LAST DAY IN PARIS

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We all met in the breakfast room at our hotel in Versailles and enjoyed their buffet. It was a combination of the traditional French breakfast of cheeses, breads, yogurt with a few hot dishes as well, such as scrambled eggs, sausages and way to salty bacon. The rain had not yet stopped in fact it was pouring, which would make long drive back to Paris in the rain.

We checked out and were on the road about 10:30. The original plan was to drop the car off, then go to a wine tasting at 3 then pick up another zip car to drive to Rouen to have dinner at La Couronne (very good food and famous to us because Julia Child had her first meal in France here. Jerry and I decided that it was just to far to drive (90 minutes) to have dinner than turn around and drive back. It would make the last day in Paris 1) not be in Paris and 2) just too stressfull. So I cancelled the car and let Christina a Jourdan know that we just were not up to the trip. They were pretty disappointed and decided that they would rent a car anyway and keep the reservation that was already made.

So, when we got back to Paris, we went our way and they went theirs. The rain was pretty much non-stop so we just relaxed in the room and took a 2-hour nap. We had not decided what we wanted to do for our last night yet, but as is tradition, the last night of vacation tends to be a bit over the top. Tonight would not be any different.

Christina & Jourdan knocked on our door about 5ish on their way out to Rouen, they dropped off a little thank you for planning the trip and they were off. While our vacation is ending there is just entering week 2, as they are off to Amsterdam, London and Iceland. After they left we firmed up our own plans for the night. We decided to spend our last night in Montmartre. We made dinner reservations at La Mascotte, one of the few remaining old style brasseries in Montmartre. After dinner we made reservations for the show at Michou’s, a well-known Paris drag club.

We dressed for dinner in our jackets and the ties Jerry bought a few days together. It was an easy metro ride from our hotel to La Mascotte, the 8 to the 12 getting off at the Abbesses stop. The abbesses stop is pretty deep in the hill of Montmartre and fortunately they have an elevator that takes you up to the top, otherwise it is a pretty intense stair climb. We walked down rue des Abbesses to the restaurant. The area has had a pretty significant face lift this that last time we were in Paris. Everything looks, cleaner and newer. In fact, when we got to La Moscotte it appeared that it had recently been renovated in side, as the wood paneling was bright not dark.

La Moscotte is known for its seafood, mostly from Brittany and Normandy. They also have other non-seafood based dishes also typically sourced from French farms in neighboring regions in France. We did not go for the set menu and did not go for the massive seafood platters, but we certainly saw several of them, if you like Lobster, oysters, snails clams and shrimp this platter is for you.

We started with our usually Coupe Champagne and took some time deciding what we wanted to eat. When the decision was made we ordered. The meal was as follows:

Jerry

Entrée: Nordique plate, this was a dish of 4 fishes, salmon, trout, whiting and eel, it was served with a creaming horseradish sauce (could have used a tad more horseradish.) All of the fish was smoked and tasted pretty good. Jerry liked it more than me as I am not a big smoked fish fan.

We both had a Mixed salad, it had a really good dressing and lots of red onions.

Plat: Poitrine Veau, was a breast of veal stuffed with cheese, served with endive braised in red wine. It was very rich and very good, Jerry could not finish.

Chris

Entrée: Oeuf Meurette, this is a dish I learned to make in Dijon on a trip a few years back. It is eggs poached in red wine, served with bacon and mushrooms in a red wine sauce. It is very good.

Plat: Sole Bretagne, this was the best fish dish I have had on the trip, sorry Lisbon, it was a perfectly cooked sole with a light butter sauce. The waiter also perfectly fileted the fish so there was not a bone to be found.

We skipped dessert as we were basically stuffed. This was the best meal of the trip, not that there were not some stand outs in Lisbon, but this really was perfect food and very French.

After dinner we walked back down Rue Des Abbesses to Michou. Now for those of you in Portland, all you need to picture is Darcelle XV, this is Paris’ version. Michou might be slightly younger than Darcelle, but it is a close call. The main difference is that Michou no longer preforms while Darcelle still does.

