Partie Deux
[color:"red"]Phone card[/color] – one of the best deals of the week. I walked into a “Tabac” (tobacco) store to buy a phone card. The gentlemen behind the counter asked if I wanted one with a pin? I told him I was going to use it in the phone booth and he said “Ok, you don’t need one with a pin.” He sold them in $10 or $20 denominations. I purchased a $20 card and used it all over Paris. It was much easier to use this card then using cards with PINS in SXM. I just inserted the card, waited (PATENZ) and dialed the states. I made daily calls and still had 40 units left. I would say that each call was about 30 units, maybe less.
[color:"blue"]Jardin des Tuileries[/color] -- Magnificent Gardens with many park benches, children’s park, carousel and a café. We had another warm day so we enjoyed walking thru the gardens, taking some photos of the statues and just relaxing. This was a perfect spot for a picnic but unfortunately we never took advantage of that.
[color:"green"]Opera Garnier[/color] – We took several means of transportation to get to the Opera house. First two Metro’s and then a bus. The Opera house is beautiful but we missed the tour in English so we had to go about the facility on our own. Because rehearsals were going on we could only peek into the grand seating area. We could only view the great hall, the foyer, and a small museum. In hindsight it was not worth the trip and I had wished we had gone to Napoleon’s tomb instead but we didn’t.
[color:"brown"]BATEAUX-MOUCHES[/color] boat ride on the Seine – after walking by the Seine many times we decided to take a boat ride on our last full day. We choose this particular line because the location was down the street across from our favorite café – it was convenient. A 75- minute ride cost €11 which was well worth the money to relax, see some of the historical sites from a different angle and feel the cool breeze on our face.
[color:"orange"]SHOPPING[/color]– because we were in a very high-end area of Paris the shopping was way out of our price range. Morabito’s was across the street, Vuitton up the street, Givenchy on the same block, etc. Morabito’s had several bags in their window priced at €7,000 and up. Several men’s shops had prices for their loafers starting at €795. One store had gorgeous shoes but no prices. My Mom taught me, if you have to ask you can’t afford it, so we mostly window-shopped.
Most of the stores on the Champs Elysées were not impressive. We found one clothing store that did not have a store in the states so we bought our daughter some clothes there. We visited the Monoprix but wasn’t impressed. I had wanted to visit either the Printemps or Gallery Lafayette but the day we were in that Arrondissement we had visited the Opera Garnier and walked a long way to the Hard Rock so we decided to return to the hotel by taxi instead of our plan to take the bus and stop at either or those department stores.
David and I are “pin heads” which was the only reason for going to the Hard Rock Café in Paris. We already have guitar pins from Paris but someone else had gotten them for us, which isn’t the same as being there. We stayed for a couple of drinks but were disappointed with the size and quantity of merchandise. Very few items to choose from in comparison to other HRC we’ve been too (NYC, London, Cancun, etc.) This was the only establishment to our knowledge that took American money during our week long visit in Paris. We paid our drink bill in US dollars.
[color:"pink"]RESTAURANTS/CAFÉ’S/BISTRO’S[/color]
Le Jardin des Cygnes - Our first gourmet meal was at the Le Jardin des Cygnes at the Prince de Galles. I choose the 4-course menu that started off with 3 jumbo shrimp and salad. The shrimp were cooked to perfection and very large. For my plat, I had the monkfish with several spring vegetables in the style of spaghetti (very unique), again exquisite. The following course was the cheese course; the waiter rolled over a cart with many cheese and I picked what I wanted. I fell in love with the French Roquefort and tried to eat it as much as possible when dining. The final course was dessert, similar to the chocolate cake served in SXM at Bistrot Caribes. Since it was prior to Easter, David couldn't indulge in dessert as he had given up dessert for Lent (bless his soul!) so he did not get the menu which would have included dessert. He had a saddle of lamb with vegetables which he said was delicious. Service was impeccable, total was €139 avec service compris.
JULES VERNE – It was everything you expect and more. Let me start by saying the prices are high even for lunch. David received the menu with the prices, I did not and was about to order the Brittany lobster when I asked him what the cost was. When he told me €89 I decided we should both go with the menu and not order la carte. The most reasonable meal was the Sole at €64. Since the la carte was €64 with 3-courses we decided we should choose that. You had your choice of 3 different entrees, 3 different plats and 3 desserts.
I decided it was time to try foie gras. My entrée was a poached block of chicken and foie gras which repeated each piece of meat, twice. I did not enjoy the foie gras at all. The chicken was very good but the consistency of the foie gras was foreign to me and not enjoyable. Ses la vie! I had the beouf and David had the squab. His entrée was a smoke salmon tart, which I tasted and was delicious. Dessert was decadent. Mine was a large chocolate coconut bar with a mango couli with gold flakes on top of the dessert. It was accompanied by a plate of small cookies and then a tin of delicious and decadent truffles. I can’t remember what David had for dessert. Our total bill including gratuity with two mimosa and two glasses of vin compris was €199. It was a truly great experience, the view was spectacular.
We made reservations thru our concierge in January and our request for a view by the window was honored. Both David and I were dressed up but there were people in jeans, tee shirts and yes flip-flops. Did I talk about the butter! The butter and cheeses in Paris were phenomenal. I could have lived on baguettes with beurre and frommage!
