week when I will arrive. I know myself and as a solo traveler, I will stay like a hermit in my apt. on Rue Monge if the weather is bad. I have an ambitious wish list and so hope that spring has sprung.
Apr 6th, 2013, 09:44 AM
#25
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cigalechanta, since they gave us 4 lobster dishes for which they usually charge 30 euro each I would say we were adequately compensated.
Nikki, the agreement to leave early was a ploy to get everyone out of the apartment on a rainy night.
cynthia_booker don't worry! Even if the weather hasn't improved it is still Paris and will be wonderful. We stayed last year on rue Monge near Censier Daubenton metro stop. There was a tiny wine shop up towards Monge Metro stop that had some wonderful wine for a reasonable price. Have fun.
Nikki, the agreement to leave early was a ploy to get everyone out of the apartment on a rainy night.
cynthia_booker don't worry! Even if the weather hasn't improved it is still Paris and will be wonderful. We stayed last year on rue Monge near Censier Daubenton metro stop. There was a tiny wine shop up towards Monge Metro stop that had some wonderful wine for a reasonable price. Have fun.
Apr 9th, 2013, 03:56 PM
#27
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Thursday was the day allotted for Commerce! My S & BIL wanted to do some shopping for gifts and themselves. First we wandered up rue de Buci for my sister to look for scarves. While we were in a shop buying one for her friend my DH & BIL were buying shoes in the Clif shop next store. I guess this was the men’s shopping trip since the women only bought a few things for themselves.
We went to Dehillerin where I bought some little things like pastry brushes, spatulas and a vegetable peeler. My sister & BIL bought some spring form pans (he is a cheesecake baker) and skewers for their son. Though many people complain about the service there I have always found the gentlemen to be pleasant. My DH started a long discussion trying to figure out what the name was for the machine that makes the foam that we saw on a number of menus. Thank God for modern technology which showed us the word for foam and then we made some progress on the machine. Too big for us to schlep home especially since I know my DH wouldn’t use it any more than he does the espresso machine.
My BIL’s BIL told him about a shop on rue Turenne for men’s clothing. We got lost looking for the bus stop to go from Dehillerin to rue Turenne. We finally ended up on the Quai by the Seine and came to a bus stop for the 96 bus which I know goes to rue Turenne. On the way we passed a number of plant shops that I hadn’t known were there. Something to remember for the future!
The shop that was recommended to my BIL was B Garbo. We spent an inordinate amount of time and money there. The men left happy and we wandered up the street to go to Jacques Genin for caramels. On the way we passed a creperie where we stopped and had lunch. We had stopped at a stand but they wouldn’t make the crepes to order and had a stack of premade crepes behind them.
We always go to Jacques Genin to buy mango passion-fruit caramels. Our last visit to Paris I didn’t realize that the shop is closed on Monday and we had to leave too early on Tuesday to get back there. So we were having serious withdrawal. I had also turned a friend onto the caramels and she had discovered the fruit jellies in mango & passion-fruit. After I bought our caramels I got her stuff which is where we ran into problems. The credit card machine stopped working. We tried all of my credit cards and my sister’s as well. We used our pile of packages to demonstrate to the clerk that our credit cards had been functioning prior to entering the shop and it had even accepted one for my order. Anyway my friend was lucky that I had enough cash on hand for her goodies.
For dinner on Thursday we went out to the 18th to La Table D’Eugene. I had tried to get in here on our last trip to Paris but the one night that they were open while we were there they were closed for a wedding. If you go the right way from the metro (down the hill) you won’t run into the sketchy ambiance that we found.
The restaurant is small and there are two people waiting on tables. This was one place where I felt that the service wasn’t all it should be. It seemed that they served everyone before us and it was difficult to get additional wine. That said the food was wonderful. I can’t remember the 4th entrée but we had two orders of ravioli filled with artichoke and foie gras and an asparagus dish with lemon cream. With the lemon cream were little pearls of lemon. I have seen these before but don’t know what they are called. Our plats were a biche (female deer), duck, and lamb with artichokes as well as scallops with a green sauce. The only desserts I remember is a chocolate sphere which had a hot sauce poured over it and a lemon tart that my DH said was almost as good as mine (now you see one of the reasons I keep him around). Rather than a bottle of wine we had 6 glasses of wine and 1 kir which brought the tab to €230.
