Tag Archives: pont des arts

The August Exodus

August 18, 2014 Rosemary Kneipp 16 Comments

We’re back in Paris. I feel like a côte de boeuf so I go to the butcher’s on rue Montorgueil. Usually there are three open, today there is only one. In fact, only about one shop in five in Paris is open. There are even restaurants that are closed.

Now it’s Sunday and we’re at the market near Sainte Eustache. There are only about one-third of the usual stalls and even those have limited produce.

Most of my clients have shut up shop as well which means I have some free time to see the odd friend who is still in Paris in August!

Free parking space in front of our apartment building

There are spare parking spaces in our street, which is most unusual. Usually, they are bumper-to-bumper. No wonder parking is free.

So where is everybody?

With everything else close, I notice this old butcher's stall. It seems to be empty now. You can see the meat safe at the back. — With everything else close, I notice this old butcher’s stall. It seems to be empty now. You can see the meat safe at the back.

The families with beach or country houses are on the coast or in the countryside. If the mother doesn’t work, the father often commutes at weekends. It’s peak time for French holiday makers on the Atlantic and Mediterranean and the airports are over-stretched. Some companies close for the whole of August while others shut down for the week surrounding the 15^th August which is a public holiday in France.

Tour Saint Jacques seen from Ile de la Cité

There is a saying that the weather deteriorates after the 15^th August weekend, but this year, it got in early! Looks like the end of August might be finer and warmer.

It’s Sunday afternoon and Jean Michel suggests we go to Paris Plage because we’ve left our bikes in Blois. It’s about 20°C and overcast. We hope it won’t rain.

The panels and broken fence on Pont des Arts

I want to see the love lock situation on Pont des Arts. Currently, nearly 10,000 people have signed the No Love Locks lobby’s petition to have them banned but I can’t see the solution, much as I hate them now, though I initially thought they were fun.

Bouqinistes on Quai de la Mégisserie just before Pont des Arts

It’s easy to find the footbridge – just follow the crowd! The bridge, which used to be one of my favourite places in Paris, is looking sad and ugly, with graffiti-covered panels to replace the sections that have broken off completely and other sections which are moving in that direction.

We go down onto the Voies sur Berge below and see a new initiative – the Louvre at the Beach with reproductions of paintings in the Louvre relating to bathing.

Fermob's red Eiffel Tower — Fermob’s red Eiffel Tower

Further along we come to a red Eiffel Tower. When we get up closer, we see that it is made of bistro chairs! The tower, created by Fermob, which has been making chairs since the end of the 19^th century, celebrates the Dame de Fer’s 125^th anniversary. The 324 folding chairs symbolise the Eiffel Tower’s 324 metres erected for the Universal Exhibition of 1889. It’s a wonder there are no love locks on it yet …

Up close, you can see some of the 324 bistro chairs!

On the whole, there is not much action, but more sand than in previous years. We only see one sculpture.

Right down the end, where there is no more sand, we find a couple of vacant deck chairs so take a selfie before going home via Notre Dame on the other side of the Seine.

Maybe next Sunday we’ll visit the other Paris Plage venue near La Villette. We overheard someone saying it was much livelier – though that wouldn’t be hard!

Paris, Restaurants, Sightseeing

From Pont des Arts to Ladurée on the Champs Elysées

December 25, 2012 Rosemary Kneipp 9 Comments

It’s Sunday afternoon. We’ve recovered from our early Christmas celebrations on Saturday night and I want to take some photos of Paris in its end-of-year finery. Our first stop is the Pont des Arts, shiny with lovelocks. It’s nearly 6 pm so we wait, with a number of other people, for the Eiffel Tower to shimmer and shine. I regret not having taken the camera, just the iPhone because the result isn’t quite what I hoped.

