Another week has passed…
We have just had a great few days with Iain and Yvonne Howie from UK – much of the fun of travelling to Europe is touching base with our long time friends.
We did lots of ‘touristy’ things – the St Chapelle chapel with its incredible and stunning stained glass windows, built near the Notre Dame by St Louis, King Louise the 9th. We also had a look at the
Conciergerie, part of King Louis’ palace and famous, or infamous, for its venerable prisoners during the revolution, especially Marie Antoinette – it would have been so so cold during the winter although she only spent 4 months there – before going to the guillotine.
We enjoyed a new restaurant near the Louvre, with friends Phil and Camille – a very old restaurant L’Epi d’Or with lots of atmosphere.
Then Saturday – off to the big market at Avenue President Wilson – set up in the middle of the road, twice a week, with everything from a stall selling 16 different types of olives, to the man cooking a huge pan of paella, the stalls making crepes while you wait, and of course the freshest fish, saucisson, chickens, and luscious fruit and vegies. All irresistible.
And to celebrate our 29th wedding anniversary, my request was for a drink at the Hemingway Bar at the Ritz Hotel. This beautiful old hotel, situated on the Place de Vendome, has been there since the late 1800’s and was a favourite haunt of Hemingway. Well, we knew it would be exotic and expensive although I don’t think we realised just how much!! And it has the most amazing range of cocktails. Yvonne and I opted for champagne cocktails – only E30 (A$60) each and quite delicious, but they do have a special cocktail called the Ritz Side Car – described as A unique experience and onje of the most expensive cocktails in the world – a snip at a mere E1250 (A$2500) – we didn’t worry about asking what was in it – I’d want a diamond at the bottom of the glass!!!
Still, a great experience – followed by dinner at our favourite Italian restaurant, Settebello, in Passy.
Then another Paris experience – it was the “Night of the Museums” – the one night in the year when all Paris’ museums are open until midnight and many of them put on concerts, lectures, special exhibitions etc. We strolled down to the river, had a ride on the children’s carousel, (luckily all the real children were tucked up in bed!!) then walked up to the Trocodero and went to the Musee d’Architecture – it is a most incredible museum, where everything is actually made from some type of polystyrene – but you would swear it was straight off an old cathedral or city wall. Just remarkable and looked so lovely in the night lights.
So all in all a great ‘wedding anniversary’ shared with good friends.
And in the International Herald Tribune last week, a wonderful article on French Restaurants adjusting to demands for low-cost menus, with a Parisian shop ‘peddling “anti-crisis” sandwiches for E1 (A$2) – very very cheap in my experience. Then at the end of the article
“Even high-end establishments are joining in: La Maison Blanche on the Avenue
Montaigne has a ‘New Deal Menu’ – a prix-fixe meal for just E69 (A$138) that
Includes cocoa-dusted foie-gras and grilled coquilles St Jacques (scallops)”.
How the other half live!!!
Well Ian is working in Vienna, Yvonne and Iain have returned to England and I have done the shopping and the washing and that sort of stuff. And tomorrow I am going to Giverney with some friends – on the train. The weather forecast is for a sunny day with 24 degrees – so perhaps summer is just around the corner.
Au revoir and a bientot - Barb
