Great report. I too like the style. Thanks for taking the time to post it.

Excellent trip report! Thank you for sharing.

Dina

Love the detail in your report. Glad you had such a great time. What a shame about Le P'tit Troquet. That was our favourite restaurant last Sept. The second time we went we also experienced a married couple having a very heated marital dispute at the next table. Whilst it didn't affect everyone in the restaurant it spoilt our last night in Paris. What is wrong with some people?

Let's hear more CharlesIII and Mrs. Charles.

Thank you for sharing your trip report.

I am sorry to hear you cannot recommend <b>Au Petit Tonneau</b>. We dined there on our last four visits to Paris in the past two years, and found the food to be exceptional. True, they no longer offer a prix fixe. But we don't always order three courses anyway.

On our latest visit in November, we had a delightful lunch consisting of: Parre d'Agneau roti au Thyme (lamb chops with potatos), Sole Menuerre, Chocolate Mousse, Tarte Tartan, and un pichette du vin blanc for 62 EUR. The food was expertly prepared and much to our liking.

We look forward to returning when we visit Paris in March 2006.

Woody

We had dinner at Le Petit Troquet last March and had a lovely evening. We had not heard of it before we arrived in Paris..stumbled on it when we went to the internet cafe next door.
We agree, the owner is sweet and charming and funny.
We had no ugly Americans or Europeans dining with us that night, or lucky us, any other night.
I think some of us just notice them more when they are out of their element .. and we are too. I never hear people commenting on someone loud and obnoxious in US restaurants..and there are plenty, believe me!
Enjoyed the report..liked the way you presented it :)

The Mrs. Charles is glowing that her entry system was appreciated. Not glowing, enough, she has just informed me, to do it the next time.

Ah, we shall see.

Scarlett (must admit it's hard not to address you as &quot;Ms Scarlett&quot;), I assure you there was no way to ignore both parties at the Le P’tit Troquet. The woman who asked for the English menu only had one other outburst (a top of the lungs, &quot;Can-You-Explain-Skirt-Steak?&quot;), so it was possible to forget about her during the course of the dinner. The other party, however, clapped, stomped and I kid you not, hooted.

The P'tit Troquet, as you are all too aware, is not Hooters Paris. Had they been French, we would have been equally taken aback. Because they were Americans, we felt embarrassed. And it was quite awkward for the owner.
I am so happy, though, Scarlet, that you share our appreciation for the food there.

Woody, I must tell you that we felt bad for the owner at Au Petit Tonneau. There were only eight people in the entire restaurant when we were there--and four of those people were in our party. The owner made several comments about its being cold out, and the waitress more or less hung her head. We think there's a backstory there, and we are sure it is a sad one. The Mrs. Charles did suggest that we try lunch--that perhaps that time of day was still working for the place.

Please be assured that several of the dishes we ordered were indeed outstanding (but not the Chocolate Mousse--it was very, very grainy), and I certainly think lunch there would be interesting.

Also, Mrs. Charles was just sorting our notes, even the ones we did not take with us, for our Paris master file drawer. She has give me a comment that said the owner there has a hard time maintaining staff. Maybe that's part of the backstory, the details of which we are not privvy to.

Thank you for such a great report! There's lots of useful information in it, and the bold-print makes it extra-readable. I'm headed to Paris this April, so I love having up-to-date info such as yours. Please post more if you have any. Thanks again.

I too liked the bold print topic headings. The outline format meant if one wanted to skip restaurants or museums, etc, they could skim quickly. We can only hope the 'ugly Americans' read this forum and can recognize themselves!

Good report. But you seem to be a magnet for attracting ugly americans. Was it hard to talk in a whisper and look somber and serious the whole time you were there?

Thanks Mrs Charles for the enjoyable report! I've copied this report into my city notes.
Of course, we will be expecting reports on all of your future european trips...

Your restaurant suggestions are right on the money...

Le Petit Troquet was a darling place with greats service and flavourful food.

La Fountaine de Mars is a great place with a nice atmosphere and good service but I think they are too pricy.

Le Florimond is highly rated and one of the friendliest little places. The food is excellent and the prix fixe is a good value.

Dear Richard: We read your reviews quite carefully before we went and found them to be quite valuable. I should have credited you earlier as an instrumental source. Please accept my sincere apologies.

In fact, we debated whether to go out of our adopted neighborhood of this trip for your recommended restaurant on the Ile de St. Louis (Le Caveau), but we found we enjoyed sauntering close to home in the evening.

While I am here, Mrs. Charles has yet again passed me another piece of paper. No, it's a plastic bag. (?) Now I understand--it's the name of the bookstore where she bought one English paperback per day. <b>Tome Dom S.A. au Livre d'Or</b> The address on the bag reads: &quot;81, rue Saint-Dominique,&quot;; however, she is unsure if that is the address of the papeterie directly across the street or the librairie. She indicates it's on the same side as Columbus Coffee.

My regards to all,

Charles

Oh my God thank you sooo much for your trip report, I loved it, I'm going in April and can't wait to get there to experience all this stuff, I do want to get off the beaten path though, Not really interested in doing touristy stuff. Kinseykin

Charles - Great, informative, I think we have all experienced the Loud Americans in Paris, and I have to say in the U.S. as well. It is such rude behavior to carry on like that in public. Dining should be an enjoyable experience.

A few years back 2 co-workers went to Paris. One of them knows how to act in public and has manners. The other one would sit in a cafe and yell out &quot;bonjour&quot; at the top of her lungs to people walking by. She thought it was cute and even when her friend told her why she shouldn't be doing it she got even louder. The topper was she didn't even know how to pronounce the word. I'm glad I wasn't with her.

Mrs. Charles,

I really enjoyed your comprehensive, well written, succinct report. The format is excellent, and there's just the right amount of detail. Thanks for all the useful information.

Lovely report. We, too, just got back from Paris (just a long weekend, unfortunately) and had stayed in the 7th -- a flat on rue Colonel Combes (just off rue Malar and 2 blocks from rue St. Dominique). We love the rue Cler market and always enjoy La Fontaine de Mars (especially their duck). You've inspired me to get our own report done!

Charles and Mrs. Charles, I really enjoyed your report, and your format.
Easy to read with alot of useful information. Thanks! I've never stayed in the 7th, and think maybe I will next trip to Paris. How fortunate you were to have the use of the apartment.

Thank you so much for this trip report. I really like the way you've arranged and presented your information. Wish I knew how to do that!!!

Great report. I also liked the way you formatted. A lot of very useful info for someone the 1st time traveler.

Thank you.

Wow i thought it was funny that you went to a few of my favorites! Thanks for reading my blog!

http://richardab.typepad.com/iheartparis/