Snippets from other blogs that I’ve enjoyed recently. Thank you to all those who wrote the posts.
Summer in Paris by Petite Paris, an Australian based service for Australian travellers and fellow francophiles on www.petiteparis.com.au
Summer transforms Paris!! To all our guests who have booked their summer in Paris…enjoy Paris Plages as the banks of the seine will be yet again be transformed into temporary sandy beaches with Palm trees brought in, deckchairs, ubiquitous ice cream sellers, and concerts for French and foreign guests! :). Read more
Obligatory Breathalyser by Kaz Reilly, Get Real France, an Irish Biddy living near Perpignan for the past 10 years.
If you’re travelling by car to France this year, don’t forget to furnish yourself with a breathalyser which you must by law have in your car from July 1st, 2012. If you are found without an “alcootest” or an ” éthylotest ” , you will face an on the spot fine of 23 euros… Read more
Let’s make duck! My lesson at La Cuisine Paris by Un Homme et une femme, Tales of Paris with Sir and Lady Lancelot
My second date with Sir Lancelot was planned for an early September night that turned out to be a horrible rainy day. Knowing that any plans to be outside were foiled, I received a text message from him that morning inviting me over for a “euro-trash” dinner cooked by Sir Lancelot himself. “Oh, a man who cooks!” I thought. Read more
There is a first for everything. A laptop in a plane. Probably nothing new for most of you(I can hear my drummer brother saying “2time for a Mac, sister”) but until I bought my Dell about a month ago, I had never found a laptop I was comfortable with. The seats in these planes are getting smaller and smalller. Before you used to have a place to put your book or bag. Well Iberia doesn’t have anything. Also you pay for your drinks these days. I’m using my Asia Miles. The flight turned out to be more expensive than if I’d booked directly! Do not use your miles on short flights!
So we ordered our Cavo del Penedés (a natural sparkling wine it says in English) , fuet tradicional (long thin dried sausage affairs with miniature bread sticks) and pringles in lieu of the gin tonic and peanuts we usually have in planes. So I’m feeling very Spanish. Our home exchangers arrived this afternoon in Paris and we exchanged keys and they told us all the great places to eat in Madrid. We babbled away in English and Spanish (not Relationnel who just stuck to French) and we think we know how to get into their apartment in Madrid.
We nearly didn’t make the plane. Well, with luggage anyway. The day Relationnel told me he was “give or take an hour” I changed my whole attitude to life. I used to be give or take 5 minutes. I still am with planes. Our flight was leaving at 6.25 pm. Relationnel initially said that since we were taking a taxi we could leave at 5. I insisted on 4.30. Still no news at 4.12 so I sent an SMS. No answer. I waited another 5 minutes and phoned. “Just closing up the office”. He arrived at 4.26 telliing me the taxi was on its way.
We live in the middle of Paris and were going to Orly. The traffic was unbelievable. They have these special bus and taxi traffic lanes but they were full of buses and taxis … I remained very calm but I was sure we weren’t going to make it. We had this young driver that managed to weave in and out of the traffic with frightening determination. We arrived at the desk after they had closed the baggage check-in. Fortunately we had reserved our seats and boarding passes on-line last night.
We were sent to another desk. Our flight hadn’t boarded but it was too late to check in our baggage. “Just one”, I said in French and she checked her computer again and said “OK”. This other guy, a Spaniard, was trying to get her attention, but it was too late. His flight was closed. She asked me how come we were late and I explained the awful traffic and she commisserated. Thank goodness. Of course, when we finally got to the waiting lounge, it wasn’t even boarding. I even had time to buy a book.
The moral of this is that you should leave plenty of time to get to the airport. Traffic in Paris is entirely unpredictable. Next, it’s better to take public transport! Madrid, here we come!
I keep reading all these interesting posts on other people’s blogs so I’ve decided that on Wednesdays, I’ll bring you some snippets so that you can enjoy them too and perhaps discover some blogs you didn’t know. Thank you to everyone I’ve quoted!
Fairfax media’s Ben Groundwater has published his Ten unwritten rules of travel. My personal favourite on his list is about not reclining your seat on planes during meals. His article started me thinking as to what are my rules for travel. In no particular order here is my list. Read more
A Just France apartment rental in the 7th Arrondissement.
Renting an apartment in Paris, particularly if you are going for a week or more, is always a good choice. You’ll enjoy more space than a hotel room, and you’ll save money. A lot of the apartments for rent are truly gorgeous, but there are always some things to watch out for, and it pays to ask a lot of questions and do your research. Read more
Want to know the places to get baguettes in Paris? Our hosts will guide you through the city in search of the best bread. Read more and see the wonderful video in English on how baguettes are made!
