All posts by Rosemary Kneipp

Lifestyle, Paris

3 iPhone Apps for Paris and WiFi

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Black Cat told me about the most wonderful iPhone App called What’s App. You can send text messages for free throughout the world to anyone with an iPhone and What’s App. Wish I’d known about it last summer when I clocked up a nice little bill texting Black Cat from the 9 different countries we went to in Europe! It’s a pity Relationnel has that Bathtub because it could be very useful when we’re both outside France and need to connect up. The app costs 79 euro cents which is about one Aussie dollar I guess.

Now the next app that I also used for the first time yesterday is Mobiletag. This one’s free. You can use it to scan the QR codes at the bus stops in Paris (you know, those little black and white square things that are everywhere these days) to find out when the next bus is coming. There was someone else waiting for the bus as well so I proudly told her, “The bus is coming in 3 minutes”. “Oh, really, mine says 4 minutes. I hope it comes soon. I’m running late but I really hate the metro at peak hour”. I explained it was the first time I was using the app and she said she used it all the time. A real Parisian, obviously.

The third app is My Airport which, despite the name, is in French. It gives flight times and useful information about Charles de Gaulle airport to help you negotiate what a CNN survey said recently is the worst airport in the world. Although it’s in French, the vocab’s pretty basic : Horaires Vols Départ (departure times – vol means “flight”), Horaire Vols Arrivée (arrival times), Compagnies (airlines), Formalités (you can guess that one), Services pratiques (ditto), Services Affaires (business services), Accès (that’s a challenge) and Parking. Don’t forget to download a French/English dictionary before you go too.

But you have to be able to use all these apps, of course. Fortunately Paris has set up a free wifi system with about 400 hotspots: in town halls (one in each of the 20 arrondissements), public gardens, libraries and state-owned museums from 7 am to 11 pm. There’s an interactive map on http://plan.paris.fr/. Just click on the W icon up in the tool bar.  Don’t be phased by the fact that wifi access screen is entirely in French. Just follow the instructions at the end of this post.

There are also lots of cafes with free wifi access in Paris. You’ll find them on http://www.cafes-wifi.com/. Once again it’s in French, but you can use the  interactive map.

You can find other suggestions for iPhone aps for Paris on liligo.com

How to connect to Paris Wi-Fi

1. Municipal buildings and gardens with a wi-fi access have an easily identifiable sign that says “Zone Wifi”.

2. Turn on your laptop or smart phone and select Wi-Fi ORANGE.

3. Open your usual web browser and enter the address of any website. You’ll be automatically sent to the free wifi access page. You then select “SELECTIONNEZ VOTRE PASS” in the orange box on the right.

4. Fill in the form, accept the general conditions of use by ticking the box and click on [me connecter]. If you’ve already signed in before, use the box “Vous avez déjà vos codes d’accès” (you’ve already got and ID and password (mot de passe).

5. The Paris Wi-Fi home page will reload and you’ll get a message saying you are connected and how long your session will last.  Make sure you leave the window open because it indicates the remaining time. Each session lasts 2 hours. You can renew it simply by repeating the connection process.

Paris

Monkeys in the Louvre and Other Strange Things in Paris

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And there he was, just hanging out the window of the Louvre with absolutely no one taking any notice of him, up to some monkey business no doubt.

And today, I walked past Stella McCartney’s shop in the Palais Royal and the dummies had lost their heads (not to mention the reflection of the gallery gates on their torsos).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At Place de l’Etoile the other night, I came across a huge Christmas cracker!

At Halloween, Miss Bibi had the most intriguing little man sitting on a pumpkin.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And get this statue walking through a gallery on the Champs Elysees looking like the Invisible Man!

Where else but Paris?

Australian customs, French customs

Things that Disappear and Reappear

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Are you one of those people (like me) who has a problem with things that mysteriously “disappear”? I wouldn’t say I actually lose them. They just don’t seem to be where they should. The gold bracelet Relationnel gave me when we got married fell off a while ago. Fortunately, I felt it happening and saved it. I then carried it around in a zippered pouch in my bag for ages with the intention of getting it fixed. When I finally managed to get to the jeweller’s, it had disappeared. I was most upset of course and didn’t want to tell Relationnel about it but finally admitted it. Then recently, we were in Dieppe around my birthday and he bought me another one which is really lovely.