We went to Dehillerin where I bought some little things like pastry brushes, spatulas and a vegetable peeler. My sister & BIL bought some spring form pans (he is a cheesecake baker) and skewers for their son. Though many people complain about the service there I have always found the gentlemen to be pleasant. My DH started a long discussion trying to figure out what the name was for the machine that makes the foam that we saw on a number of menus. Thank God for modern technology which showed us the word for foam and then we made some progress on the machine. Too big for us to schlep home especially since I know my DH wouldn’t use it any more than he does the espresso machine.
My BIL’s BIL told him about a shop on rue Turenne for men’s clothing. We got lost looking for the bus stop to go from Dehillerin to rue Turenne. We finally ended up on the Quai by the Seine and came to a bus stop for the 96 bus which I know goes to rue Turenne. On the way we passed a number of plant shops that I hadn’t known were there. Something to remember for the future!
The shop that was recommended to my BIL was B Garbo. We spent an inordinate amount of time and money there. The men left happy and we wandered up the street to go to Jacques Genin for caramels. On the way we passed a creperie where we stopped and had lunch. We had stopped at a stand but they wouldn’t make the crepes to order and had a stack of premade crepes behind them.
We always go to Jacques Genin to buy mango passion-fruit caramels. Our last visit to Paris I didn’t realize that the shop is closed on Monday and we had to leave too early on Tuesday to get back there. So we were having serious withdrawal. I had also turned a friend onto the caramels and she had discovered the fruit jellies in mango & passion-fruit. After I bought our caramels I got her stuff which is where we ran into problems. The credit card machine stopped working. We tried all of my credit cards and my sister’s as well. We used our pile of packages to demonstrate to the clerk that our credit cards had been functioning prior to entering the shop and it had even accepted one for my order. Anyway my friend was lucky that I had enough cash on hand for her goodies.
For dinner on Thursday we went out to the 18th to La Table D’Eugene. I had tried to get in here on our last trip to Paris but the one night that they were open while we were there they were closed for a wedding. If you go the right way from the metro (down the hill) you won’t run into the sketchy ambiance that we found.
The restaurant is small and there are two people waiting on tables. This was one place where I felt that the service wasn’t all it should be. It seemed that they served everyone before us and it was difficult to get additional wine. That said the food was wonderful. I can’t remember the 4th entrée but we had two orders of ravioli filled with artichoke and foie gras and an asparagus dish with lemon cream. With the lemon cream were little pearls of lemon. I have seen these before but don’t know what they are called. Our plats were a biche (female deer), duck, and lamb with artichokes as well as scallops with a green sauce. The only desserts I remember is a chocolate sphere which had a hot sauce poured over it and a lemon tart that my DH said was almost as good as mine (now you see one of the reasons I keep him around). Rather than a bottle of wine we had 6 glasses of wine and 1 kir which brought the tab to €230.
Apr 9th, 2013, 07:19 PM
#28
I found the salesman in Dehilleren flirtatious. A fodorite whom
I never met in person had the same sales person that gave me card, phone and name to get together as he gave to her.
I can't remember her name, hopefully she'll post but his name was Emlle
.Abby, we've been waiting for you to post more.
I never met in person had the same sales person that gave me card, phone and name to get together as he gave to her.
I can't remember her name, hopefully she'll post but his name was Emlle
.Abby, we've been waiting for you to post more.
Apr 13th, 2013, 06:03 AM
#32
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Friday my S&BIL had arranged to have lunch with his BIL’s sister at Foquet on the Champs Elysee so we arranged to have lunch with Nikki and Alan at Philou. It was one of the restaurants on my list that we didn’t have time for. I was glad she mentioned it since it was fabulous.
We thought we were going to be late for our noon meeting time but were the first people in the door. We ordered water and glasses of wine and in a short time Nikki & Alan appeared. We had a fabulous lunch- Tomas had foie gras (I think) and I had razor clams & cockles with a lovely sauce. For plats we had the same as Nikki & Alan-feuilleté of scallops, foie gras, and salad, and sweetbreads with "old-fashioned" vegetables. We declined dessert but the men had Armagnac as Tomas had encouraged Alan to try it in his ongoing proselytizing effort.
After lunch we wandered along the Canal St Martin. I had hoped to take the boat from Bastille along the Canal on this trip but the weather wasn’t suited to boating. We walked up to the lock which at one point looked like it was going to open but excess water was just spilling into the lower part of the canal. Years ago my parents had taken the family on a week’s self-drive canal trip on the Saone River. My DH fell into the lock and my BIL pulled him out. We explained how the locks work and told Nikki & Alan the story.
