Arrived yesterday in Paris - uneventful except we got bumped on the BA flight from Toronto to London... bumped up to first class that is. whoo.. ahhh. It was something . Two huge sleeper seats, duvet, pyjamas, toiletries and, most important, 2 washrooms for 20 people. We had had dinner prior to the flight but like Bilbo Baggins we did partake somewhat. We ate light - fruit tray, cheese tray and truffles(the chocolate kind). We awoke to a full English breakfast. Plane was early and we easily made our connection to Paris avec luggage.
Weather is amazing here - sunny and 70's. It is pleasant to arrive to familiar surroundings in the same hotel (Monge) and same room as last year.
So far we have walked and walked. Paris in the springtime is lovely. Flowers are out, lovers are kissing in the parks, people are crowding into the cafe terraces. We visited St Chapell and Conciergerie (prison where revolutionaries kept prisoners until they became a pain in the neck). Saw much about your namesake Robespierre.
We are going back to St Chapell for a guitar concert tonight.
Anselm - I have already started my favorite hobby - eating and photographing the food.
We ate at Le Jardin D'Ivy (Mouffetard) last night. Being Sunday night we chose a place open and nearby - Good little restaurant run by a French-Australian woman and her French husband. We split a homemade duck foie gras and homemade onion chutney. Sandra had scallops flambe in a cognac sauce with a mosaic of steamed white leeks. I had 4 grilled, skewered giant prawns with a rosemary and sauted Provence ratatouille. We chose an amazing bottle of St Estephe Bordeaux - yes, a red with seafood but we like it so are foregoing convention once in awhile. We had some wine left over so split a cheese plate to help it down - a disappointing presentation of 2 pieces each of 2 different Bries and a slab of butter and bread). The meal was good though - just what we wanted after our trip. €97 with the €41 bottle of wine and coffees and a bottle of Badoit.
Today (Monday) we ate lunch in one of my favorite places - Taverne HenriIV on Ile de la Cite. Fantastic little place where you will find not too many tourists, a great lunch menu and friendly host/owners who do speak some English as well as a great wine list. We had tartine pied porc - open faced sandwich with egg-scalloped potato-like mixture, cheese and sliced pied de couchon (maybe if I put it in French the non-foodies won't be grossed out). He features a different tartine daily. Sandra had a salade de l'ete = greens, tomato, eggs, green beans, with sliced salmon on top. Add two 1/2 liter bottles of Badoit, coffees and two of the featured €5 glasses of red wine - Moulis en Medoc for a total of €41.
I tried pied de couchon and won't again - too fatty.
There appears to be no WiFi at Monge but I will check in and add to this as possible.
Observations about Paris 2006 - more jeans but generally styled and fitted on women, large police presence around Sorbonne, many more people out and about than last May but perhaps the grand weather, Samaritaine is closed, man there are a lot of different places to eat in this city, cherry trees are in full bloom and tulips are out, the Deportation Memorial is very moving - the gate clangs shut as you enter (by design?) and this is a place of visual and eerie contrasts like the barred cell window looking out on the Seine, lots of scarves on women, people DO eat as they walk but maybe cause we are in the Latin Quarter and they are students eating sandwiches, baguettes, etc.
Au revoir for now.

Bienvenue en France Robjame!
That's a good start. How courageous to try les pieds de cochons (pig feet)!

Have a great stay!
coco

Are you sure that the pig's feet are fatty, and not gelatinous? They probably are best stuffed--called "le petit jésus en robe" in one restaurant--or taken from a Chinese roast pork (available in Chinatown stores that specialize in roast pork and fowl).

Never apologize for drinking a good red with "skewered giant prawns with a rosemary and sauted Provence ratatouille".

Sounds like you're having a good time. And to what did you owe your good fortune of getting bumped to first class?

Hi robjame! I ate at Le Jardin d'Ivy also! We too enjoyed our entrees, but the poor dessert made us want to laugh. Why would they use canned fruit cocktail for a tart when they could simply go to the nearest bakery (there are many in that area) and buy something amazing to serve in their restaurant? Doesn't make sense.

Oh also, while at Hotel Monge we were able to piggyback on someone else's wifi for free. It wasn't available 24/7, but we'd just check whenever we got a chance, and we were able to use it more often than not. You can also use the fee services wi fi, but we held out for the free. Who knows, maybe you can talk Julie into letting you have the password to the Monge wifi. I didn't dare ask.

