Travel Tips

I came aboveground from the Bastille Metro & was jolted by the sight of the glorious Colonne de Juillet! Wandered thru the Marais to famous Place des Vosges. Meandered past people in the park. Saw a chic maman assisting bébé down a 2-ft slide & a 4-yr old boy expertly kicking a soccer ball. Caught a glimpse of Ma Bourgogne on the NW corner & headed to my hotel 5 mins away. Met the nice Stefan who handed me a list of reservations he'd made, then went to see the room.
Loved it, though it’s QUITE small - charming w/ beamed ceiling, French windows, blue/green oriental carpet, coral bedspread & wallpaper, desk, quaint fixtures, & ROOFTOP view!

Whiled away 2 hrs at the Marmottan - one of the best selections of Monets donated by son, Michel. Stayed too long & missed the Maison de Balzac, home of famous writer, Honoré de Balzac. Asked the docent to join me at the ballet that night. He said no, must work the next day. Too bad - we discussed artists, Monet, Manet, Morisot, Pisarro, Caillebotte, many periods of Monet & his influences on different painting styles. His earlier works are more pastel & typical of the Impressionist style, while later works border on the Expressionist w/bold, garish colors. We discussed how Monet losing his eyesight affected his choice of colors. The docent had thought I was a typical American that liked Monet for his "pretty, interior decor" art but became pleasantly surprised that I knew a bit about the subject & art in general. I divulged I sometimes paint - watercolor but in a heavy gouache style.

Ballet was faboo!
On the way in, 2 people hit me up for tickets. The 1st just looked at the ticket, saw the price & walked away. As I was passing thru the door, a pretty Italian woman stopped me, inquired about the price & gave me 20€ for it. During the 1st intermission, she gave me her card her name is Eleonora Rossi, a pianiste. I believe she plays there. She spoke no English, no French; I spoke no Italian & little Spanish. Tried to tell her it was my 1st time at the ballet & was happy it was in Paris but she couldn't understand my attempts at saying 1st (premiere? primo?).
Ecole de Danse, one of the most prestigious dance schools in the world, was the featured ballet so I feel very lucky to have seen them. I've most likely watched future ballet stars at their beginning. Cool.
Imbibed a coup de champagne - wonderful way to celebrate the ballet - only 9€! Bought a program to capture the memory (10€).

Afterwards, ventured to Shakespeare & Co. near Blvd St-Michel. I visit each year, but this year ventured past the front room. Rest of the bldg was totally cool, set up like some wonderful dreams I've had about musty, quiet, peaceful, old houses, filled w/ nooks & crannies, high ceilings, floor to ceiling bookshelves. As you ascend you encounter steep, narrow, cramped stairs covered in an old Oriental rug. At the top met a guy & we bobbed our heads in agreement - this place was COOL! Adrian, the English attendant from the previous 2 visits, wasn't there. Instead it was Collin, very energetic, precise, intellectual, seemed to know where every book was. Didn't see George, proprietor, but saw the Sylvia Beach Library - couldn't figure out which of the 2 rooms the sign referred to.
Said I was on a quest to find an explication of James Joyce's "Ulysses" written by one of his assistants. (Side note: Sylvia Beach who owned the original Shakespeare & Co. published "Ulysses" during the '20s when the book was considered too obscene). Alas, the quest was stunted as none of us could remember the assistant (Stuart Gilber). Because he'd once been secretary to Joyce, Samuel Becket's (he wrote the famous play, "Waiting for Godot") name was thrown but it couldn't be him as I'd remember if a famous playwright wrote it. The quest foiled, I walked along the northern street of Notre Dame, crossed the bridge to Ile St-Louis, crossed another bridge halfway down the rue St-Louis-en-l’Ile to reach my hotel in the Marais by midnight. Passed couples & groups which gave me a feeling of safety in this area.

