Fodor's Travel Talk Forums - Trip Report: Paris 2004

THE END OF THE JOURNEY: PARIS 2004

We caught our flight from Nice to Paris at 11:00 a.m. and arrived at Orly right on time. A quick taxi ride took us to our hotel, the Madison, on the Blvd. St-Germain, right across from the church of St-Germain-des-Prés. Our room was ready, and it was the same one we'd had on our first stay some years back: a good-sized corner room on the second floor, facing the boulevard and the church. Besides twin beds (the way to get a larger toom) the room held a day bed elegantly covered in green velvet, a pretty slipper chair in celadon green in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows, an antique desk, and a commodious bureau.

The bathroom was long, with a comfortably deep tub with a laundry line atop, a real showerhead, two sinks set in a long red marble counter, and a bidet. The closet had ample space for hanging and a section of shelves. Next to the closet was a wide three-tier unit for stacking suitcases (and shopping purchases!).

We hit the ground running and took a taxi directly to the Musée d'Orsay, where we took the not-well-known escalator at the back of the hall up to the café level and had a quick lunch. Then we and our companion split up to visit the Impressionist section, each heading for our individual favorites, if there can be such things at that museum. Afterwards my husband and I went through the impressive collection of Art Deco objets, furniture, and stained glass?so many beautiful things.

For dinner that evening we went to the Bistro de Breteuil, in the 7th. It had been highly recommended by several knowledgeable people on the bonjourparis.com web site, and they were right. We had a super meal for 31 Euros per person, including Kir Royale apéritifs, a bottle of wine, and coffee. Each course offered about a dozen choices, and our escargots followed by rack of lamb with gratin dauphinois were particularly good. I still remember the profiteroles filled with vanilla ice cream and topped with warm chocolate sauce poured generously from a pitcher. My husband loved his crêpes flambéed in Grand Marnier.

The next morning we walked over toward the Seine to find a place for breakfast. By sheer chance we ended up at Paul's?we had to wait about 20 minutes for a table, but it was worth it for the heavenly croissants. My husband had hot chocolate that sent him into ecstacies; he said it was like drinking a melted chocolate bar and was even better than the version at Angelina's.

After breakfast my husband and our friend walked to the Cluny Museum to see the unicorn tapestries and other medieval works of art. Because the Cluny has many stairs I elected to stay at the hotel and catch up on writing postcards.

We later took a taxi to the Louvre, entering from the Rue de Rivoli side and walking along the many interesting shops. My husband stopped to buy a telephone card at a tobacco shop, speaking entirely in French?he was very proud of himself. We were able to enter the Louvre without standing in lines and went directly to have lunch at the Café Richelieu. Afterwards we spent several hours in that wing and in the Denon, trying not to think about all the things we wouldn't have time to see again this trip.

After the Louvre we went to the Mariage Frères tea shop on the Left Bank?what aromatic scents! I was reminded Freed, Teller, and Freed, a San Francisco tea and coffee shop that we loved but that sadly closed some years ago. I loaded up on French Breakfast tea (smells like chocolate but has a smoky taste) for my husband.

For dinner we went to our favorite Paris restaurant (so far), Au Petit Marguery, in the 13th. The restaurant was lively, and our "usual" waiter was there to take good care of us. Since the season had turned to fall the dish that we love above all else was on the menu: fresh wood mushrooms (this time cêpes and girolles) lightly sautéed in olive oil with garlic and parsley. Absolutely divine! We noticed too late that we could have ordered the dish as a main course?next time. However, my steak in a red-wine reduction with cêpes as pretty darned good too. Our friend had melon in Sauternes as a starter and a beautiful piece of salmon for her main course and pronounced both excellent.

The promised rain arrived while we were finishing our dessert (soufflée Grand Marnier and crème brûlée). One of the waiters at the restaurant tried in vain for about ten minutes to flag down a taxi for us, as the telephone lines to taxi companies were of course all busy. Finally we trudged across down the block and across a large square to a taxi rank and were lucky enough to catch one of the few going by.