Have you ever wondered what lies under the beautiful streets of Paris? Leonardo tells all in my latest contribution toMy French Life, the online magazine & global community of French & francophiles.
“Most people have heard of the catacombs, which are actually an ossuary. But few have heard about the other underground activities that have been taking place beneath the city of Paris for centuries. My son, Leonardo, knows all about them, so I decided to interview him. I haven’t given specific details because the regulars don’t want what they call ‘tourists’ down there as they are not always respectful of the unwritten rules of the underground subculture.”Read more
Last time, in Part 2, I told you about Saint Germain l’Auxerrois but the time before, in Part 1, I explained about Pont Neuf actually being the oldest bridge in Paris. After leaving Saint Germain, you turn left along the Seine to the bridge. Halfway across, there is an equestrian statue in honour of Henry IV and wonderful views on either side. Turn right after the bridge and you’ll go past the bouquinistes selling their second-hand books and anything else they think tourists might be interested in.
A little further on, you’ll see what is probably the most unusual fire station in Paris – it’s a river boat! Paris actually has a surprising number of fire stations. There are two in our neighbourhood alone. As soon as the weather permits, they take their fire trucks out in the street to clean them. I personally think they want to show off their uniforms as well! Last Sunday, when we were going to the market, there was a fireman standing by watching a firewoman (?) hosing down a truck – and giving instructions on how to do it, of course!
And now I have a bit of etymology for you. You might notice that the boat says “sapeurs“. Firemen in French are called “sapeurs-pompiers“. This is because in the Middle Ages, the first firemen often had to knock down (saper) the houses around the one that was burning to stop the fire from going any further. The “pompier” bit comes from pumping water.
If you keep going, you’ll arrive at the Passerelle des Arts and can admire all the padlocks as you go past. Cross rue de Rivoli and walk through to the Place Carrée du Louvre, then left to the pyramids and right through the arcade with its wonderful plate glass windows and view of some of the museum’s antique sculptures.
Just in front of the Conseil Constitutionnel, you’ll see a rather nondescript column with a plaque on top saying “an 2000 la méridienne verte“. This was a project promoted by Paul Chemetov to celebrate the year 2000. Trees were planted along the Paris meridian which crosses France from North to South (from Dunkirk to Prats-de-Mollo-la-Preste). A big picnic was held that year on Bastille Day right along the meridian. Wish I’d known about it!
Turn right onto Place Colette, home of the Comedie Française theatre where Molière died, with its scaffolding, then through the arcade to the Buren columns. In front you’ll see a wooden building which is temporarily housing the theatre. Walk around it to the right and take a look at the exhibitions after the portico. They do have the weirdest things! But they’re often very clever, like the ones in the Pompidou Centre. A little look to see what Miss Bibi‘s up to and then I’m ready to climb the stairs to the 4th floor!
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Now if you happen to walk down Rue du Louvre, with your back to the Seine, you should stay on the left side until you come to the remains of a stone wall that is actually part of the fortress built by Philippe Auguste at the end of the 12th century to protect Paris while he was off at the Crusades. It was later to become the Louvre.
Cross over to the other side and you’ll come to a large round building. Few people realise that it’s open to the public and that you can just wander in. It used to be the Bourse du Commerce which, despite its name, isn’t the stockmarket which is about ten minutes away, but the commodities market. It was originally built by Louis-Philippe in 1763 to store and sell wheat. Its location was chosen due to the proximity of the Seine and it was financed by constructing rental buildings around it.
Today it’s the Chamber of Commerce and Industry. It’s built on a circular plan, 122 metres in circumference. There were two concentric galleries above 25 covered arcades. The galleries housed the police, the weights and measures office and the statistics bureau. Enormous wheat lofts on the first floor were accessed via two beautiful spiral staircases, one of which had a double revolution so that the administrative staff and merchants didn’t have to rub shoulders with the porters! The courtyard was orginally open but later covered with a wooden dome to protect the wheat.
After a second fire in 1854, the building was closed for 30 years before being renovated and converted into a commodities market in 1885. Wheat, rye, oats, flour, oil, sugar, spirits, rubber, cocoa, coffee, potatoes, and rape were sold by auction until 1998 when it was disbanded due to computerisation of the futures market. If you stand right in the middle and speak, your voice will be amplified. The inside is decorated with murals depicting the four cardinal points. You’re not supposed to take photos, I discovered after I got to the third cardinal point, so you’ll just have to go and see for yourself !
