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Published: April 22nd 2019
Easter Sunday in Paris, a peaceful and sunny day. The original plan was to head to the Flea Market on the edge of town and then head to the wine warehouse district in Bercy. However, since we had the Metro shutdown yesterday and had to cancel our hopscotch around Paris, we decided to do that instead.
We were at Breakfast by 9:30 and at the start of our attempt to hit all 20 arrondissements in one day. Mind you this was not just going to each of them but it was doing in order 1 through 20. The first part was getting from the 7
th to the 1
st. We would be getting great use out of our Metro pass today.
Jerry spent weeks before our trip putting this together. Reading up on each arrondissement, mapping out the metro from one to the next. It all stemmed from me saying, wouldn’t it be fun to say you had been to all Arrondissements in a day. Will we succeed?
Arrondissement One
We began at 11 am in the heart of Paris, arrondissement one. We got off at the chatelet-les halles metro stop. The picture is of the
park and structure of Les Halles. The last several times we have been here this has been under construction, but now it is complete. It connects several metro lines together and is basically a large underground mall, on the outside is Place Rue Cassin, a nice park with several different playgrounds for the children. Landmarks in the 1
st are the Louvre and Notre Dame. Also is Palace des Victories, a quite roundabout in the center of which is a statute of Louis XIV.
Arrondissement Two
We then walked through Place des Victories (the park referenced above) in to the 2
nd. The 2
nd is basically the financial district of Paris and the Bourse use to be the Paris stock market, we think it is now an event space. We got on metro line 3 and headed for the 3
rd.
Arrondissement Three
We took metro three from the Bourse and got off at the Arts et Metiers stop. Here Jerry walked down the street to get a picture of the Musee des Arts et Metiers (museum of arts and crafts) then we went back to the metro, but instead of taking the 3 to
Republic you will want to take the 11, so you can see the copper Arts et Metiers metro station. At this point I simply let Jerry use the extra steps to get the picture, I needed to conserve my steps, it was going to be a long day and my ankle is still not 100%!,(MISSING) add my freaking flat feet to the picture and I am sure you get the point. The 3
rd is also home to the Marais, which is not only the Jewish Quarter, but now the hub of international cuisine, design and the gay night clubs, which trust me you have to be young and pretty for those, because they don’t even get started until after midnight.
Arrondissement Four
Done with the 3
rd and off to the 4
th, now we take the 5 line to the Bastille. So yes, the 4
th is the home of the Bastille, it is also home of Victor Hugo’s home and where Edith Piaf performed many times. The home of Victor Hugo is in the Place des Vosges, about a 10-minute walk from the Bastille. Ok, just in case you do not know Victor Hugo is the author
of Les Miserables and The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Jerry did finally get is perfect of a chestnut tree in bloom.
Arrondissement Five
Back on the 5 to Gare d; Austerlitz where we transfer to the 10 and cross the Seine to the Left Bank, getting off at Cluny-La Sorbonne, yes, we have been here before it is the Latin Quarter and the same stop of the Musee de Cluny or the Museum of the Middle Ages. We took a brief stroll down the crowded streets of the Latin Quarter, the center of Paris Café Life. Jerry took a picture of St. Severin church, this has sentimental value because on our very first trip to Paris in 2006, we had dinner in the bistro directly across the small street from St. Severin. Then again, we had lunch, and possibly the best croque monsieur I have ever had, at the same place a few years later.
Arrondissement Six
We then strolled to the 6
th, otherwise known as St. Germaine des Pres. Again, a place famous for the Paris sidewalk cafés. Possibly the most famous two are Café Les dux
Magots and Café de Flore. The two cafés’ have been in competition for over a century, both have seen the likes of Hemmingway and Oscar Wilde (you think they had a rendezvous). Just because they are famous does not mean they are worthy of frequenting. On one of our trips here, we had lunch at Café de Flore, the food was ok and the waiters were clearly classic career Parisian waiters, but the food for the price was just, eh.
Arrondissement Seven
Taking the 10 to La Motte Picquet-Grenelle and transferring to the eight (the good old 8, taking us back to the 7
th). The 7
th is of course home to what many say is the most Iconic symbol of Paris. They actually hated it when it was first built for the world’s fair, I believe in 1900. Now, the French have accepted and many non-French seems to consider the Eifel Tower the symbol of France. But Notre Dame is the heart and Soul of Paris. We walked to get a good picture of the tower from the end of the large park, which is across the street from Ecole Militaire, where the equestrian unit is
housed. Yes Shari, there is a special picture being e-mailed to you of two of the horses. Since we were only blocks from our hotel, it was a natural time for a break and a quick break. After freshening up a bit in the room, went to the local boulangerie on Rue Cler and got a quick snack. I had a tomato and mustard Quiche; Jerry had the quintessential ham and cheese on a baguette.