When we got there, we were patted down, they take the security very seriously in Paris. For a Monday night it was jammed pack. There didn’t even appear to be a table for us to sit at. But, Michou himself gave up his table so we would have a place to sit. He shook our hands and we exchanged pleasantries in the best French we could manage.

As with all Drag shows it started a few minutes late. When it did start it was very entertaining, a very cultural experience. It was all in French, except when they were preforming, Diana Ross, Madonna, Cher or Sammy Davis Jr. There was even an Edith Piaf number. It was all very entertaining, the long comic drag was a bit too much, only because we had no idea what they were saying or everyone was laughing about. The show was good and the performers did very well and their lip-sync, however, several of them actually did their own singing. They were far better than those in Quebec City, but not as good as Portland, Portland still has the best drag queens in the world.

It was great ending to a wonderful trip. To recap last nights on this trip; in Madrid we ended with Flamenco, in

Lisbon we ended with Fado, and in Paris we ended with a Drag Show. Not to mention we have been wanting to see this show for a few years now.

To the current day

We are currently sitting in the Paris airport the day after our last night in Paris. Our plane was delayed by 2 hours as it was late leaving Newark. It has arrived but I don’t think we board for another hour, so I can finish up this blog. They are currently boarding a flight to Istanbul, that trip is not planned until I turn 60 or 65 when we will take the Orient Express from London to Istanbul.

In any event it is time for some thoughts on this trip and traveling in general. Weather wise, this was not the best trip for good weather. We had hoped that May would mean decent weather, but it did rain just about every day. We did have one really nice day in Madrid, a couple in Lisbon and 1 in Paris. But not even the rain can keep you from having a good time. However, future trips will likely not be in May but in September/October.

A major observation to be made is that with the advent of all this nonsense technology such as: twitter, snapchat, Instagram, etc. etc., people on vacation, are actually missing the actual experience of being in a foreign country, because they are so obsessed with posting the latest picture or comment. Yes, I blog pretty much every day, but that is at the end of the day in the privacy of our room when I can reflect on the day just spent. This allows us to actually enjoy the day, without being tied to instant something or other. I can’t tell you how many meals we saw a group of people looking down at their phones instead of talking about what they had seen or done that day and more importantly actually enjoying the food and the moment they were in.

A few thoughts about traveling in general. If you going to spend the time and make the significant investment that a trip aboard takes, then please do your research. Know why you’re even going, is it for art, food, culture, sights, shopping or something else. No matter what your reason for the trip is, scope out those things you want to do before you get here. If you here just to Party, why bother you can do that anywhere, do you really need spend 7 plus hours on a plane just to drink and be stupid, and trust me we have seen a significant amount of that. Most importantly be respectful of the culture. You don’t have to be fluent in the language, but at least learn how to say hello, please, thank you and good bye. Spend 30 minutes on the plane to learn the basic manners of the country you are visiting. Example, in France you don’t speak loudly, you keep your elbows off the table and both hands always above the table. Always say Bon Jour when walking in a place and Merci, au revoir when leaving. These simple things will take you from the arrogant American to a respected traveler.

Many people have traveled far more than we have, but in our travels we have learned that most people do like American’s they just don’t like obnoxious arrogant Americans, who don’t even try to absorb the culture or language. Although I did witness a couple in Lisbon, who had no intention of speaking anything but French, and made zero attempt to even say thank you in Portuguese.

We had a great trip and enjoyed all of the places we visited. While Lisbon and Madrid were very nice, Paris always wins. There was also no change in my top 10 favorite places we have been, Paris is still number one. Madrid and Lisbon while nice, didn’t break into the top 10.

That brings this journey to an end, nothing remains but the flight home and unpacking, then back to work tomorrow. Our next trip is likely a 7-day cruise to Bermuda in September. This will be a first cruise so stay tune.

Until next time Bon Journey.

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