Just next to the Bourse du Commerce, you’ll see a tall column which has an interesting history. It’s the last vestige of a private hôtel built by Catherine de Médicis in 1572. The queen had the 31-metre high tower built for her astrologist, Cosimo Ruggieri. They often used to go up to the top of the tower together, where he whispered, not sweet nothings, but magic spells.
The top part of the column used to be glassed in but all that’s left today is a metal frame. After Ruggieri died in 1615, it fell into disuse and the building was demolished in 1748 to pay the debts of the last owner, Amédée de Savoie. Only the tower was saved and bought by the City of Paris in 1750. A fountain was added, which has now run dry, and a sundial. Legend has it that on stormy nights, a long black silhouette appears in the iron cage every time there’s a flash of lightening! I’ll let you go and check that out as well too.
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As my 9-year-old nephew in Sydney pointed out to me yesterday when I mentioned Saint Valentine’s Day to him, the “Saint” has disappeared from Valentine’s Day in English. Francophiles may wonder why it’s “la” Saint-Valentin and not “le”. Well, like all feast days, it’s short for “la fête du Saint-Valentin”. Hence the feminine for what looks like a masculine.
Back to the day itself. Relationnel, who is a real romantic, arrived with a bunch of roses at lunchtime. He had taken the afternoon off so we decided to go to a couple of depôt-vente and find some things to furnish and decorate Closerie Falaiseau, our new house in Blois. The temperatures have risen since our previous excursion last Saturday so my hands and feet weren’t completely frozen this time. There is a website called www.troc.com that now has 190 second-hand shops in France so we chose one about three-quarters of an hour from the centre of Paris in the western suburb of Orgeval.
We found quite a few goodies, including a coffee grinder, a long-handled bed-warming pan, a set of pewter jugs, a coffee pot, some scales and a Moustier fruit bowl in troc.com and a new expresso/cappuccino machine and a steam iron in another place called Cash Converter, also a chain, which has a lot of musical instruments, hi-fi equipment, small appliances and other household goods. We learnt that you can see the items for sale at troc.com on-line and even reserve them. We’re going to see if we can get some dining-room chairs that way.
We got back to Paris just in time for dinner at La Bastide Odéon, which specialises in cuisine from the south of France. As we were walking along towards our destination, I suddenly saw a restaurant which looked as if it had towels rolled up on the tables outside. How very odd! I was trying to imagine what sort of Valentine’s celebration was in the offing there when Relationnel said they were blankets for people to sit outside. The blankets even have the name of the restaurant on them – Le Comptoir!
Our restaurant didn’t have a terrace with rolled-up blankets so we sat upstairs. Relationnel thought he had discovered a new venue but in fact we had eaten there once before with friends from Canberra and enjoyed it. The tables are fairly spread out but there was a lot of noise in the room next door which we weren’t too thrilled with. At one stage, two of the people came out and Relationnel immediately recognised Robert Badinter, famous in French history for having successfully abolished the death penalty on 9th October 1981. After that, we didn’t mind the noise!
They had an excellent set menu for Valentine’s Day at 49 euros per person, starting with champagne and a little sweet pepper (piquillo) stuffed with goat’s milk cheese (very tasty). It was followed by a choice of two entrées – creamy scrambled eggs with black truffle or carpaccio of sea scallops with spicy avocado, sauce vierge (which just means olive oil) and horns of plenty (excellent) – and a choice of two main courses – grilled fillet of bass with candied lemon, creamy risotto and sea shell bouillon (which we didn’t take) or roast rack of lamb (extraordinarily tender), mutton stew gravy (sounds better in French – jus de navarin), eggplant caviar and candied tomatoes (they didn’t look very candied to me).
For dessert, you could have a soft-centred chocolate cake (moelleux au chocolat) with chestnuts and condensed milk ice-cream (all very tasty) or candied pineapple with lavendar honey, fiadone (a Corsican soft cheese dessert) and brown sugar biscuit ice-cream (speculoos) (Relationnel’s choice).
A bottle of wine per couple was also included in the menu. We could choose from two wines – a pouilly fumé sauvignon from the Loire Valley or a côtes du Rhône. We took the red, which we regretted afterwards – not because we didn’t like it, but because it was 15° !!!
As we walked past Le Comptoir on the way back to the car, we noticed that all the outside tables were taken and everyone had their blankets around their knees.
