Thanks to Nikki for organizing this dinner, which took place at Bistrot du Peintre, on av. Ledru Rollin at the corner of the r. de Charonne.

We were eight: Nikki, Sharon (Gordon) and her friend Saundra, Carol, and a self-styled Fodors "lurker" Maile Sherman and her friend Jerry (hope I've got his name right - my hearing is not what it was).

It would not be misleading to call ours a lively -- and vocal -- occasion.

I understand that someone from another table asked one of our group to keep the noise down. Which is kinda rich, from a Parisian....and in that high-decibel setting.

Everyone at our table had a different approach to visiting Paris. I was chagrined to find how WELL ORGANIZED everyone else was and how much research they had done. (WE just hang out and do some familiar stuff.)

Anyway, it was an evening of fine and wide-ranging conversation with a VERY diverse group of people, all of whom had led interesting lives and all of whom plan to keep leading same, well into middle age and beyond.

Some little PS items:

1. Nikki subsequently showed me her apartment at 4 r. Mornay, near the Arsenal basin and the boul. Henri IV. Anselm Adorne once stayed there too.

GREAT location, VERY spacious 1 bedroom with a tiny rear terrace and a "balcon filant" -- one of those narrow terraces across the whole front of the apartment. I would rent it in a heartbeat -- 850 E per week.

2. Nikki gave me Kerouac's December posts on "walking tour of northern/ ethnic Paris". We did it yesterday (a day of blustery cold, which slightly affected our enjoyment). I liked the Little India shops and found some pretty corners off the r. de la Chapelle. Others bits were sobering, as they were meant to be.

3. The bistrot where we dined is an Art Nouveau relic and gem, much patinated with the smoke (now banned) of a century of Gauloises. Food is hearty and a very good value, if you order from the "ardoise" -- the blackboard of daily specials. If you order both a starter ("entree&quot and main course ("plat" or "plat principal&quot from the ardoise, you will pay about 15 euros.

Final note to other attendees: It was a real pleasure to meet you and find out who is who. See you soon on Fodor's. 'Til then, bonne continuation...

Thanks for taking the time to post this. Sounds like a good time, for sure.
Maybe someone will post pictures, please.

Hi Ted! I had started another thread here before I left Paris: http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=35118517.

Home now. Great that you followed the Kerouac tour, I'm glad I thought to give it to you. I brought along all sorts of ideas that I didn't get to follow up on. Way more stuff to do than time to do it.

Cynthia, sadly, nobody took pictures of our gathering. We'll just have to remain as you picture us in your imagination.

We actually went back to Bistrot du Peintre for a late dinner last evening, after 5 hours in the Louvre! It was jumping. Didn't see our rather offhand waiter, just the really pleasant ones downstairs. The food was, if anything, more interesting than on Monday night.

Wednesday was the Louvre's late-opening day (ie open until 10 pm) and we thought we would avoid the crowds.

In fact, people were still streaming in as we left at 7:30 pm. And actually it was very fast to get in at 2:30 pm. I guess everyone had the same idea of late-day crowd-avoidance!

In one of those funny coincidences of travel-life, we ran into Sharon and Saundra in a distant corner of the Louvre.

PS: What's with those lackadaisical guards in the Louvre?

They don't even stop the close-up use of flash -- even for the Mona Lisa!! This wd get you ejected from any lesser museum. Indeed, I was upbraided for using flash (accidentally) in a room containing ONLY stone sculptures, at the Cluny museum.

And I saw one guard watch people eating in a gallery, despite signs prohibiting food and drink....

Wow, three visits to the Bistrot du Peintre in four days; they must be treating you like family by now!

Hope you got to the College de France today, that's my new favorite thing to do in Paris.

Too funny that you ran into Sharon and Saundra at the Louvre; I do actually recall people speculating that you'd all be running into each other again in Paris. The Louvre is a pretty big place though, and I can see spending a whole day there looking for people from whom one became separated, never mind running into someone you didn't know was there.