Today, I was looking for something else that had diappeared – my mp3 player – and, lo and behold, what should I find in the bottom of a bag I sometimes take away with me: a little jewellery box with my broken bracelet in it! I looked at my wrist and to my horror, the other bracelet was gone. However, it didn’t take long to retrieve it. I try to remember to take off my jewellery at home before I go to the swimming pool and sometimes I forget so put it in a zippered pouch in my swimming bag. Thank god it was still there.

And then the strangest thing. I looked in the drawer next to my desk where I usually keep the mp3 and it had turned up again. Now how do you explain that? It wasn’t there last time I looked I’m sure …

Recently, I did actually lose something. I had put two cheques in an envelope with a deposit slip – they’re pre-filled in here so your name and address is on the slip. When I got to the bank, the cheques had disappeared. I didn’t really pay much attention because I had actually taken them out of one envelope and put them in another before I left home so I just assumed I’d picked up the wrong envelope.  We hadn’t been home long when my work phone rang. Strange on a Sunday. A man introduced himself and said he’d found my cheques with the deposit slip on the pavement.  He said he’d send them to me by post. He’d tracked me down in the Yellow Pages.

I hesitated to tell Relationnel. He’s one of those people who always puts things immediately back in their place after he’s used them for instance. No way would he be walking around with an unsealed envelope containing two cheques.  He’s always annoyingly checking up on me about that sort of thing. I eventually told him though and he was surprisingly supportive saying I must be over-tired! Anyway, I followed the Australian tradition and bought a “lotto” ticket and sent it off, explaining what it was all about. In France, they don’t have any equivalent way of thanking someone for doing you a favour.

What’s the tradition in your country?

French customs

French Cling Film and Band-Aids

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I can remember translating a text about plastics with my students once. That year, they came from Canada, the US, the UK and Ireland. Cling film was mentioned and it sparked off a most vehement hate session about French products and film étirable in particular. First, instead of having a metal serrated edge to tear off the film, the box has inefficient tiny plastic teeth. No comment. Second, the film itself is sticky and flimsy and has to be handled with great care and two hands (once you’ve managed to unstick it after finally managing to tear it off and half break the box). I understood them totally. Relationnel and I went to London one year in the car and I bought back 10 boxes of real cling film from Marks & Sparks. I’ve only just run out of it and now I have to devise all sorts of ways of NOT using the stuff you get here.

I purposely didn’t bring my kids up on Vegemite because it seemed a bit pointless to have to keep relying on gifts from visiting Aussies who already found it difficult to limit their baggage to 20 kilos. You can of course get it at Fauchon’s – you can get anything at Fauchon’s on Place de la Madeleine – but I lived in the suburbs in those days and the sheer thought of trekking into Paris with two kids in tow was often too much for me. The first time Leonardo smelled Vegemite, he ran a mile anyway and I had to be very careful I didn’t eat it near him after that. He has a very keen sense of smell. I still get a kick out of the occasional little jar of Vegemite to put on butter and toast. Haven’t had one for a long time though.

Bacon is something you can’t get here. There’s a thing they call bacon but it’s roundish and thin and doesn’t have the tail bit that you need for a crisp piece of fried bacon to eat with your eggs. My mouth’s watering just thinking of it! They don’t have T-bone either. Well, most places don’t and when they do it’s not real T-bone. When I was a kid and we spent three or four days in a row travelling down the coast from Townsville to Brisbane on holidays (it was only years afterwards that I really understood why Mum and Dad weren’t talking to each other by Rockhampton – there were six of us in the car), we’d have lunch in roadside cafés and there’d be T-bone on the menu. Dad would never let me have it because he reckoned I’d never finish it. I finally persuaded him and ATE THE LOT. After that, he couldn’t say no. I’ve loved it ever since. They have côte de boeuf here instead which really isn’t bad. It’s just missing the smaller side of the T and is thicker. Also, it’s really for two people. Even I can’t eat a whole one.