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Well, it’s not really called The Dry Tree but L’Arbre sec. You’d think that a translator could come up with something better, wouldn’t you? But in fact, it has an historical reference that the more learned amongst us will no doubt know. It’s also called the Solitary Tree and was first recorded by Marco Polo somewhere in the wastelands of northern Persia. So, since my culture does not quite extend that far (unfortunately), I think I can be forgiven for the poor translation.
It’s actually one of our neighbourhood restaurants, called La Taverne de l’Arbre Sec, on rue Saint Honoré, better known (at the other end) for it’s exclusive shops. We mainly go there to have côte de boeuf, but it has other things such as rumpsteack and sea scallops Provençale, with prices ranging from 14 to 25 euros. They have a good choice of vegetables which is great for those of us who are not natural skinnies – gratin dauphinois, home-made ratatouille and home-made chips. I chose the ratatouille of course, even though my côte de boeuf probably took up half the plate, so I was not exactly obeying the 1/4 protein, 1/4 carbs and 1/2 vegetables rule.
The service is unfailingly friendly and the clientèle is French and local, usually in the 20 to 30 year age group, but we don’t let that bother us, obviously. You can get wine by the glass, pichet or bottle. They have a covered terrace in the winter, one side for the smokers and the other side for the non-smokers, which is unusual. It’s very old and dark and atmospheric with lots of rough timber beams. The room downstairs has a vaulted ceiling.
When we were leaving, I asked the owner, Sylvain Lemarchand, if I could take a photo for my blog. He told us that he was very admirative of people who wrote blogs that other people could benefit from, and gave us his cheesiest grin!
La Taverne de l’Arbre Sec, 109 rue Saint Honoré, 75001 Paris 01 40 41 10 36
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Town hall, Romanesque tower, Saint Germain l'Auxerrois
It’s not that I’m doing any powerwalking at the moment. It’s too cold. Today, the temperature got up to 1.5°C and there’s sun, but it’s still a little chilly in the Tuileries Gardens and along the Seine with that Siberian wind blowing through. But I got a little side-tracked last time before I got to Saint Germain l’Auxerrois which is connected by a very tall belfry to the 1st arrondissement Town Hall that Black Cat thinks is a good wedding venue.
17th century vestry pew
It was built in the 7th century in what was to be the centre of Paris up until 12th century and was the first Christian basilica. I’m sure you know what the difference between a basilica and a cathedral is. It took me ages to understand. A basilica is simply an important church building designated by the pope as having some special spiritual, historical or architectural significance. As far as hierarchy goes, the basilica is higher up on the scale than a cathedral.
Ex-voto pillar
So the oldest surviving part of the church today is the beautiful 12th century Romanesque tower. Most of it was rebuilt in the 15th century. Because of its location, it became a favourite with the royal family after the House of Valois returned to the Louvre Palace in the 14th century. You can still hear one of the bells, called Marie, struck in 1527. I think it’s great that bells have names. We visited a very interesting bell foundry on Lake Annecy one rainy day last summer.
Moorish-style poor box
Anyway, Saint Germain l’Auxerrois has had a somewhat checkered existence. When they renovated it in the 18th century, they took out the jubé (you have to go to Saint Etienne-du-Mont in the 5th to see one now) and some of the original stained glass windows. During the Reign of Terror (7th June 1793 to 27 July 1794 when Marie Antoinette was beheaded), it was converted into a place to store fodder, a printing works, a police station and even a saltpeter works to make gunpowder. Despite several other attempts at demolition, it was eventually restored by Viollet-le-Duc, who was also responsible for renovating Notre Dame, and returned to the Catholic church in 1840.
Poor box for the curé's charities
Then about twenty years later, they started tearing down the delapidated buildings around it and threatened to demolish it again. Fortunately it was defended by Baron Haussmann who suggested drawing inspiration from the church to build a Town Hall. So they designed an identical façade with an adjoining flamboyant gothic style campanile.
One of the finest pieces inside is a monumental 16th century Flemish altarpiece in one of the northern chapels showing the passion of Christ, a gift to Louis-Philippe in the early nineteenth century. There’s another altarpiece from the north of France made of sculpted wood with painted doors in the southern ambulatory, depicting scenes from the life of Mary.
There is also a pulpit built in 1635, an organ from Sainte-Chapelle, a beautifully carved vestry pew made for Louis XIV and his family in 1684 and a wrought iron gate built in 1767. You’ll find a 13th century statue of Saint Germain d’Auxerre in the Virgin chapel and a 16th century statue of Mary the Egyptian.
Holy water font
But what I like are the ex-voto pillar with all the thank-you plaques to Marie, Notre Dame de Bonne Garde (Our Lady of Safe Custody), the Moorish-style poor box with its mosaics, the cherub holy water fonts, the curé’s poor box and the beautiful flamboyant gothic door near the sacristy.
