The Remaining Five Arrondissements

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Last night before we retired for the evening, we decided to change up the itinerary for Monday. We had originally planned this as our day trip out of Paris to Chateau Fontainebleau. This would have required us keeping up early and taking a train for an hour to the Chateau. Instead we decided to sleep in a bit and finish off the last five arrondissements.

Of course, sleeping in means no morning croissant since we did not get up early enough for the morning breakfast. Instead, before continuing on our hopscotch we had lunch at a nearby café. We both were in deed of some raw vegetable, so Jerry had the French version of a cobb salad. It was basically the same, just more blue cheese, crispy chicken and strips of bacon instead of bacon bits. I had the La Parisian; mesclun, eggs, ham, tomatoes croutons. It looked good but when I first bit in the eggs were actually frozen. The waiter apologized repeatedly and explained that the chef had made a few a head of time and put them in the refrigerator, which was clearly to cold. I was brought a nice fresh salad.

Arrondissement 16

After lunch it was back to the metro line 8 to the 6 to the Trocadero. We are now in the 16^th. The Trocadero is a very large building on the banks of the Seine, directly across from the 7^th. It is also the best view of the Eifel Tower. There are two museums in the Trocadero, one is dedicated to design and the history of design. We think the other is a science museum. Jerry walked down to the gardens to take a picture of the Trocadero facing away from the Eifel Tower, so to have a picture of the 16^th, not from the 16^th looking at the 7^th, which of course we took as well.

Arrondissement 17

From the 16^th we got back on the 6 and transferred to the 2 at the Arc de Triumph. The Arc, is technically in the 16^th, but really is the boarder between the 16^th, 17^th, and 18^th. We got off at the Ternes stop for our picture of the 17^th. It is a very quiet arrondissement and fairly residential, most of the business were closed for the holiday, yes here Easter Monday is also a holiday.

Back on the 2, transferring at Pigalle to the 12 and getting off at the Abbesses.

Arrondissement 18

The Abbesses is the center of Montmartre, the butte above it, the thriving theater’s and cafes on either side. The Metro stop itself is deep in the ground and while there are stairs, the elevator is definitely the preferred way up. If your young and energetic, you can start you climb to the top of Montmartre here, there are several flights of steep stairs. Done it once, don’t need to do it again. The other option is to take the 5-block level walk to the funicular and take the easy way up. It will let you have steps from the Sacre-Coeur. We had planned on taking it up to the top, but then Jerry managed to get a great shot of Sacre-Coeur from just a few more blocks down the street. While Notre Dame is Gothic and grand, Sacre-Coeur is by far my favorite cathedral in Paris and is in the Romanesque style.

From there we walked down a very crowded Montmartre street to the 2 line and off to the 19^th.

Arrondissement 19

We are nearing the end of the hopscotch. We continue on the 2 to the Jean Jaures stop. We are now in the far eastern edge of Paris. Here the canal St. Martin merges in to the Bassein de la Villette which then becomes canal de l’ourcq. This is also the arrondissement that the music museum was in that we visited earlier in the week.

Back on the 2 line to our last stop and last arrondissement.

Arrondissement 20

The highlight of the 20^th is Cimetiere du Pere-Lachaise. This is a very large cemetery, that contains the remains of some of the most famous people in history, From Chopin to Edith Piaf, Oscar Wilde and Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas. Now I did not see any of these because the cobblestone sidewalk was not my friend. I found a bench and Jerry wonder off to get pictures. I have to admit that at this point I am very frustrated with my inability to walk as much as is needed for our travels, some of it does have to do with the not quite 100%!a(MISSING)nkle, but if I am really; honest, I just plain need to shed some pounds so I am not carrying the extra weight on my poor flat feet.

With that we have completed all 20 arrondissements, maybe not in one day, but we can proudly say we have been to all of them.

It took about 40 minutes to get from Pere-Lachaise back to the hotel. We needed to resupply our wine-thirty stock, so Jerry took care of that, while I went upstairs to the room and got out of my shoes and let my feet breath.

Today was a pretty good day, the weather was still pleasant, not pure sunny skies, a bit overcast but still warm with a light breeze. We really could not have asked for better weather for our April in Pairs trip. And its true what they say in the song Lush Life “a week in Paris will ease the bite of it”.

Bistrot d’Henri

Tonight’s dinner was in Saint-Germain des Pres. This was a google maps discovery. We knew we wanted to eat in this area as we had an incredible dinner in 2012 in the same area. So, I google mapped then looked for restaurants, then did a bit of trip advisor review reading to narrow it down to tonight, choice. Jerry, called form New York to make the reservation, because this place was not on the Fork, the French version of OpenTable. This is the same method we used to find our restaurant in Verona and that turned out to be a fantastic evening.4

The restaurant is very small and the kitchen looks over the dinning room. There are maybe 20 tables, so it is very bistro with little room between the tables. This is not a bad thing as you can have some very enjoyable conversations with your neighbors, and tonight was certainly no exception to that rule.

When we sat down the table to my right was empty and the table to my left was just finishing up. They were both replaced with delightful diners. The second table to my left had an elderly couple that we later learned were from Portland, Oregon, what are the chances.

We started with, what else, champagne. We decided to split an entrée and a salad before we each hard our plat. We started with a Zucchini terrine, it was like a tarte with out the crust with a light quiche type filling holding it together, it was served with a delicious tomato confit. We then shared a Henri’s Salad; green beans, avocado, mesclun confit tomatoes, parmesan and smoked duck with a (I have to have the recipe) mustard vinaigrette.

While we were having our appetizers, a family of three sat to my right. They were from the Berkshires, but the mother grew up in Westchester and the father was form Jersey, but spent his childhood in the Philippines. The daughter was 13, and very well-mannered and could actually carry a conversation. We had a good conversation with them while we ate.

When our plats arrived another couple (later to learn in their 70’s but did not look it) sat down. At first, I thought they were French, as they seem to speak the language, turned out they were from San Francisco. We had a great conversation with them, they have traveled extensively, to many of the places we have, but many we have not yet made it to. We chatted about our plans to retire in France and Spain, and they told us of some of their friends who had done the same thing.

It was a really lovely evening.

But, let’s not forget the food. The main courses were exactly what we were hoping for. I had lamb chops, cooked perfectly and Jerry had flank steak with shallots. Both of us had gratin dauphinois potatoes. Some of the best we have had in ages. It was all washed down with a nice St. Estephe Bordeaux wine.

I almost forgot dessert, we did forget to take a picture, but it was our first chocolate mousse of the trip and it was worth the wait.

This will be on our permanent list of places to eat in Paris.

Yet another great day and perfect ending to the day. This has been one of the best culinary experiences we have had in Paris. We have not been disappointed in any of our dinners.

Tomorrow is our last full day in Paris before we move South. Not as intense as the last two days but again exploring some new areas of Paris, and revisiting some old favorites.

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Photos

Trocadero
Arr. 16

Place des Ternes
Arr. 17

Sacre Coeur
Arr. 18

Bassin de la Villette
Arr. 19

Grave of Edith Piaf
Pere-Lachaise
Arr. 20