We left them along the canal and returned to the apartment where we expected to meet up with my S & BIL. It turned out that their lunch date was canceled due to work obligations but they went and had lunch at Foquet anyway. They enjoyed sitting on the sidewalk and watching the passersby. My sister did some shopping on the Champs Elysee so she was happy.
We had had plans to walk over to the Tour Eiffel and take a photo of my S&BIL to recreate a photo from a prior trip but we all got lazy and hung around until it was time for dinner.
This night we strolled down the street to Restaurant Josephine “Chez Dumonet”. Of course the weather was beautiful while when we went further afield it had been rainy and nasty. I guess the weather is inversely in proportion to the distance we traveled to get there.
A fellow Fodorite had warned us to order half portions here. We did and it was still way too much food. After we were seated it took a while for someone to get to us but we were soon served an amuse bouche of carrot soup and a digestif (which appeared on the bill even though we hadn’t ordered it but for €12 I wasn’t going to make a fuss). The soup was excellent.
My BIL ordered the smoked salmon and I am sure it wasn’t the half portion since there was a lot of excellent salmon. My sister ordered an artichoke dish but I don’t remember what it was. My DH ordered stuffed morels and I the shrimp wrapped in filo both of which were wonderful. Other than the salmon the portion size seemed reasonable. The plats however were a different story.
My sister ordered a half order of Boeuf Bourguignon which came in a 2 quart le Creuset casserole. My calves’ liver was the biggest piece I had ever seen. My BIL had the escalope of Foie Gras and of course my DH had to have the chateaubriand. Foolishly we ordered extra haricot vert, salad and potatoes not realizing that the two dishes that came with vegetables and potatoes would be enough for all four of us and most of the dining room.
Since we had to order our desserts in advance we had each ordered one not realizing the size of the plats and of the desserts as well. We made some inroads into the Paris Toulouse (a pate chou round similar to Paris Brest filled with cream and raspberries-yum!!), a millefeuille, apple tart and a Grand Marnier souffle. With a bottle of wine (which I don’t remember) the bill was €390. We staggered home and vowed never to eat again. HA HA HA.
We thought we were going to be late for our noon meeting time but were the first people in the door. We ordered water and glasses of wine and in a short time Nikki & Alan appeared. We had a fabulous lunch- Tomas had foie gras (I think) and I had razor clams & cockles with a lovely sauce. For plats we had the same as Nikki & Alan-feuilleté of scallops, foie gras, and salad, and sweetbreads with "old-fashioned" vegetables. We declined dessert but the men had Armagnac as Tomas had encouraged Alan to try it in his ongoing proselytizing effort.
After lunch we wandered along the Canal St Martin. I had hoped to take the boat from Bastille along the Canal on this trip but the weather wasn’t suited to boating. We walked up to the lock which at one point looked like it was going to open but excess water was just spilling into the lower part of the canal. Years ago my parents had taken the family on a week’s self-drive canal trip on the Saone River. My DH fell into the lock and my BIL pulled him out. We explained how the locks work and told Nikki & Alan the story.
We left them along the canal and returned to the apartment where we expected to meet up with my S & BIL. It turned out that their lunch date was canceled due to work obligations but they went and had lunch at Foquet anyway. They enjoyed sitting on the sidewalk and watching the passersby. My sister did some shopping on the Champs Elysee so she was happy.
We had had plans to walk over to the Tour Eiffel and take a photo of my S&BIL to recreate a photo from a prior trip but we all got lazy and hung around until it was time for dinner.
This night we strolled down the street to Restaurant Josephine “Chez Dumonet”. Of course the weather was beautiful while when we went further afield it had been rainy and nasty. I guess the weather is inversely in proportion to the distance we traveled to get there.
A fellow Fodorite had warned us to order half portions here. We did and it was still way too much food. After we were seated it took a while for someone to get to us but we were soon served an amuse bouche of carrot soup and a digestif (which appeared on the bill even though we hadn’t ordered it but for €12 I wasn’t going to make a fuss). The soup was excellent.
My BIL ordered the smoked salmon and I am sure it wasn’t the half portion since there was a lot of excellent salmon. My sister ordered an artichoke dish but I don’t remember what it was. My DH ordered stuffed morels and I the shrimp wrapped in filo both of which were wonderful. Other than the salmon the portion size seemed reasonable. The plats however were a different story.