The last time we were going back to Australia, I asked Townsvillean if he wanted anything from France. And do you know what he said? Pansements. Band-aids, you want band-aids? He particularly wanted URGO. Apparently Australian band-aids are inferior and don’t stick properly whereas the ones here do.  See, just like the cling film! I guess that’s a French quality. They know how to make things stick.

So, tell me, what are your bugbears and favourites from other places?

Paris

Boeuf à la Mode is Back in Paris

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I love the funny details on some of the façades in Paris. Above the door at 8 rue de Valois, there’s a cow dressed in a bonnet. It suddenly disappeared a few months ago when the little shop beneath was sold and the place next door turned into a function room. I was most upset but I saw a man one day looking as though he might know something and he told me the panel had been taken down to be restored. A couple of weeks ago, it reappeared, painted a dark maroon.

Now why would a cow be dressed in a bonnet? Ever heard of Boeuf à la mode? Well, it used to be the name of a restaurant, founded in 1792 by two brothers from Marseilles and taken over by Tissot, a leading Jacobin during the Directoire period, who turned it into a much classier place. Its new sign was a cow dressed as a « belle ». Under the Restauration (1814-1830), Tissot dressed it in the latest fashion, « à la mode », with a shawl and a stringed bonnet. There was also a statue inside the restaurant that was regularly brought up to date. The restaurant finally closed in 1936.

More information and pictures on http://parissecretetinsolite.unblog.fr/2011/01/25/lenseigne-du-boeuf-a-la-mode-n8-rue-de-valois-tout-le-monde-sen-fout/

 

French customs, Paris, Prague

Buskers in Paris and Prague

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When I came up out of an overcrowded metro the other day onto Place de Valois at 6.30 pm (now why didn’t I take the bus like a real Parisian? because there’s no direct bus to uni so I’d have to take two), there was this fellow playing the piano. Isn’t that amazing? A real piano! Not like Vienna, which I used to think was the music capital before I went there. Not a single busker the whole time we were there. Lots of expensive concerts, ALL playing medleys and there’s nothing I dislike more. I like to choose the music I’m going to listen to in a concert hall.

Prague on the other hand was full of musicians. Everywhere you turned there was a band or singers. It was wonderful! Prague remains one of my favourite destinations, despite the food, but the Italian restaurants saved the day. What I particularly like is being able to go right down to the river banks to have a drink or a meal. You can’t do that in Paris though they’re in the process of doing something about it. All sorts of things are in the making for the banks of the Seine.

Paris has a good share of buskers. You often find them in the metro, though the quality of their performance varies. Around our area there are a few regular musicians. Often on a Saturday afternoon around 3, a full orchestra comes to the Place Colette in front of the Comédie Française. They appear to be eastern European and probably students as they change from one year to the next. If you get there at the right time, you can sit and have a drink on the terrace of the Le Nemours. They have their favourites of course (medleys are fine outdoors) and cater to the tourists but they usually play pretty well. On Sunday there was a very enthusiastic brass band on Place du Palais Royal which made a change.

We used to have a very mournful saxophonist over the other side of the Palais Royal gardens. He always played the same thing and it used to drive me spare. So one day I went to see him to ask if he could play something else. He turned out to be a Pom and told me regretfully that he only knew one tune. Fortunately the weather improved and he took his saxophone somewhere else. Another regular on a Sunday afternoon is an opera singer down near the music box shop. She draws a huge crowd.

A long long time ago, when we lived in the suburbs (almost seems another lifetime now), Black Cat and I used to play the piano and Leonardo played the clarinette. I used to hold musical afternoons with the neighbours. We had a cello, a violin, another clarinette, some other pianists and a singer, plus a few triangles and other things of that ilk. But any ability to play has long since left me I’m afraid. I couldn’t even remember where middle C was recently when I had the piano tuned. But now that we have our Aussie exchange student, Brainy Pianist, we have our own private concert before dinner on a Thursday. I love it!