Eiffel Tower shimmering and shaking from the Pont des Arts

We then decide to walk to the Champs Elysées along the Left Bank of the river. We walk down to the water’s edge and past the Calife and look back at the bridge with Pont Neuf in the distance. We go up the next lot of steps and past the closing bouquinistes who are all selling lovelocks of every shape and kind. It’s become a real business!

Padlocks for sale at the bouquinistes near the Pont des Arts

As we go past rue de Seine, Relationnel remarks that it’s very rare to see Christmas decorations in the streets of Paris, unlike the provinces. We can now see the Louvre on the right and Big Wheel on its left, having moving from its summer spot near the Louvre. As we get closer, we see a lit-up pencil shape and wonder what it is. We cross over via the Solferino pedestrian bridge and realise that it is a Christmas tree, apparently the largest in Europe.

Big wheel from the Tuileries Garden with the biggest Christmas tree in Europe

We walk down the Tuileries towards the Big Wheel avoiding the enormous puddles and are amazed by how commercial and popular the wheel has become in recent years. I think one of the reasons is that the cabins are closed in now. I’m annoyed about my fear of heights because the view from up there must be amazing.

Christmas decorations at Rond Point des Champs-Elysées

As we cross Place de la Concorde towards the Champs Elysées, we’re suddenly in a huge throng of people all attracted by the so-called Christmas market. We’ve been there before though and haven’t found anything interesting – no handicrafts, just a lot of cheap food and factory-made items so we walk along behind the stalls until we reach Rond Point des Champs Elysées. The decorations are stunning and there are fewer people.

We keep going until we reach Virgin and decide to go and buy a card for the camera. Despite the number of people, we also buy a couple of DVDs and a CD and don’t even have to wait in line to pay. CDs don’t seem as popular any more! By then, we’ve been walking for an hour and a half and my feet are killing me. We look around for a suitable café but all we can see is Starbucks and other similar places.

We cross the road and I take the typical tourist photo of the Arc of Triumph halfway across and I see Ladurée in front of me. Now, strange as this may seem, I have still never been into Ladurée’s, famous for its macarons. We’re informed that the tearoom is closed (well, it’s nearly 7.30!). We have to choose between the restaurant and the bar.

Art deco wall in the bar at Ladurée Champs Elysées

Well, I’m perfectly happy with the bar. Despite appearances, Ladurée Champs Elysées only opened in 1997 although the original bakery near the Madeleine dates back to 1862. The bar is decorated in what looks like authentic Art Deco and you sit on high stools that keep swinging around. We order a class of Saint Véran and a plate of tapas each.

They aren’t really tapas, more like bouchées, but they’re delicious. I use my Evernote Food app for the first time and record what we’re eating: crab & mayonnaise puff, foie gras, candied aubergine, Provençales tomatoes and salmon prestige. When we come out, there aren’t nearly so many people, so we take the metro home to spare my feet. It’s good to be back in Paris!

Paris, Restaurants

A Parisian Restaurant with a Tree in the Middle

May 20, 2012 Rosemary Kneipp Leave a comment

The first time we went to Le Pré aux Clercs on rue Bonaparte in the 6th arrondissement was on the way home from a week’s holiday and it was about 10 pm. Despite the late hour, it was crowded and we were taken upstairs. Relationnel took the dish of the day – a large sole – which he has never forgotten! The next time we went, we were seated downstairs and discovered, to our amazement, that there was a large tree in the middle of the restaurant. Unfortunately, the sole was off, but we enjoyed the meal. We’ve been back several times since.

When we walked across the river on Saturday night via the Pont des Arts, where the lovelocks have positively taken over, the streets and particularly the terrace cafés were packed, especially since it was one of the first sunny days in quite a while. I got Relationnel to check the map before we left, because I remembered our getting lost last time despite his usually good sense of direction. We went the wrong way – again – but enjoyed the walk. There was even a little old lady dancing to a live jazz band in front of one restaurant!

