Paris - October 15, 2008
20081015 – Paris: Had another hard night to start with. So took a sleeping pill and got up this AM at a bit after 9:00. Nice. Had breakfast in the basement. Now I am switching to tonight’s dinner and will come back to the rest of the day.
Went to Le Bambouche on the Left Bank, a restaurant that Carolyn and Howard said wonderful things about. And it was indeed wonderful. Too nice of a restaurant for me to take pictures of the food. And really hard to describe what we ate. The “befores” consisted of a soup of cappuccino and cuttlefish ink. Robin’s was pumpkin. I started with a mille fuille (if that is how you spell it) of crab with mango sauce, a baby artichoke. The presentation on all the dishes was right out of the best food magazine you’ve ever seen. Robin had a mushroom soup … several different kinds of mushroom, some cepe ice cream, even. They fixed an exquisite veggie plate for her with all sorts of things in small balls, some different kinds of potatoes, etc. I had some lamb with polenta, but that doesn’t do justice to what it was. Two small medallions of lamb on one axis of the plate and two small rounds of polenta on the other with sauce in an artistic design. Between the starter and main courses, we had a spoon with apple and apple jelly on it (again, does not do it justice). Then I had a set of crème brules … yes, four of them … quince, marshmallow, hazelnut, rose. Then they gave us an “after” of some apple foam and yummy piece of chocolate. See the check in our pix from today. Really one of the best meals I have had in a very long time.
Some things:
* Lots of the men around here need to take more frequent baths.
* All the streets with saints in them are hyphenated (e.g., Saint-Antoine).
* Each night we eat at yet a more expensive restaurant (with the corker on Monday).
* The ice cream/gelato around here is stupendous.
* It’s 60 steps from the bottom of the staircase to our room three flights up.
So, after my breakfast, we walked down to the river and took the Metro to the Louvre where we spent most of the day. We wended this way and that. Saw lots of Egyptian stuff. Lots of huge paintings. Wonderful halls and galleries. Got lost and backtracked a few times through stuff we’d already seen. Saw lots of my favorites along the way.
And the Mona Lisa room is a carnival. Look at the pictures of the crowds trying to get close and take all sorts of flash pictures. We went to the side and were near it when we took our pictures. It’s a real zoo.
Went to the Café Richeleau in that wing of the museum and had a nice lunch. I had a club sandwich that was really three different sandwiches: one cheese, one chicken salad, one smoked salmon. Came with a nice green salad, slaw, chips.
It was a bit raw when we emerged. We walked down the Right Bank to a bridge to Ile de Cite where we tried to go to Saint Chapelle, but the line was way too long and it was cold. So we walked around the outside of Notre Dame and then over to the monument to the deported Jews at the end of the island. But it was closed for the afternoon.
We crossed the bridge to Ile Saint Louis and walked down its main street. Didn’t go into any of the wonderful shops except for one where I got a glace of passion fruit with chocolate chips. Woo hoo. Then back to the hotel for a restroom stop. Afterwards, we walked along Rue Saint-Antoine for several blocks. Lots of lovely food shops (chocolate, cheese, bakeries, butchers). Went into Monoprix, a department store with a good food area. Didn’t buy. Just looked. It was spitting rain by now, so we walked home and did computer/picture stuff until it was time to meet Sharon (Sandy was meeting us at the restaurant). We took one Metro to Concorde and then transferred to go south to the restaurant, which is near Bon Marche. And, as I said earlier, it was outstanding.
Came home around 10-something. Washed my clothes and had a hard time trying to find some place to hang them to dry. Every knob in the place has a sock on it now. We went on paid Internet for 24 hours unlimited usage (each did this) and have been on ever since … it’s now 1:30 and I am taking a pill and going to bed!
Went to Le Bambouche on the Left Bank, a restaurant that Carolyn and Howard said wonderful things about. And it was indeed wonderful. Too nice of a restaurant for me to take pictures of the food. And really hard to describe what we ate. The “befores” consisted of a soup of cappuccino and cuttlefish ink. Robin’s was pumpkin. I started with a mille fuille (if that is how you spell it) of crab with mango sauce, a baby artichoke. The presentation on all the dishes was right out of the best food magazine you’ve ever seen. Robin had a mushroom soup … several different kinds of mushroom, some cepe ice cream, even. They fixed an exquisite veggie plate for her with all sorts of things in small balls, some different kinds of potatoes, etc. I had some lamb with polenta, but that doesn’t do justice to what it was. Two small medallions of lamb on one axis of the plate and two small rounds of polenta on the other with sauce in an artistic design. Between the starter and main courses, we had a spoon with apple and apple jelly on it (again, does not do it justice). Then I had a set of crème brules … yes, four of them … quince, marshmallow, hazelnut, rose. Then they gave us an “after” of some apple foam and yummy piece of chocolate. See the check in our pix from today. Really one of the best meals I have had in a very long time.
Some things:
* Lots of the men around here need to take more frequent baths.
* All the streets with saints in them are hyphenated (e.g., Saint-Antoine).
* Each night we eat at yet a more expensive restaurant (with the corker on Monday).
* The ice cream/gelato around here is stupendous.
* It’s 60 steps from the bottom of the staircase to our room three flights up.
So, after my breakfast, we walked down to the river and took the Metro to the Louvre where we spent most of the day. We wended this way and that. Saw lots of Egyptian stuff. Lots of huge paintings. Wonderful halls and galleries. Got lost and backtracked a few times through stuff we’d already seen. Saw lots of my favorites along the way.
And the Mona Lisa room is a carnival. Look at the pictures of the crowds trying to get close and take all sorts of flash pictures. We went to the side and were near it when we took our pictures. It’s a real zoo.
Went to the Café Richeleau in that wing of the museum and had a nice lunch. I had a club sandwich that was really three different sandwiches: one cheese, one chicken salad, one smoked salmon. Came with a nice green salad, slaw, chips.
It was a bit raw when we emerged. We walked down the Right Bank to a bridge to Ile de Cite where we tried to go to Saint Chapelle, but the line was way too long and it was cold. So we walked around the outside of Notre Dame and then over to the monument to the deported Jews at the end of the island. But it was closed for the afternoon.
We crossed the bridge to Ile Saint Louis and walked down its main street. Didn’t go into any of the wonderful shops except for one where I got a glace of passion fruit with chocolate chips. Woo hoo. Then back to the hotel for a restroom stop. Afterwards, we walked along Rue Saint-Antoine for several blocks. Lots of lovely food shops (chocolate, cheese, bakeries, butchers). Went into Monoprix, a department store with a good food area. Didn’t buy. Just looked. It was spitting rain by now, so we walked home and did computer/picture stuff until it was time to meet Sharon (Sandy was meeting us at the restaurant). We took one Metro to Concorde and then transferred to go south to the restaurant, which is near Bon Marche. And, as I said earlier, it was outstanding.
Came home around 10-something. Washed my clothes and had a hard time trying to find some place to hang them to dry. Every knob in the place has a sock on it now. We went on paid Internet for 24 hours unlimited usage (each did this) and have been on ever since … it’s now 1:30 and I am taking a pill and going to bed!
posted by Bud Hirsch at 6:32 PM
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