My sister ordered a half order of Boeuf Bourguignon which came in a 2 quart le Creuset casserole. My calves’ liver was the biggest piece I had ever seen. My BIL had the escalope of Foie Gras and of course my DH had to have the chateaubriand. Foolishly we ordered extra haricot vert, salad and potatoes not realizing that the two dishes that came with vegetables and potatoes would be enough for all four of us and most of the dining room.
Since we had to order our desserts in advance we had each ordered one not realizing the size of the plats and of the desserts as well. We made some inroads into the Paris Toulouse (a pate chou round similar to Paris Brest filled with cream and raspberries-yum!!), a millefeuille, apple tart and a Grand Marnier souffle. With a bottle of wine (which I don’t remember) the bill was €390. We staggered home and vowed never to eat again. HA HA HA.
Apr 13th, 2013, 06:38 AM
#33
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Saturday was my S & BIL’s last day so we spent it finishing up shopping and packing. We went to Place Madeleine to get our Maille crock refilled. My sister wanted to go into a sports wear store down the block. The building is under construction but the store which is in the basement was still open. I felt bad for the store employees who had to work all day listening to jack hammers and other construction noises.
On the way back to the apartment we agreed that the men would go to the little stand next to the Carrefour and get oysters while my sister & I went to buy a present for our older sister. When we got back to the apartment we ran into my BIL coming out the door. He said we needed bread and he was just going to run down the street for a baguette. Of course as usual he came back with 3 or 4 pastries to add to the collection. We had a feast with the oysters, artichokes, pate and cheeses that had accumulated in the fridge with the cava we bought at Lavinia.
After lunch we went down to Le Grand Epicerie to buy chocolates for coworkers, friends and family. The afternoon was spent packing and cleaning up in preparation for their early departure.
We had dinner reservations at Chez L’Ami Jean. I finally found the bus stop that I hadn’t been able to find on Monday in the rain so we took the bus there. It was a fairly calm night a Chez L’Ami Jean. I think they put in more lights and took out a few tables since it didn’t have that dark closed in feel of our first dinner there.
We started with glasses of Champagne to celebrate (and mourn) our last night together. My DH started with a dish of calamari (despite stories of recent reports of substitution that had been made for squid in the US), I had the special of sauteed asparagus, my sister the soup of asparagus and my BIL had a special egg dish which defies description but was very good. My asparagus was both white and green and yummy!
For plats we had a cote de veau, duck, lamb and the fish special which were tiny scallops in the shell. As usual everything was excellent. With the meal we had a pinor noir so now I don’t remember what the desserts were except one was the exceptional rice pudding. My sister was able to get a glass of the Patcharan that we were introduced to on Monday evening while my DH got a 1980 Armagnac. We had fun chatting with the two young women who replaced the French couple next to us. It reminded me of the traveling my sister & I did together when we were young though she would never have let us eat in such an expensive place!!
We walked back to the street where we got off the bus thinking we could take the bus back home there. Then we realized that it was a one way street and we hadn’t a clue as to where the bus stop for the opposite direction would be located. We were lucky enough to get a cab back to the apartment.
On the way back to the apartment we agreed that the men would go to the little stand next to the Carrefour and get oysters while my sister & I went to buy a present for our older sister. When we got back to the apartment we ran into my BIL coming out the door. He said we needed bread and he was just going to run down the street for a baguette. Of course as usual he came back with 3 or 4 pastries to add to the collection. We had a feast with the oysters, artichokes, pate and cheeses that had accumulated in the fridge with the cava we bought at Lavinia.
After lunch we went down to Le Grand Epicerie to buy chocolates for coworkers, friends and family. The afternoon was spent packing and cleaning up in preparation for their early departure.
We had dinner reservations at Chez L’Ami Jean. I finally found the bus stop that I hadn’t been able to find on Monday in the rain so we took the bus there. It was a fairly calm night a Chez L’Ami Jean. I think they put in more lights and took out a few tables since it didn’t have that dark closed in feel of our first dinner there.
We started with glasses of Champagne to celebrate (and mourn) our last night together. My DH started with a dish of calamari (despite stories of recent reports of substitution that had been made for squid in the US), I had the special of sauteed asparagus, my sister the soup of asparagus and my BIL had a special egg dish which defies description but was very good. My asparagus was both white and green and yummy!