Arrondissement Eight (Danger Will Robinson)
Back on the 8 line to the Madeleine. Yes, we were here last night for dinner, but here it is again. The heart of the 8
th. Also, part of the 8
th is the famous shopping district, the Champs-elysees, St. Honoree, and so forth. We popped up out of the metro, Jerry took a quick picture of the Madeleine (which is a church) and then the excitement began.
Let’s take a brief history lesson on me, I am very observant, I have been known not to play well with others (well at least in kindergarten) and no one pulls anything over on me. Jerry, is a very extreme Virgo (look that up) so between the two
of us, what was about to happen never happens to us. We were getting back on the 8 at the Madeleine, prior to that I did notice a man who seemed to be casing me, but he could have been just homeless. As we got in the metro car, suddenly his glasses were on the floor between my feet, he bumped in to me and kept pushing at me, I felt something in my pocket, (it was his partner’s hand) I quickly realized they were going for my wallet. I turned grabbed the man by the coat, and start yelling (in English) he has my wallet, Jerry jumped in to action, there was no f…ing way he was getting off the train with my wallet. From nowhere, what we believed to be undercover cops showed up and grabbed the man, I kept saying he has my wallet, then suddenly his partner through it back in the metro so as not to have it in his possession as the police dragged them both off. I retrieved my wallet the doors shut and we were on our way. Disaster averted. Now, I may be from Portland, Oregon, but I have lived in
Manhattan for over 5 years, and no one is going to pick my pocket. Would I have grabbed someone in Manhattan, no, because they would have had a gun or knife, but in Paris. Back off, you will not take me down.
Even with this incident, I still love Paris, this is something that can and does happen anywhere, you just need to be aware of your environment. Which gives me the perfect opportunity to go in to my cell phone rant, put your damn phones down, or you won’t know when you’re about to lose your wallet, money, credit cards and identity. More importantly, the world is not in your phone you are walking around in it and will miss everything if you don’t look up.
Arrondissement Nine
With the incident behind us we were on our way on the 8 to the 9
th. The center of the 9
th is the Opera House. This is the original Opera House in Paris, and it is beautiful, we have toured the inside in past trips. Also, in the 9
th is the Galleries Layfette, a historic and high-end department store.
Arrondissement Ten
Opera
Arr. 9Now we take the 7 to Poissonniere. This is basically a very residential neighborhood. The picture of note was the St. Vincent DePaul of the Cross church on Place Franz Liszt. It is all so home to Gare de Nord (all trains north and the Eurostar to London) and Gare de l’Est (all trains east).
Arrondissement Eleven
This was a study in metro riding. The 7 to Gare de L’Est, transfer to the 5 to Republic, transfer to the 11 to Belleville, transfer to the 2 to Menilmontant. This is a very ethic neighborhood, and what is of note for the Francophile music lover is that it is the home of Edith Piaf. This apartment she lived in for only a year, but it is now a museum. It is only available for tour by appointment and only done in French. We just took a picture of the outside.
Arrondissement Twelve
Back on the 2 to the end of the line Nation. Here we are at the Place de la Nation. By this time, my ankles were giving up, my flat feet were saying sit the f… down and have some
wine, but we continued on. Jerry walked a block or so to take a picture of the statute in honor of the republic at the center of Place de la Nation.
Arrondissement Thirteen
From Nation we take the 6 (and we would be on the 6 for some time) to Place D’Italie. While the picture here is not that exciting, the thirteenth is about the Gobelins and the tapestry industry. Jerry would have like to get a picture of the original Gobelins building, but it was several blocks from the Metro station and I certainly was not up for the walk. Also located here is Rue Mouffetard, a great market street. In 2012, when we were here, we had lunch just off this street. It was very local and no one spoke English. No time for that this trip.
Arrondissement Fourteen
Back on the 6 to Edgar Quintet. This is where the Montparnasse area is basically split. The Montparnasse Cemetery is here as are the Les Catacombs (which we visited with Christina on our last trip to Paris). Here we walked in to the 15
th through a classic artist street. There were
some nice Jazz pictures, Lady Day, Josephine Baker etc. Might have purchased one, but my feet were saying go back to the hotel.
Arrondissement Fifteen
We walked towards Montparnasse tower and the 15
th, what the 15
th is really famous for, other than the only high rise in old Paris, is Place du 18-Juin-1940. In this square is where the Parisians heard Charles De Gaulle, give his speech from London on June 18, 1940 urging the French to resist the Nazi occupation, thus giving birth to the French Resistance. It is also where in 1944 the Germans surrendered to the allies. Hitler’s orders were to destroy the city as the Germans withdrew, but the general refused.