The two above meals were the extent of our three-star dining experience. The rest of the time we would stop by an interesting café or bistro and have a glass of wine with some cheese and dried meats or smoked salmon and David would have his espresso and profiteroles or some other decadent chocolate cake dessert. Now that he was able to eat dessert he took advantage. At about this time my stomach started acting up so I wasn’t big on the desserts.
Angelina’s – I did enjoy the most decadent hot chocolate of my life. Chocolat Africains,...a thick, creamy, intense pitcher of chocolate served with a whole parfait glass of rich whipped cream. (€6.50) We both had salads as a light lunch and they too were very good. Angelina’s is located on du Rivoli right next door to the Hotel Meurice.
Chez Francis, 7, pl de l'Alma, 8th arrondissement – this café became a favorite hang out for us. Down the street (about 3 blocks) from our hotel with a direct view of the Eiffel Tower, it was a perfect location to relax; people watch and at night view the light display. The Eiffel tower is illuminated for the evening but the flickering light show is only every hour for 10 minutes.
The café had a light menu but the restaurant offeres a variety of meals based heavily on seafood. We started out with cold prawns and oysters, which were delicious. David had the 3-course menu (€34) and I ordered la carte. I had veal osso bucco with tartille. The veal was so tender and delicious and the pasta was home made. David had the lamb shank in a delicious brown sauce with vegetables, oysters as his entrée. The chocolate cake with a warm chocolate sauce inside along with ice cream was not one of the choices for dessert but we had become friendly with our waiter so he said he would offer it to David.
On previous visits we had espresso and dessert or wine and cheese. I had a croque madame avec fries one day. The sandwich was delicious but the frites weren’t very good which surprised me. Our only meal where there were fries and they were like little steak fries and not crispy. Our only comparison has been the frites in SXM which are always crunchy and delicious which is why we were a little disappointed.
Chez Clement – This was the only meal I didn’t enjoy. In all fairness I wasn’t very hungry this night but David was and we picked the location because a friend had recommended it although reviews were mixed. This is a “chain” restaurant and we ate at the one on the Champs Elysées not far from the Arc De Triomphe. David had a bbq plate, which were basically a few roasted meats with a potato gratin. I had a cold seafood entrée was in my opinion was pretty close to awful. I specifically asked the waiter if there were snails on the plate because one of the words was unfamiliar to me and when I tried to locate it in my handy-dandy French restaurant translation book I couldn’t find it. It did not say escargot. I don’t eat snails, just not my thing and I’m not willing to try them. The only thing editable was two poached prawns. The shrimp were a joke, seriously – I’ve never seen shrimp so tiny in my life and I had to peel them! They looked like the shrimp you feed to your fish. After hassling with several of them (there were a ton of them) I decided the quarter of a mouth full wasn’t worth it. The mussels were also poached and didn’t taste cooked, the clams were OK, again poached so they were quite chewy. We met a lovely French couple sitting next to us and struck up a conversation with them. I wish we had started speaking to them before I ordered! Although my meal was lousy the conversation was good so I still enjoyed myself and that’s what counts in the end.
Chez Andre – 12, rue Marbeuf . This restaurant was also in our neighborhood, which seems to attract a local crowd. One of our guide books recommended it so we decided to try it. When they handed us a menu in English I was a little surprised as we hadn’t even spoken yet which goes to show how very American we must look. What surprised me was the menu outside was only in French so I hadn’t anticipated an English menu. We were told in guide books to stay away from places that offer menu’s in English as you don’t get the same quality food. Unfortunate for us our waitress didn’t speak a word of English and she didn’t understand my French. Pointing to the menu was useless because she couldn’t read English either. I should have insisted on a French menu at that point because I’m familiar with “what is what” food-wise and what I may not know I carried along the second edition, “Eating and Drinking in Paris” which was great for the menu reader portion of the book. The restaurant guide of the book was barely OK but the Menu Read, French to English and English to French was worth its weight in gold!
Back to the meal though. I called over what appeared to be the hostess and asked if she spoke any English and she did. We proceeded to order. David ordered the “canard” and me the “beouf.” The hostess asked if we wanted French fries, which we did not so the hostess said we could have spinach. When our meals arrived they were both the same exact dish, “beouf” with potatoes au gratin. We both looked at the dishes and laughed and ate what was delivered. It was very good. When the bill arrived (in French) I noticed that spinach was an extra charge which we didn’t get. I called the hostess back over who apologized and then noticed we both had the “beouf” and kept on apologizing that the mistake was made. We told her it wasn’t a problem as we enjoyed the meal.
Café La Belle Ferronniere – this was another great find in our neighborhood. On our first visit we shared a plate of salami and a frommage plate with a glass of house wine. Very good. Upon our second and third visit it was for espresso and profiteroles (yum) and I can’t remember if David had an omelet or not the third time? Anyway, there was wine!
We really liked Paris a lot; would I go back – maybe. There are just too many other places to visit and we love SXM so much that it doesn’t leave much time to repeat too many places. Sorry Part Deux was so long and wordy but I have friends who read my reports and instead of saying the same thing over and over it’s just easier to go into details one time in print. Au revoir!