Paris, Restaurants

Game season at Le Mesturet Restaurant in Paris

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We first got to know Le Mesturet during a food and wine-tasting with our wine-tasting circle and have been back many times since particularly in winter. Since it’s very close to the stockmarket (Bourse), it’s a popular lunchtime venue.

The menu changes with the season so at the moment, it includes hare pâté with pear chutney, velouté of pumpkin with grilled black pig pieces, venison shepherd’s pie with wood hedgehog mushrooms and sweet potatoes, deer civet with celeriac purée and chestnuts and wild boar cutlets with Grand Veneur sauce, red cabbage with smoked bacon pieces and spiced apple sauce. All delicious!

Wild boar cutlet with Grand Veneur sauce

 

Average entrée price 8 euro, main course, 15.
Entrée + main course or main course + dessert : 22 euros
Entrée + main course + dessert = 28 euros.
Excellent selection of wine by the glass, carafe or bottle

 

Le Mestruet, 77 rue de Richelieu, 75002, Paris, Tel: 01 42 97 40 68
Restaurant open every day from 12 noon to 3 pm and 7 to 11 pm (last order).
Bar open Monday to Friday from 7.30 am to 4 pm and 6.30 pm to 11 pm
Saturday and Sunday all day from 9 am to 11 pm
Book on-line by clicking on “Réservez en un click” on www.lemesturet.com

Wine

Beaujolais Nouveau

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There are a lot of detractors of beaujolais nouveau, mainly because it’s not particularly good wine. After all, it is the first wine of the new harvest. They use this special process called carbonic maceration or whole berry fermentation so they can keep the fruity quality of the wine without extracting the bitter tanins from the grape skins. That means maximum colour and aroma without the usual atringency of red wine. You serve it slightly chilled, around 13°C (55° F).

It was the victim of its success for a long time and the wine growers started adding all sorts of chemicals to achieve the characteristic “banana” flavour. In the last few years however, there has been a distinct move to produce a better wine so it’s gradually gaining a better reputation. “Beaujolais nouveau” is celebrated on third Thursday in November. At lunchtime and after work, people go swarming into the local bars and brasseries to compare the different producers and decide whether or not it really does taste of banana! They often have a special “Beaujolais nouveau” menu on the blackboard outside as well, mainly cold cuts and traditional dishes such as boeuf bourguignon and pot au feu.

Some people even start at midnight Wednesday when it can be legally sold. When we lived near the Marne we used to go to the “Le Bel Air” in Le Perreux, which has a wooden terrace jutting out over the river (they heat it in winter!) but once we moved to Paris, we looked for something local. We discovered the area around the Saint Honoré Market, literally black with people, mostly with their own bottles of beaujolais and saucisson sandwiches. Then they brought in a law to say you couldn’t drink alcohol in the street and the beaujolais tradition took a steep plunge.

Biggest bottle of beaujolais in 2011!

Last year, Townsvillean and Annabelle Rouge were in Paris so we wanted to take them to one of our favourites on Rue des Petits Champs where they also had a brass band with a huge tuba. But it turned out there was nothing on so we went to a local brasserie instead – Le Musset – where they were serving platters of cold cuts and tried a couple of different types of beaujolais nouveau. We stayed on for dinner and Townsvillean had pot au feu which he is still reminiscing over.

I can remember being in Normandy once on 17th November and the local cheese cum wine shop offered us a tasting of beaujolais nouveau. We were delighted and tried out three different ones. When the shop keeper asked a regular if he wanted to taste as well, he turned up his nose and said, “I only drink bordeaux” (like a lot of people who know nothing about wine). I answered, “Ah but you have to drink beaujolais for the fun of it!” To my astonishment, he then picked up a bottle of Georges Le Boeuf, the most well-known and certainly not the best beaujolais nouveau, and added it to his bill. I guess he wanted some fun!!!

And there’s even an app for my iPhone this year to tell me where all the excitement’s happening!