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I think our cold snap this year has even reached the news in Australia. February is always the coldest month in Paris and we usually have a couple of snow falls during the winter but the temperatures rarely go below freezing. But we’ve just had two weeks in Paris with minus 2 or 3 degrees throughout the day and much colder temperatures at night. We’d actually been having a very mild winter so the cold snap took everyone by surprise.
Brainy Pianist alias Michelin Man
Brainy Pianist, who desperately wanted to see some snow, was searching for somewhere to go and I suggested Strasbourg so he and Thoughtful went there last weekend by train. It didn’t snow in Strasbourg – at minus 12°, it was too cold – but they saw a lot of snow on the way. Brainy Pianist, looking very much like the Michelin man, was dressed in long johns, two pairs of jeans, 2 T-shirts, 2 jumpers, 2 pairs of socks, a neck warmer and a scarf, two beanies, one with ear flaps, and rabbit-fur lined gloves he’d had the good sense to pick up in Rome after he read my post! He hadn’t thought to take a second pair of gloves, but Thoughtful did! Plus they were both wearing anoraks of course.
Thoughtful alias The Terrorist
It’s snowed in Paris since, to Brainy Pianist’s delight because he missed the first snow fall when he was in Strasbourg, but there wasn’t a lot so it didn’t stay on the ground for long. The Palais Royal Gardens looked very pretty though and the water in the fountains next to the Glass Pyramids at the Louvre was all frozen over. But the cold has persisted.
In winter, I usually just wear wool mix trousers, socks, long-sleeved shirt and wool mix jacket when I go out, with ankle boots, parka with a hood, long scarf to keep the hood in place and rabbit-fur lined gloves. When it’s minus something, I add a pair of tights. My hands get very cold though. I have a pair of thin silk gloves somewhere that have obviously disappeared at the moment, just when I need them!
Me, not Black Cat
Black Cat turned up for afternoon tea yesterday in a summer dress with a cardigan over it, thick tights, long boots, coat, hat, scarf and gloves. Looking very chic as usual. She’s even got special iPhone gloves so you don’t have to get freezing hands when you answer your phone. I need some too. She immediately took off the cardigan because our apartment is overheated, usually 23°C with the radiators off because of the hot water pipes from the central heating. The water has to be hot so that the apartments on the lower floors are sufficiently heated (we’re on the fourth floor). At her place, though, they have electric heaters, which are expensive to run, so she always has to keep a jumper on. Plus her Australian flat mate is always opening the windows and turning off the radiators and forgetting to turn them back on, particularly in the morning.
Directoire chest of drawers
Yesterday was the coldest I’ve been in a long time. We went off to a dépôt-vente in Nogent sur Marne looking for more furniture for the house in Blois. It was minus 2° both inside and out! I don’t know how the people can work there. We bought a directoire chest of drawers with a marble top. Despite the gloves, my hands were completely frozen by the time we got back into the car which, being a Volvo, doesn’t heat up very quickly. You’d think the Swedish could do better than that! Our Renault Scenic is almost immediately warm.
I went to the market this morning to buy fish and eggs. We bought everything else from the supermarket yesterday because last week’s fruit and vegetables were damaged because of the freezing temperatures and the ground’s so hard now you can’t dig anything up. The fish don’t seem to mind the cold. I felt sorry for the fish mongers though. They have to clean and gut the fish. No oyster man. Last week we ate inferior “fines de claires” instead of “spéciales” so this time, we decided not to have oysters on Sunday. Sigh.
If you enjoyed this post, don’t forget to subscribe to new posts – that way you’ll get them directly on your smart phone or in your mail box! And I love to hear your comments!
Summer transforms Paris!! To all our guests who have booked their summer in Paris…enjoy Paris Plages as the banks of the seine will be yet again be transformed into temporary sandy beaches with Palm trees brought in, deckchairs, ubiquitous ice cream sellers, and concerts for French and foreign guests! :). Read more
If you’re travelling by car to France this year, don’t forget to furnish yourself with a breathalyser which you must by law have in your car from July 1st, 2012. If you are found without an “alcootest” or an ” éthylotest ” , you will face an on the spot fine of 23 euros… Read more
My second date with Sir Lancelot was planned for an early September night that turned out to be a horrible rainy day. Knowing that any plans to be outside were foiled, I received a text message from him that morning inviting me over for a “euro-trash” dinner cooked by Sir Lancelot himself. “Oh, a man who cooks!” I thought. Read more