On my way to Notre Dame to climb the towers (& to check out the gargoyles at top, each with distinct personalities) I meandered along the way & as I passed behind the church of St-Protais-St-Gervais on rue des Barres I discovered the restaurant, Chez Julian, which I wanted to see on this trip (it just looks so charming from outside). Proceeded to Notre Dame & passed by Le Vieux Bistro, the restaurant that I had reservations for at noon. I popped in to reconfirm and was surprised when they said everything would be okay, that they needn't check the reservations book. Hmmm. Reached Cathédrale Notre Dame de Paris by 10:30 and stood in line for the towers. While standing in line, we were able to watch the Palm Sunday procession enter through the large front portal of Notre Dame, all along the choir was singing. It was such a beautiful sight and yet another serendipitous experience. I had looked forward to the happenings on Easter Sunday but hadn't even considered that something special would happen on Palm Sunday.
The two girls in front of me were from Ukraine. They told me it was a boring place to live, but of course I was fascinated because I'd never met anyone from Ukraine before (Czechoslovakia, yes, Bosnia, yes, Russia, yes, Lithuania, yes, but no Ukrainians prior to this meeting). When we went thru the line the attendant stopped them & told them to pay; one replied that they thought children were free. She allowed them through. I was duly impressed. "Where are these girls’ parents?" I thought.
Took pictures of the gargoyles; sun was out in its bright glory to ensure excellent photo ops. Climbed the wooden steps, the wooden hand railing smoothed by many centuries of hands, to see the great Quasimodo bell. Took a picture of the guard/attendant. He seemed shyly pleased; then he took a picture of me. Didn’t really feel like going up the rest of the towers to the top so went down & bought some t-shirts from the vendor planted in the midst of the Place de Parvis; the vendor hinted me that the best way to learn French is to grab a Frenchman!! Oh la la! I then headed off to Le Vieux Bistro – arriving promptly at noon.

Dinner was FABULOUS!! C’est bonne et magnifique!
In the back room was mixture of locals & tourists: an American couple across the room, an older French gentleman in one corner (very gallant – we caught each other’s eye, smiled, & did the raising of the wine glass acknowledgment), a French woman & an American man in a middle table in front of me (he spoke to her throughout the meal in French), a Parisian family in the other corner with whom I carried on a lovely, illuminating conversation, a French businessman to my right (who inspired me to try the white asparagus after I saw his) & a fantastic French woman seated to my left named Suzanne.
Started off w/ Escargot de Bourgogne (14€), Asperge Blanche au Vinaigrette (16€), Boeuf Bourguignon (19€), Tarte Tatin (9€) accompanied by a 26€ bottle of 2001 Fournier Sancerre (rouge). Each dish was wonderful, altogether the meal was sublime! Sancerre reminds me distinctly of Merlot.
I'd never had escargots but they're delicious. I'd recommend to anyone who's never tried it to have the 1st experience at this restaurant. They're like mussels but with an earthy taste following the initial buttery, nutty, chewy taste. The earthy taste threw me for a second, the image floated thru my head of the creatures crawling along a forest floor, but reminded myself that I like earthy things & I'd come to enjoy myself. So I gave myself over to the taste, sopped up the garlic butter juices w/ my bread (wonderful bread – crispy outside, fluffy inside) & finished off with swirlings of Sancerre. Mmmmm.
Next I tried the white asparagus in a lovely vinaigrette cream sauce – très fantastique! Mon Dieu, it was good. Wonderfully tender with a very green taste; fell in love with the vinaigrette.
THEN, the Boeuf bourguignon – excellente. Only my 2nd time eating this. I had the 1st real one on my Air France flight last year. No mushrooms, baby pearl onions (very tender – not overpowering) & crispy, chewy bacon bits in a very rich meaty sauce with large tender chunks of beef. Divine!
Finished up with Tarte Tatin & lots of crème fraiche. The family asked if we had it in America & I said no. I'd only read about it & wanted to try it. It is an apple pie cooked upside down then flipped over onto the plate, with Calvados (an apple brandy) poured over it, then flambéed. The maître d' cautioned me to move my scarf so it wouldn't burn & Suzanne informed just when to put out the flames. I dolloped as much crème fraiche as I desired to cool down the hot dessert.
After some of the patrons drifted out, the family turned to me to have conversation. They had a cute little feisty boy with them & the mother kept him calmed & quiet – but he was extremely well behaved. His grandfather teased him, pretending to take the little boy's fist to gently poke his own face while the grandmother cluck-clucked, rubbed his cheek with her hand & cooed, non, non. I caught her eye & we laughed. She explained he was the last of the grandchildren & she was responsible for spoiling him. I didn't think him spoiled, though, just truly loved. They were all very proud of him (4 maybe?) & showed off his English to me. He jumped down to the middle of the floor & recited his numbers in English up to 8 & "hello" & "good-bye." I clapped my hands - Magnifique!
The father & I discussed politics. He surprised me by saying the French were afraid to go to the U.S.!
When they left, Suzanne & I talked, she in her limited English, I in my limited French, about Paris, my itinerary, that I'm 1/8 French & my restaurants (shook her head at Bofinger, I shook my head & inquired "no?" & she said, "no, no, no, okay" – I wasn't sure if she'd eaten there & didn't like it maybe due to it's lax service or if she hadn't eaten there). Rather than peel the label from the bottle but it was decided I should just take the wine bottle. When I left, the maître d' kissed my hand. I leaned in to give him a kiss on the cheek & he smoothly turned his head to kiss me on the mouth. I giggled like a schoolgirl. Needless to say, I had a wonderful time there, almost 3 hours.