Le Musset, 5 rue de l’Echelle, 75001 Paris
Paris, Restaurants

Five Places to Lunch near the Louvre in Paris

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Visiting the Louvre can be tiring particularly when you try and take in too much at a time. When your feet are aching and you’re hungry, you want to find a place to relax that’s hassle-free and has friendly service. As a rule, it’s always best to have your main meal in France at midday because many of the restaurants offer excellent specials that are no longer on the menu in the evening as they cater to local businesses.

Café Diane in the Tuileries Gardens

My all-time favourite in good weather is in the Tuileries Gardens. I used to imagine it would be expensive and full of tourists. Not so. There are tourists, of course, but a lot of business people and office workers as well. I prefer Café Diane, the first outdoor restaurant you come to on the right when you walk from the Louvre towards Concorde because the waiters are very friendly. On a hot day it’s wonderful to sit under the trees and take in the splendid and unrestricted view of the Louvre and gardens. There’s quite a big turnover so you never have a problem getting a table but you can still stay as long you want. There’s  a choice of salads, quiches and a hot dish of the day all for around 11 to 13  euros. The food is cooked on-site and even when it’s very busy, the service is fast. Great too if you have a baby in a stroller or someone in a wheelchair. There are some sparkling clean public  toilets (50 euro cents) over towards Rue de Rivoli. Open every day, same openings hours as the gardens.

Café Louise on Rue Croix de Petits Champs

However, if the weather isn’t too  wonderful, you might prefer to be indoors or on a covered terrace. Put your back to the river and go towards the Palais Royal. Turn right into rue Saint Honoré and walk past the strange building on your left covered with a silver metal net (Minister of Culture) and then left into rue Croix des Petits Champs (not to be confused with rue des Petits Champs). On the next corner on your right, you’ll find Café Louise. This is a little restaurant mainly used by people working at the Ministry but Louise, her daughter Lilie and the Indian waiter all speak English and the service is warm and friendly. A bit more expensive than the Tuileries Gardens but good value for money and the food is always very fresh. We prefer the lobster salad and souris d’agneau (lamb shank). Excellent desserts made by Lilie. This is our local restaurant. Open from 12 to 10 pm weekdays. Closed in August. NOT TO BE CONFUSED WITH LOUISE JUST OPPOSITE THE LOUVRE.

Véro Dodat in the Galérie Véro Dodat

A little further down on your right is the Galerie Véro Dodat, one of the first galleries in Paris to have gas lighting. There is a little restaurant called the Véro Dodat about halfway down (not to be confused with the Belle Epoque at the entrance). It’s an excellent compromise if it’s raining or cold but you don’t want to eat indoors. They have a set menu at € 16.50 or € 13 for a main course. French cooking, fresh produce and good value for money. It’s worth going to the Ladies or Gents upstairs to have a closer look at the top of the arcade and the frescoes. Friendly service once again. Midday weekdays only. Closed in August.

Royal Valois in Rue de Valois

Another possibility is the Royal Valois, which also caters to people working at the Ministry. With your back to the Louvre and the Conseil Constitutionnel in front of you, you take the street on your right, Rue de Valois. The Royal Valois is on the next corner. It has a heated terrace and two rooms inside. Very fresh products and friendly service. Excellent value for money with the day’s special at 14 to 16 euros, salads at 14 to 15 euros and hot dishes at 15 and 16. Open from 7 am to midnight weekdays. They speak English. Closed in August.

Café de L’imprimerie, just off Rue du Louvre

If it’s the weekend, however, Louise, the Véro Dodat and the Royal Valois will be closed so you can try Café de l’Imprimerie. From the Véro Dodat gallery, you continue walking down Rue du Bouloi, then cross Colonel Driant ; Café de l’Imprimerie is on the left on the next corner. It has a heated partly-closed-in terrace on one side and an open terrace on the other. They have an interesting range of salads including a good stir-fry vegetable dish (wok de légumes)  and vegetarian lasagna, both for about 13 euros. The food is good and the service is friendly and helpful.  Very popular with the locals. Open from 12 to midnight on weekdays and weekends with brunch on weekends.