I wish I'd been there. Someone please tell us some specifics about the food at Bistrot du Peintre.

tedgale, thanks for posting this. I was thinking of all of you while sitting through a family gathering in Winnipeg. (It was my mother-in-law's 90th. Everyone had a good time, but my notion of just "popping over to Paris to see a few Fodorites" was not warmly received. Can't imagine why.)

I'm glad Nikki showed you the apartment on rue Mornay. It <i>is</i> a nice place.

Anselm

Glad to hear what my mom and Sharon are up to since I could not be with them on this trip. I should get to hear a few stories from them on their return before I leave for China.

Amy (missing member of the Tn Trio)

Anselm, you can atone for your Fodor-apostasy by showing up at the Toronto GTG in August.

I have been re-reading your restaurant suggestions but to date have not sampled. Le Souk is just around the corner, and Au Vieux Chene is nearby.

But after 4 weeks on the road/ eating in restaurants, I longed for a simple salad and some non-meat dishes.

We finally broke down today: shopped at Monoprix and had a dinner at home, consisting of:

1. &quot;pate en croute aux 2 olives&quot; -- served with cornichons, green olives, marinated artichokes

2. salmon seared in the pan, served with a salad of mache, tomatoes and &quot;polpe&quot; (little squid)

3. a small cheese course -- batons of chevre; Crottin de Chavignol; and St Marcellin

RE Bistrot du Peintre: The food is hearty. Red meat dishes, esp beef, are substantial. Garnishes/ accompaniments are simple.

They can do more refined items, too: eg the puff pastry &quot;tarte fine&quot; starter with apple slices, garnished with boudin noir and a mustard-dressed salad.

I never had a dessert but they looked fine and abundant as they sailed past me.....

Last night around 10, the sound-system -- or was it a juke-box? -- was playing '50s US rock-and-roll and the guy manning the bar was kinda groovin' on his own to the sound, except when a wafer-thin waiter started boppin' alongside him.....

Seemed SO retro, oddly hip... and also ultra-Parisian.

tedgale,

Do you have more info regarding the Toronto GTG in August?

Hi travginny!

The GTG is on August 9th in Toronto. Here's a link to the thread over on the Canada forum:

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=35104544

Moolyn, kodi, goddesstogo, and LJ are the ringleaders. I think you'll find the e-mail address of at least one of them on that thread and you can let them know that you might be interested.

Hope you can make it. It looks like there will be quite a crowd of enthusiastic travellers there.

Regards,

Anselm

Cimbrone, you want specifics about the food? Quick, before I forget them: I started with os a moelle, marrow bone, rich and wonderful. Then duck confit with sarladaise potatoes. I also tasted some of Saundra's roast pork and pureed potatoes with cantal cheese, quite delicious. She started with escargot, which she said was great. Those are the only things I can vouch for, but everyone seemed to enjoy their orders.

Amy, your mother and Sharon were living it up without you there to enforce order. But they did seem to miss you as well.

Thanks Nikki! Glad you all enjoyed.

Thanks, Anselme. I'll see if I can attend. We usually sail in the Thousand Islands and beyond in August. We might push it all the way to Toronto this year!

Aaah......Bistro du Peintre! I have decided to make that our first stop for dinner in Paris this May!
Tedgale - I was wondering how come Nikki chose this bistro? I went and had lunch there two years ago because of a post by Dave-in-Paris who suggested it.
I thought it a wondeful place for reasonably priced food. It also features in a little book called &quot;Au vrai ZINC Parisien&quot; by Francois Thomazeua &amp; Syvain Ageorges. (This book is definitely coming with me) Unfortunately it's in French so I can't even give a hint of what was written!

The name of Bistrot du Peintre came up on the thread where we were planning the get-together, and it was open the night we were meeting, which was Easter Monday when some places were closed.

Well Saundra and I are home now and already missing Paris. We had a wonderful time at the GTG and Ted is right, the food is great. It was so much fun to see people in person and I'm so thankful that Nikki arranged it. For people who had never met each other, we managed to talk up a storm and still stuff ourselves with food. I loved the place and there is a very nice Monoprix just a few blocks away. We took the bus there from our hotel (a first for us!) and enjoyed it very much.

Welcome home, Sharon! I hope you had a great week. Looking forward to the trip report. I've just started writing mine.