Was time to go to the Ritz for Afternoon Tea but was stuffed. I had reservations so I went anyway. Walked past Notre Dame, turned right & saw a SLEW of roller bladers. I'd seen the Saturday night roller bladers but wasn't sure if this was the same. Asked some English ladies & but they didn't know. We saw people pushing kids in prams in that crowd & decided we would never do that – too dangerous. Then one laughed & said she wouldn't put herself in danger by rollerblading. Paused on the Pont Neuf to take a picture of the famous department store, La Samaritaine, & moved on up the rue de Rivoli where I made a mental note to pick it up a Josephine Baker poster from the bouquinistes later for a friend. Metroed to Pyramides & meandered to Place Vendôme.
Paused to re-apply lipstick & wipe the glow from my brow, straightened up, walked to the doorman & asked for directions to Bar Vendôme (straight thru & immediately to the left – the beautiful Espadon restaurant just past – garden connects both). Opted for the Afternoon Tea – 32.10€. Produced my e-mail confirmation & sat in le Jardin while a harpist played.
Instead of tea I chose the chocolat chaud. I asked the waiter for pronunciation as I was pronouncing it "shode." He explained "shode" is feminine, chocolate is masculine & it is pronounced, "show." Joked this must be why women like chocolate so much! Spoke a few French phrases to him & he inquired if perhaps Madame would prefer he spoke in French? I replied with a resounding non. The teacakes included the marron glacé macaroon (divine), tiny chocolate éclair (good), strawberry tartlet (w/ crème fraiche – delectable), chocolate tartlet, apple tartlet, & dark chocolate. The sandwiches were turkey/very fresh, ripe tomato/delicate mustard (good), cucumber/egg/mustard (my favorite) & smoked salmon w/lightly spread cream cheese. The latter was very good even to my undeveloped palate.
Didn't eat much & felt a little (HELLO – the Ritz!) intimidated, so I started writing & pasting in my journal. Presently the maître d' walked over & I thought uh-oh, I'm busted. Shouldn't concentrate on my journal, should have head up contemplatively stirring my chocolat & admiring the gardens. But he was there to see if everything was okay. They are extremely tactful, whatever you say is just the right thing to say. They never disagree with you or chide you, it's not "Madame shouldn’t put cream in her Earl Grey as it muddies the flavor"/it's more like "Madame should try the tea with cream but perhaps she might try it without first to see how she likes it." I was enchanted. They are neither obsequious nor sycophantic but know EXACTLY the right thing to say. If you ever had reservations about going, just dash them, they will make you very comfortable!
The maître d' introduced himself. He has brothers & sisters throughout the U.S. & he loves America, particularly California, specifically to drive from Santa Barbara to San Francisco. He summers in the South of France & winters by skiing. I was totally charmed.
The chocolat was sitting unfinished so he asked if I liked it. I said "yes, but could I have some water as I’m extremely thirsty?" He brought back a beautiful, round globe vase filled w/ ice water. It was beautiful & we discussed how it mimicked ancient Greek vases. Asked if it was okay to take the paper Ritz doilies. Sure, he said, I'll get you some more. I said no, that's okay, just the one, but he sped off. He came back shortly with not just Ritz doilies but Ritz matches AND a Ritz porcelain ashtray. I was completely flabbergasted. I told him I had nothing to give him. He said, "Just give me your beautiful smile." I beamed at him trying not to look goofy. He left & came back w/ a Ritz bag in that lovely Ritz blue (royal blue), 2 glass swizzle sticks, and a Ritz pen! I was speechless. Asked him if they might stop me at the revolving door for having all this contraband. "No, no, no – just tell them HENRI gave it to you." Cool.