Friday was our final full day in Paris, and for breakfast we decided to compare the noted croissants at Eric Kayser with those we'd had elsewhere. They were indeed excellent, but we liked the atmosphere at Paul's better.

After breakfast we hurried over to the Sainte-Chapelle to find a line of about 30 people waiting to go through the lengthy security proce at the Palais de Justice. Once inside we went straight upstairs to take advantage of the sunlight streaming through the incredible stained-glass windows, not neglecting to appreciate the handsome medieval tiles on the floor. Downstairs again, we admired at the painted ceiling of blue stars on a gold background and the beautiful wood of the walls, and still more brilliant stained glass.

Then we walked along to visit Notre-Dame and concluded that the cathedral was vast and full of history, but not our cup of tea when compared with other, more graceful Gothic churches. Afterwards we walked behind the cathedral and through the small garden to see the Deportation Memorial, with its thousands of tiny lights in remembrance of those who lost their lives in the camps of World War II.

After expensive cups of coffee at a nearby café we took a taxi to the Place Vendôme, then lunched on excellent soup and sandwiches at Le Pain Quotidien, a bakery-cum-café on the Place du Marché St-Honoré. Afterwards we walked along the Rue St-Honoré, with a stop at La Véssailerie, and then the Rue de Rivoli for some quick shopping.

Our next stop was the church of St-Sulpice, comparable in size to Notre-Dame. It is now a stop for fans of The Da Vinci Code (not us!), and we saw a notice on one of the walls to the effect that the information in the book was inaccurate and not to be taken as fact.

We walked back to our hotel to begin packing. Bob and I discovered that we couldn't quite fit everything in our luggage; so he took the métro to the Montparnasse branch of Galeries Lafayette and returned with a small bag that was just right and will travel empty inside a suitcase on our next trip. Meanwhile our friend and I walked over to the nearby Monoprix store so I could lay in a store of freezer bags in various sizes, while she bought a jar of Nutella for her granddaughter. After we returned to the hotel I walked down the street to Jack's, a tiny wine shop that offers only Bordeaux. The manager, who spoke excellent English, helped me select a moderately priced bottle: a 1994. I wish I had written down the château's name, as the wine was very good indeed?especially for just 17 Euros.

Back at our hotel we were visited by a new friend, the editor for the bonjourparis.com web site. We drank the wine and chatted for an hour, and then it was time for the three of us to travelers to have an early dinner. We went just down the block to Vesuvius, a lively and unpretentious Italian restaurant that also offers French cuisine, all at low prices.

The next morning our little group split up, as we had flights home at different times. The taxi came for Bob and me a few minutes early, driven by a very competent Asian woman who was a careful driver: no nail-biting for us en route! The trip to de Gaulle took only about half an hour--it was Saturday morning--and we arrived in good time. Since we were flying business class, we were able to get through check-in and security without major delays. After a quick stop at one of the duty-free shops to load up on chocolates we went to the Admirals Club lounge for coffee and muffins while we waited for our flight?no mini croissants and pains au chocolat this time, alas.

Our flight left about half an hour late. As the plane moved along the runway we were able to see the collapsed section of Terminal Three?hard to imagine that it can be rebuilt anytime soon. We arrived in Dallas late and had only a short time to connect to our flight for San Francisco. Fortunately, the pleasant young man who appeared with a wheelchair for me whisked us through Customs and Immigration in record time and got us quickly to our gate, only to discover that our departing flight would be half an hour late. Of course.

We landed at San Francisco on time and found our shuttle waiting. We were surprised to find a bus instead of the usual van, especially since there was only one other passenger, a young woman in the Air Force heading to Travis AFB. The next surprise was that traffic on the freeway was bumper to bumper?it took us over an hour to get from the airport to the Bay Bridge, normally a 20-minute trip. Traffic along I-80 was not moving very fast, but finally we arrived at Fairfield and the air-force base. There we spent a long time trying to find the correct billet and after that making our way slowly through the night around and finally off the base. By the time we arrived home we realized that it had taken us less time to fly from Dallas to San Francisco.

We woke up the next morning wishing we were still in France.