Given the number of people in the streets, I decided to phone and check they had a table. “Pas de problème”, said the waiter, without taking my name. There were people queuing up when we arrived but we got a table straight away. To my surprise, the tree had been completely transformed. I learnt later that it had never been a real tree – I guess I was rather naive to think you could have one in the middle of Parisian restaurant anyway!

Despite the sun, the temperatures were a little cool and we kept our jackets on but the waiter spontaneously moved us closer to the terrace where there was heating, which was much better and one side of the restaurant was completely open. We ordered foie gras between us as a starter, but we should have known it wouldn’t be the façon traiteur type that we prefer. We loved the presentation though.

Relationnel then took the monk fish (there was still no sole) and I had rack of lamb with stir-fried vegetables. Both were very tasty even though the lamb was probably a little closer to mutton. A lot of their produce is labelled “traditional agriculture”. We chose a glass of petit chablis with our foie gras and a pays d’oc red with our main course. We didn’t have desert (we rarely do as neither of us is a natural skinny) and didn’t bother about coffee, because we prefer to make our own decaffeinated at home with déca from Verlet. The bill was a reasonable 62 euros.

Even though Hemingway used to come here, which you’d imagine would attract the tourists, most of the patrons were French and in their late twenties, early thirties. There was no English on the menu. The service is relaxed, efficient and friendly. After we changed tables, I took a photo of an attractive-looking patisserie opposite, only to discover it was the famous Ladurée cake shop, restaurant and tearoom, founded in 1862 and known for its macaroons! I’ll have to try it out now that I know where it is.

Le Pré aux Clercs, 30 rue Bonaparte, 75006 – Tel 01 43 54 41 73.

Ladurée 16-18 rue Royale Paris VIII – Tel. 01 42 60 21 79
Ladurée 21 rue Bonaparte Paris VI – Tel. 01 44 07 64 87
Ladurée au grand magasin Le PRINTEMPS 64 Boulevard Haussmann Paris IX – Tel. 01 42 82 40 10

Ladurée on the Champs Elysées is being refurbished at the moment.

Paris

Sunset in Paris

May 14, 2012 Rosemary Kneipp 11 Comments

One of the things I like best about living in the centre of Paris is walking through the streets at dusk. From mid-May until about mid-September, we can wander down after dinner, through the Palais Royal gardens, across rue de Rivoli and under the Louvre coming out next to the glass pyramids.

We then have the choice of turning right and walking down to the Tuileries Gardens if they are open (April-May, 7 am to 9 pm, June to August, 7 am to 11 pm, September to Mars, 7.30 am to 7.30 pm), where you can find a chair just before the trees begin, put your back to the Arc de Triomphe and watch the Louvre change colour), or left, onto the Place Carrée then right over the Pont des Arts.

You can also walk around the pyramids and go directly to the Seine, crossing over the river at Pont Royal, which is what we did last night.

I love the intricate iron lamp posts lined up along the bridge.

We turned left after we crossed the bridge and walked past the bouquinistes, closed at this hour. We noticed that some had numbers of various shapes and sizes, but most of them had nothing at all.

We envied the people sitting on the deck of one of the river boats but will wait until it’s a little warmer this year before we join them. We might even take a cruise on La Calife again. It’s a small boat moored on Quai Malaquais between Pont du Carrousel and Pont des Arts, that offers a 2-hour cruise down to the Eiffel Tower with Mediterranean-style cuisine and menus at 49 and 67 euros. Don’t forget to take something warm as it can get chilly on the water at night. Book a day or two ahead. You can reserve on-line or phone.

We then crossed back over via Pont du Carrousel with a perfect view of the sunset.

Le Calife, quai Malaquais, Paris 75006. +33 (0)1 43 54 01 08, www.calife.com. info@calife.com

Aussie in France

Tag Archives: pont des arts

The August Exodus

From Pont des Arts to Ladurée on the Champs Elysées

A Parisian Restaurant with a Tree in the Middle

Sunset in Paris

from the Tropics to the City of Light