Café Diane, Jardins des Tuileries, 75001 Paris – every day, same opening hours as garden
Café Louise, 8 rue Croix des Petits Champs, 75001 Paris – weekdays, 12 noon to 10 pm
Royal Valois, 1 Place Valois, 75001 Paris – weekdays, 7 am to midnight
Véro Dodat, 19 galérie Véro Dodat, 75001 Paris – weekdays at lunchtime
Café de l’imprimerie, 29 Rue Coquillière, 75001 Paris – every day, midday to midnight
 
 
French customs, Paris

Buses in Paris

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Real Parisians don’t take the metro. They take the bus. Also, they don’t go out of their arrondissement unless they’re just going to the next one over. And they think the suburbs are the end of the earth. I have a friend who was born in the 17th, went to school in the 17th, went to uni in the 16th (there isn’t one in the 17th), bought a flat in the 17th and set up her business in the 17th. She moved recently – to another street in the 17th. One day, I talked her into coming to the 1st for lunch and she was surprised she survived the journey!  Now she comes more often …

Ile-de-la-Cité with Notre Dame: am I looking upstream or downstream?

You are only Parisian, of course, if you live inside the ring road that contains all the arrondissements, which, as you may have noticed, are arranged in a clockwise spiral, starting with 1 at Palais Royal and ending with 20 over near Père Lachaise cemetery. What you may not know is that the street numbers always start at the Seine. Take rue du Louvre, for instance, which runs perpendicular to the Seine. N° 1 is next to the river and the numbers climb as you move north. Now what happens, you may ask, if the street is parallel to the Seine? Ah, ha! It’s in the direction of the current no less.  If I stand on the Pont des Arts, Notre Dame is upstream and the Eiffel Tower is downstream. On Quai de la Mégisserie (you know, the street on the Right Bank where all the pet shops and plant shops are), the higher numbers are at Pont Neuf and the lower numbers at Châtelet. I won’t even pretend that I remember that. I have to get Relationnel to explain it to me all over again each time.

There’s a logic behind the bus numbers too would you believe. In most cases, if they start with 2, they go to Gare Saint Lazare, if they start with 3, they go to Gare de l’Est and if they start with 4 they go to Gare du Nord. Most of the 6’s go to Gare de Lyon, the 7’s go to Hôtel de Ville and the 9’s go to Gare Montparnasse. Guess why I prefer to use my RATP iPhone app? Now that I have it, I can be a real Parisian too. In the metro, everyone ignores everyone else, whereas in the bus, you’re allowed to make comments to your neighbours, particularly when it’s not rush hour, without being considered a freak. It’s even encouraged.

The 27 bus outside the Louvre

The articulated buses are fun and can obviously contain more people. We take one from Palais Royal (27) that goes past the Glass Pyramid at the Louvre (great view with the Louvre on one side and the Tuileries Gardens and Arc of Triumph on the other) and across Pont Neuf into the Latin Quarter. I can take the 72 in front of the Louvre and go down to Place de la Concorde, then right along the river to the Eiffel Tower, for example. Sometimes, though, when there’s not much traffic, the drivers go tearing along at the most incredible pace and everyone holds on for dear life. It’s a wonder they don’t hit someone.

Leonardo, who’s now been in Sydney for 3 weeks, is NOT impressed with the public transport there. Apart from its chronic unreliability, he says that the bus seats are too close together and that he can’t actually fit his legs in front of him. He’s fairly tall – 1 m 86 – but so are a lot of other Australians! I asked our Aussie exchange student about it (he’s tall too) and he said it’s because there is a lot more standing room in Parisian buses and not so many seats so they can give you more room for your legs!

The biggest advantage of buses compared with the metro of course is that you get to see where you’re going and I think I could safely say that Paris has one of the highest numbers of monuments per square kilometers in the world. The downside is that despite the many bus lanes you’re never sure you’ll be on time because of the traffic, not to mention an (occasional) demonstration that sends the bus on an unexpected route!

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