Lucky you getting put in 1stClass! My son was lucky enough to get the same treatment and said its fantastic.
Thank you for taking the time to post while in Paris - enjoying your report and looking forward to the next instalment!

Robjame, we leave on Fri for Paris and are delighted by the weather report-looks lovely thru next Wed at least! How did you get bumped? I shall pray the same happens to us. Keep the food reports coming too! Have a great trip.

Thank you robjame for the update! Charming and making me hungry first thing in the morning

Enjoy yourselves, looking forward to hearing more~
Scarlett

robjame, I was just thinking about you this morning, wondering how you were making out. Turns out to be lucky you. First class on BA!

"I have already started my favorite hobby - eating and photographing the food."

Photo first, then eat the food, LOL. More pictures to drive us all crazy.

I hope you have a chance to add a bit more during your visit.

Anselm (back in NS but still severely jetlagged)

Michael - you are absolutely right -gelatinous. Thank you - that makes me feel better.
Neopolitan - Thank you. I asked the lady at the gate the same question and she said "good looking, intelligent, witty". Truly I don't know except we booked 6 months ago and first to check in and maybe that had something to do with us getting bumped to 1st.
Tonight we attended a classical guitar concert at St Chapell. These concerts are held in the upper chapel (the chapel built for the rich folks) which is in itself an amazing place with excellent acoustics. There appear to be 2 concerts a night, most nights - one at 7pm and one at 8:30. This being the later one we decided to try our luck at finding a place to eat after. Concerts are posted on a signboard outside St Chapell and the Palais de Justice - tickets can be purchased inside the day of, or just before.(€23 but if applicable ask for senior at €15).
As an aside purchasing these tickets became a battle of wills and the first time I have encountered this in France. The little man who sits safely behind his glass partition decided to use me to relieve the monotony of the day. He whispered each response to me requiring me to lower my 6 foot frame and present my ear to the sound hole. He would then repeat what he said with a look which one reserves when talking to a simple dolt. On my part I refused to use English which I knew would make the whole exchange easier. He prolonged the exchange with plenty of instructions and questions while I pardoned, bent and d'accorded. When he asked at the end when it came to payment, if I were at senior, I gave him a nasal, rolling 'bien sur' that would have astounded my high school French teacher.
After a thunderstorm accompanied guitar concert we walked with high hopes at 9:45 in the rain over to Le Reminet. I had only got an answering machine when I phoned that day. This is a tiny, chandeliered place that is very popular and worth getting wet for. It appeared to be full but luck was on our side and we were welcomed to the one vacant table beside the only French couple there. The popularity of this restaurant in several guidebooks has made it a favorite with Americans witnessed by the addition of English translations on the menu. When you are beside someone in a French restaurant you could literally eat from their table. We were entertained by this charming young man wooing his beautiful female friend helped along with two bottles of wine. I suspect he might have needed the wine as his charm involved telling her in French why English was a better language as instead of saying 'belle' when describing her, he could use such romantic phrases as 'super terrific'. You know I may have used the inverse of that line somewhere in my distant past.
The meal was superb. Our first Kir royales began a memorable late-night dinner. Olives and morsels of homemade pepperoni-type sausage were placed on the table. Sandra started with white asparagus in a herb vinaigrette while I fell for their wonderful buttery foie gras with tiny salad (this was the place that I first had this delicacy). Sandy had a thick piece of lamb with a tomato confit and layers of eggplant and mozzarella cheese. I had the most tender calves liver and wild cranberry relish with garlic scalloped potatoes. Sandra always remarks that a good meal has different vegetables with each meat choice.
Lest you think I am trying to commit 'suicide by arterial sclerosis' I confess to ordering the calves liver by mistake. We heard 'veau' in the French descriptions of the specials and latched onto the idea of veal while ignoring the word 'foie' - that's my story and I'm sticking to it.
Dessert was a shared delicious special of fresh strawberries (the smaller tasty ones not those huge tasteless California ones with the white insides - what's that all about anyway) baked in a champagne sabayon. Wow. A couple of coffees with a few of their free little meringues ended a special soiree... and it had stopped raining.
We splurged on a €43 bottle of 2000 St Emilion Grand Cru and those who know wine will understand why and recognize the value. Total meal including bottled water was €140 but we chose some expensive items. That could be halved without wine and with more sharing. However it is Paris and meals are an important part of the experience for us.