For plats we had a cote de veau, duck, lamb and the fish special which were tiny scallops in the shell. As usual everything was excellent. With the meal we had a pinor noir so now I don’t remember what the desserts were except one was the exceptional rice pudding. My sister was able to get a glass of the Patcharan that we were introduced to on Monday evening while my DH got a 1980 Armagnac. We had fun chatting with the two young women who replaced the French couple next to us. It reminded me of the traveling my sister & I did together when we were young though she would never have let us eat in such an expensive place!!
We walked back to the street where we got off the bus thinking we could take the bus back home there. Then we realized that it was a one way street and we hadn’t a clue as to where the bus stop for the opposite direction would be located. We were lucky enough to get a cab back to the apartment.
Apr 13th, 2013, 08:32 AM
#34
abby, I hope you brought enough warm clothes.
I worried about that. The trip sounds wonderful.
Foie gras and oysters, I could live on.
Razor clams! It's been too long since I've tasted those again.
I worried about that. The trip sounds wonderful.
Foie gras and oysters, I could live on.
Razor clams! It's been too long since I've tasted those again.
Apr 13th, 2013, 12:51 PM
#35
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Monday while we were at breakfast our friends called and said they were in line at the Luxembourg Garden Museum to see the Chagall exhibit. We went up to meet them at the exhibit but when we arrived the line was halfway around the building. So we wandered around the garden. We love the back part where they have the espaliered fruit trees. Then we wandered back down to the area behind the Senate and sat in the sun. Our friends called and said they were coming out of the exhibit and would come find us.
After enjoying the sun for a while we decided to walk to Dans Les Landes on Rue Monge for lunch. Since I am short I found the high tables to be a little uncomfortable but the meal was good. Of course we ordered too much- an artichoke dip, tortilla espanol, ravioles, a fried Camembert with green apples, tuna, sweet potatoes and fried shrimp (which come as one to an order ). We had a couple of glasses of wine with it and the tab came to €117.
After lunch we went to finish my shopping with a trip to G. Detou. Their dried mushrooms (cepes, porcinis, morel etc) are fabulous and very reasonably priced. I also got the Iranian shelled pistachios which are very green and look lovely in white chocolate bark and in biscotti.
For our last dinner in Paris we had Nikki and Alan join us Le Comptoir. I also post on Chowhound and someone from that website had asked to join us because he hadn’t been able to secure a reservation for the dinner service at Le Comptoir. I have made many friends among the Fodorites I have met and hoped to do the same in this situation. Ah, well.
We have been to Le Comptoir several time over a stay and found that the menu changes week over week. This time the first two courses were the same as the prior week (minus the glass thankfully!). The plat was lamb with a puree of chickpeas flavored with cumin. The cheese platter was wonderful as usual and we did major damage to it. Dessert that evening was a chocolate sandwich with fleur de sel and buttermilk ice cream. With two bottles of reisling, one of red and bottled water the tab came to €465 for the five of us.
After enjoying the sun for a while we decided to walk to Dans Les Landes on Rue Monge for lunch. Since I am short I found the high tables to be a little uncomfortable but the meal was good. Of course we ordered too much- an artichoke dip, tortilla espanol, ravioles, a fried Camembert with green apples, tuna, sweet potatoes and fried shrimp (which come as one to an order ). We had a couple of glasses of wine with it and the tab came to €117.
After lunch we went to finish my shopping with a trip to G. Detou. Their dried mushrooms (cepes, porcinis, morel etc) are fabulous and very reasonably priced. I also got the Iranian shelled pistachios which are very green and look lovely in white chocolate bark and in biscotti.
For our last dinner in Paris we had Nikki and Alan join us Le Comptoir. I also post on Chowhound and someone from that website had asked to join us because he hadn’t been able to secure a reservation for the dinner service at Le Comptoir. I have made many friends among the Fodorites I have met and hoped to do the same in this situation. Ah, well.
We have been to Le Comptoir several time over a stay and found that the menu changes week over week. This time the first two courses were the same as the prior week (minus the glass thankfully!). The plat was lamb with a puree of chickpeas flavored with cumin. The cheese platter was wonderful as usual and we did major damage to it. Dessert that evening was a chocolate sandwich with fleur de sel and buttermilk ice cream. With two bottles of reisling, one of red and bottled water the tab came to €465 for the five of us.