With that I was done, my left ankle and feet could go no further. It was 5 we had 5 more arrondissements to go. If we would have started two hours earlier and I didn’t have such bad feet, we could have done them all in a day. Instead it was back to the hotel to rest my weary bones and get ready for dinner.
….. the next morning.
As I continue this entry about now
what happened yesterday, it occurred to me while we did not hit all 20 in one day, we did make a valiant attempt and covered a large part of Paris, many we had never been to before.
Our day ended with dinner at Café des Musees. This is on the edge of the 3
rd and 4
th, technically in the Marais, it is in a quiet neighborhood in the Jewish Quarter. It was an easy metro rider as we only had to take the 8 directly there.
As we approached the Café there was several people looking at a wall, at first, we didn’t know what, but then we say him, The King of the Rue. A very comfortable looking cat was laying on a window edge surveying his subjects. He clearly ruled the neighborhood and would not be bothered with us mere commoners. He had a palace somewhere as he had a nice collar. Not even a dog was going to make his Royal Highness move.
Café des Musess
The café was directly across from the cat’s throne so those eating outside were in his constant gaze. We opted for indoor seating; all of
the windows were open so it was very comfortable inside. We were debating if this was our second or third time at the café, we decided it was the third.
I am going to get the negative stuff out of the way first, the food was great, but it was very clear that this had gone from a neighborhood restaurant full of locals to a very popular place for tourists, English was spoken at all most every table in the café. That alone is not necessarily a bad thing, as long as the service and food is good. That was the issue, one of our servers had a clear attitude and we got a little pissy with each other. I of course only got irritated after the 4
th bottle in a row of wine I tried to order, they didn’t have. It was as if their wine list was completely outdated, or he didn’t want to have to go down stairs to try and find what I really wanted. We did end up with a nice bottle of St. Emilion called La Confession, seemed aptly named for Easter Sunday.
We did have a good evening, and conversation with
the couples on either side of us. To my right were two friends, in their 60’s. The woman had been living in Paris since the 80’s and the gentleman was a professor of French at LSU in Baton Rouge. He knew of many of the restaurants we had eaten at in Portland, Maine and New York. We had a good conversation.
To my life was a younger couple, late to early 20’s (we were truly the middle-aged couple that evening) from London. She was originally from Vancouver BC and he was from Sweden. Again, we had a pleasant conversation with them as well. It was very Newport Gilded Age, 15-minute conversation to your right, 15-minute conversation to your left.
So, what did we eat? Well the wait is over. This place had recently been voted as the best Beef Bourguignon in Paris, so of course, I needed to test that out. But first the entrée’s
Jerry had ventreche de cochon noir asperges blanche et sauce hollandaise. Grilled white asparagus with hollandaise sauce. Jerry does not typically care for white asparagus, but this was pretty decent (it was cooked in black pork bacon how could it be bad)
and the hollandaise was perfection. I you know I don’t say that lightly.
I started with Tartare de Veau aux noisettes, Veal tartar, it was very well put together and had a nice citrus to it as well.
The Plats:
Jerry could not resist the Entrecotte de Boeuf Charolaise with Béarnaise (they are known for their béarnaise. It is very good, but not enough tarragon and yes mine is better. They do add a twist to it as they fold beaten egg whites in at the end so it is light and fluffy. It just needed more tarragon and shallots. The state was cooked a perfect medium rare.
I had the Boeuf Bourguignon, it was served with mashed potatoes, not my choice as they just got lost in the sauce. The sauce was good, a bit too much vinegar and not enough depth of flavor. The cut of beef while an appropriate cut, really needed to be cooked another 5 yours so it was a bit more melt in your mouth. Overall, it was a good bourguignon, but not the best I have ever had, and mine is better.
We do have a bit of
a competition going this trip, there is another restaurant we will be having lunch at on Tuesday, and we know that bourguignon is literally the best ever, we will see if the standard has been maintained.
Another long and exciting day at an end, we headed back to metro line 8 and our hotel in the 7
th to have our nightcap and relax before bed.
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Shari
non-member comment
Silly Criminals
First, I love the picture of The King. Your description was great, too. I could totally picture his boredom. Also, I can’t believe someone thought you would be an easy target. Man oh man! I’m glad you and Jerry dealt with the duo of thieves. Who knows if the two were undercover agents or a pair posing as them to diffuse the situation? Anyway, you showed them! And, I’m looking forward to the horse photos :)