l should describe our breakfasts. We do not partake in the hotel breakfasts but rather we go into a small tabac and have pain avec beurre (quarter baguette and butter) or a croissant and preserve plus café. This does us until lunch when we have either a quick bite (salad or sandwich or picnic or croque) if we are going out or sometimes we reverse it and have our main meal at lunch. We do not snack - no pastries, ice cream or chocolates. This is just what we found works and we go home same weight or down a few pounds.
Today we had our main meal at lunch and if you are on a budget, this is a super way to do it. We returned to Buisson Ardent on rue Jussieu. They have a fixed meal with about 5 choices for entres, plat principal a dessert. For €13 you get entre and plat, plat and dessert or entre and dessert. For €16 you get all 3 or you can substitute coffee for one of the choices. This idea is very common and I have seen formula combos for as little as €8 at Chez Robert near Mouffetard and up to €45 or more.
We had the degustation menu here last year and loved it so it made cents to go back for a midday meal.
For €16:
Sandy - mixed salad with slice of homemade jellied ham loaf,
- piece of estuvé beef - cooked very slowly in a covered pan with little water (5 oz ?) with chunks of parsnip, carrot and leeks. The result was a very tender piece of meat and no gravy. Delicious.
- white chocolate mousse with dark chocolate sprinkled on top.
Bob - pea soup - not your Habitant pea soup Anselm. Thick and smooth.
- same plate of beef
- fromage blanc (like yogurt) with cream of chestnut. Yummy - first time for chestnut but I believe I can expect more when in Dordogne.
Add a grand pitchet of Roussilon for €12 and you have a full meal for less than €50. Much much better than what I can get at home for the same money.

Robjame, I know I asked you to keep the food reports coming but this is killing me! Fri can't come fast enough! Where else are you dining for dinner?

Bob, I'm enjoying your Paris reports and really looking forward to your arrival in the Dordogne. You can scout out all the restaurants there for my trip in June!

plambers - weather continues to be fantastic - odd little shower but nothing to dampen the experience. Food continues to be delicious. Le Truffiere tonight - one of our favs
moolyn - hope I won't be reduced to croqs and yogurt by then LOL. I will suffer and do the research.
Paris musings
A number of people carrying backpacks on their fronts. For safety? Style? Different "back"packs?
The best item we have is the Metro program (thanks Robespierre). Loads free into a PDA and you enter starting and ending Metro stops and it tells you line, direction, # of stops, est. time. Buy a used PDA about $25 on ebay for this alone!
Sandy's Carte Orange didn't work this AM and had to go to a manned Metro stop and get it corrected. Is this common?
Took the vedette boat at 9 pm last night and we feel this a must-do each time in Paris. The lights are great. Bring a bottle of wine and you have a picnic (this is allowed and welcomed).
Y & R - no WiFi that I can attach to at Monge - there was last year. Do you remember the name of the carrier? Julie says in May 2006. Hope so. Great hotel but don't tell anyone.

robjame, what is the vedette boat? can you give me more information? I just pulled up the weather and it looks like it gets colder (high 50's) for our arrival on sat and then a few days of rain. you are there for a perfect week. keep posting. we leave fri!

Hi Plambers
These are the sight seeing boats that leave every half hour from Pont Neuf on Ile de la Cite and go up & down the Seine for 1 hour. Vedettes is a particular company. The feeling is to avoid the dinner cruises and take your own picnic. €12 per person but you can download a -2 coupon on the internet (maybe someone can give you the url). Search this forum for more info. I would say to go twice - once day and once 9-10ish. Can get cool. The dock can be hard to find. Combine with a visit to Henry IV bar at Place Dauphine and a walking tour of Ile.

Love reading your report, and I'm anxious for the foodie photos!!

How wonderful. That neighborhood has the highest concentration of restaurants I've ever seen, truly astounding. I have stayed in that general vicinity three times and haven't scratched the surface.

Robjame, we will be in Paris tomorrow. I am keeping notes as I read. We are in Dublin now, but having a quiet day due to too much partying at final banquet last night. AND want to rest up and be fresh for Paris. Your info is very helpful.

Can you tell a little more about Deportation Memorial? Thanks and keep the good weather there for another week.

Robjame, I have always avoided those boat rides and I thought they were so "touristy" and I'd rather walk. That said, your high recommendation has me rethinking. Can anyone send me the url for the discount? thanks