QUINTESENTIAL PARIS

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We woke up to a beautiful sunny Paris day, at last the weather decided to cooperate with us. We had enough time before our first event to have breakfast together in the breakfast room. We were a bit late meeting the girls, but we still had plenty of time to make our way to the one museum on tap for the day.

It was Saturday and we had a day full of things very associated with Paris, at least for me they are. We would go from Rodin, to macaroons, to the oldest restaurant in Paris.

Rodin

The first stop was the Rodin Museum. When we were in Pairs only the gardens were opened as the house was being renovated. This time all was open, but we started with a nice stroll through the gardens. The major and large Rodin works are in the Garden, including of course The Thinker. The gardens were nice fully of flowers, and plenty of shade as well. We spent about 45 minutes in the Garden, then headed into the house. I would not mind living there, rent might be a bit high but it would do.

Inside the museum are several smaller works of Rodin and other artists as well. You can see the models that he made first that later became the larger sculptures. There was a nice surprise on the second floor of the house, as you turned a corner you walked in to a room with three Van Gough’s that Rodin owned, a Renoir and a Monet. I was not expecting to see any of these artists in this museum.

After we finished our visit, Jerry left the group to try to find some driving maps for our drive to Versailles and Chartres on Sunday. Christina, Jourdan and I all headed to our macaroon class.

Le Cordon Bleu

I have taken two previous macaroon class in Paris, both at Cookn with Class. Today we would be at the historic le Cordon Bleu, where Julia Child learned to cook. I believe we were in fact across the hall from where she actually took her classes. We waited amongst the real students, they were all in their chef uniforms, right down to the hat. They were all hurrying and scurrying about, some looked very stressed, there must have been a test that day. The classes are all taught in French as far as I know, so I don’t know if they have interpreters or not, because there was a lot more than French being spoken at the school.

Our class was pretty larger at least 16 people, much bigger than I like for a cooking class. It was also taught in French, we did have an interpreter, but I know that things were lost in translation. In previous classes we used Italian merengue, which is very difficult to make and work with as it is very temperamental. In this class we just used regular merengue. In the end, the way we learned today is far easier, but I think the end product is 10x better using Italian merengue.

I did enjoy the class, but prefer the classes I have had in other places that are smaller and in English. It was a once in a life time experience to actually have a cooking class at Le Cordon Bleu, so for that reason alone I am glad I took it.

Notre Dame

Next up, Notre Dame. After Jerry bought the maps he then spent some time looking for a place we could get some crepes for lunch. We met him there about 3:30ish but at least got a bit truned around when we got off the metro, we didn’t come up where I thought we would, and we were in the one spot on Ile Cite that you can’t see the tours of Notre Dame to get your bearings. We did find our way to the crepe shop to meet Jerry.

We walked directly in front of the cathedral, pictures were taken. Neither Christina nor Jourdan had been to the top (obviously Christina has never been to the top since this was her first trip to Paris) I was not planning on making the 387 step climb, but they had planned on it but then changed their minds. Jerry was willing to walk up to the top with anyone that wanted to, but everyone passed.

Crepes

After we found Jerry, we all ordered crepes, I had egg, ham and cheese, Jerry had bacon and cheese, Christina and Jourdan both had a sweet crepe. Now we have had some incredible crepes in the United States, both in Portland, Oregon and Arcata California and Quebec City, but there is just something about a crepe in Paris. I don’t know if it’s just because you’re in Paris, or if they really are just that much better. Whatever the reason, you can’t go to Paris without having at least one crepe, preferably from a walk up not a sit down restaurant.

After we ate, the girls or as Jerry says, the ladies, went back to the hotel to rest up for dinner. We headed to Sainte Chapelle as Jerry has not been in side to see the beautiful stained glass windows. While it is on the Paris Pass, there is no line jumping here, and we didn’t have enough time to stand in line and get back to the hotel to change for dinner. So we too just ended up going back to the hotel, by the time we got back all we had time for was a bit of wine-thirty and to get ready for the dinner.

La Petite Chaise

The day was topped off with dinner at the second oldest restaurant in Paris. La Petite Chaise, in the St-Germaine-des-Pres area, it looks like a simple enough place from the outside and it is tucked at the end of Rue Petite Chaise. You would never guess that it has been around since 1680. The oldest (next time in Paris) is La Tour d’Argent, which overlooks the Seine and Notre Dame. La Petite Chaise is on the list of the 10 oldest in the world, so 6 down 4 to go.

We had an early reservation as we had planned on doing a cruise on the Seine to see the lights, but even with the early reservation the timing didn’t work out for that. Since we were eating early, it was not that busy, but it did start to pick up towards the end of our meal.

So let just get to the food. Jourdan and I had the same plat, Jerry and Christina had the same plat, we each had a different entrée. They all were pretty good, but Jerry’s was also this evenings highlight dish, with Christina’s poached eggs in red wine sauce a very close second.

Jerry had Salmon marinated in dill, with a wholegrain mustard cream sauce. I had Shrimp in puff pastry, it really isn’t puff pastry, I think its lost in translation. The main course for Jerry was a Fillet of beef with green pepper sauce (yes he eats more read meat in France than any other place) he also had prefect dauphinoise potatoes. My entrée was a grilled veal chop with an Ambert cheese sauce. The sauce was very good, the veal a bit over cooked and dry. Dessert consisted of Nougat Glace for Jerry and Chocolate Mousse cake for myself.

Everything was good and we can strike that off of our list of things to do and places to eat. Christina and Jourdan took an Uber back to the hotel we took the metro.

That was the end of a Quintessential day in Paris. Tomorrow a day trip out of town and a bit of driving in Paris.

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Photos

Highlight Dish
Salmon in dill with mustard cream sauce

Certified Macaroon Chef
with the real Chef Daniel

Comments

[David Behrend]

Awe Paris
Such a beautiful city!