Apr 13th, 2013, 01:08 PM
#36
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Our last morning in Paris is always sad. We packed up prior to going to breakfast. Our tradition is to go to Gerard Mulot for a treat for the plane. We each get one little pastry. Mine always has raspberries on it though this time I was tempted by the pear & caramel item we had earlier in the week. No matter how carefully I carry the box it always is a mess when we get to it but it still tastes great. Especially when everyone around us on the plane is eating what the airline has provided.
Our friends came and joined us at Le Comptoir for a last lunch. I don’t remember everything we ordered but I do remember I had a salad and the artichoke soup, my DH had foie gras terrine followed by a salad with scallops, one friend had the artichoke soup to start followed by the fresh grilled tuna and his wife had an omelet which looked amazing. Next time!! Then all too soon the cab was at the door and it was off to the airport.
When we checked in at the airport we found that I had gotten upgraded. When we asked about my DH they said that they couldn’t do anything there but to check at the gate. We were lucky and he was upgraded as well. We saw Nikki & Alan at the airport and they watched our bags while we checked out the duty free. I looked for the Patcharan for my sister and St Germain for myself but no luck. We did buy a bottle Lanson rose for our anniversary since Lanson is the champagne we had at our wedding.
The flight was uneventful for us and after the long bus ride from the airport to the Cape we were home. Luckily it wasn’t too late since we both had to work the following day. Back to reality.
Our friends came and joined us at Le Comptoir for a last lunch. I don’t remember everything we ordered but I do remember I had a salad and the artichoke soup, my DH had foie gras terrine followed by a salad with scallops, one friend had the artichoke soup to start followed by the fresh grilled tuna and his wife had an omelet which looked amazing. Next time!! Then all too soon the cab was at the door and it was off to the airport.
When we checked in at the airport we found that I had gotten upgraded. When we asked about my DH they said that they couldn’t do anything there but to check at the gate. We were lucky and he was upgraded as well. We saw Nikki & Alan at the airport and they watched our bags while we checked out the duty free. I looked for the Patcharan for my sister and St Germain for myself but no luck. We did buy a bottle Lanson rose for our anniversary since Lanson is the champagne we had at our wedding.
The flight was uneventful for us and after the long bus ride from the airport to the Cape we were home. Luckily it wasn’t too late since we both had to work the following day. Back to reality.
Apr 13th, 2013, 01:23 PM
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A few notes about technology- before this trip I needed to upgrade my phone and indulged myself with an iPhone 5. On it I loaded:
“Larousse English-French” dictionary
“Food Lover’s Guide to Paris” It has a fabulous glossary though it is not easy to use. There is no search function and you need to scroll down the terms under each letter of the alphabet. $4.99
“RATP” this is the app for the Paris metro system. It is really good but you need to be hooked up to the internet. It allows you to do a search from one address or location to another. You can specify the time of day and what mode of transportation you want if you care to limit it to bus or metro. In addition it will tell you how to get from your address to the Metro. Free!!
“MetrO” this is a free app which works offline. It details a trip from one station on the Metro to another. It covers many cities in the world. I have used it in London, Barcelona, San Francisco as well as Paris. http://www.kinevia.com/
“Ulmon Paris” this is another free app and has maps of Paris which are accessible offline.
Do yourself a favor and download Google Maps and ignore the map program that is resident on the iPhone. We found that the iPhone maps were wrong and consequently we were going in the wrong direction.
“Larousse English-French” dictionary
“Food Lover’s Guide to Paris” It has a fabulous glossary though it is not easy to use. There is no search function and you need to scroll down the terms under each letter of the alphabet. $4.99
“RATP” this is the app for the Paris metro system. It is really good but you need to be hooked up to the internet. It allows you to do a search from one address or location to another. You can specify the time of day and what mode of transportation you want if you care to limit it to bus or metro. In addition it will tell you how to get from your address to the Metro. Free!!
“MetrO” this is a free app which works offline. It details a trip from one station on the Metro to another. It covers many cities in the world. I have used it in London, Barcelona, San Francisco as well as Paris. http://www.kinevia.com/
“Ulmon Paris” this is another free app and has maps of Paris which are accessible offline.
Do yourself a favor and download Google Maps and ignore the map program that is resident on the iPhone. We found that the iPhone maps were wrong and consequently we were going in the wrong direction.
