Paris 2010: Random Quirky Sights

Orangina has a whole different marketing strategy in France than in North America. Maybe this is why it is so prevalent in all the bars and brasseries. I liked this street graffiti that I saw in the Latin Quarter of Einstein and the Fab Four made up to look like Kiss, and this drawing of Hitchcock directing the movie "The Birds" which was on Rue Mouffetard. This "Face Sculpture" on the side of a building in the Marais was rather creepy. We wandered around seeing all these cars but no gas stations and wondered where Parisans got gas. The mystery was solved one day when we came across this single fuel pump on the edge of the sidewalk that cars just pulled up to. And check out the cool car that we saw in the Latin Quarter. This photo perfectly defines two terms for me .. "High Maintenance" and "Shopping Sherpa" (A husband dragged to the mall to carry the shopping bags, while his wife depletes yet another credit card) Gallerie Lafayette had some very interesting candles, although they were what I consider to be "all flash, no function" since they will lose their shape as soon as you burn them.. or you never want to burn them which defeats the point of having candles.. I have some candles at home that fall into this category - too nice to burn.

Paris 2010: Latin Quarter

The Latin Quarter contains quaint little streets full of eating establishments that are so beautiful that you want to go in as much to see the place as to try the food. You find places that call themselves bars, cafes, bistros, brasseries or restaurants with each supposedly more upscale in terms of decor, service and types of food served. However these days I'm not sure if the distinctions are as obvious. Rue de Seine is lined with interesting shops. There was a fascinating store called Pixi and Cie. It contained large glass cases full of plastic figurines including all the characters from Tin Tin and Asterix & Obelix, and generic figures depicting stereotypical Parisans of various professions including policemen, waiters, jazz musicians, night club singers, etc. There were collectible diorama boxes depicting scenes using both painted backgrounds and plastic furniture and figures. The front window showed Tour de France cyclists climbing a steep hill where several bikers crashed. This led me to lament yet again that we would be missing the finale of the Tour de France by just a few hours. They would be racing through Place du Concorde just as our plane departed on Sunday afternoon. There was a rare books and autographs store that sold letters and plates containing writing and signatures of famous people such as Napolean, King Henry VI, Alexandre Dumay, etc. One pottery store had very unique bowls and platters including one in the shape of a lettuce leaf. Then we found two stores side by side that sold authentic works and limited prints of artists like Roy Litechenstein, Joan Miro, etc. One object that caught our eye was a beautiful Picasso vase that looked very similar to one we had seen in the Gardiner Ceramic Museum in Toronto. It was clearly out of our price range but just for fun, Rich decided to ask how much it was. For it mere 25,000 Euros, it could be ours! If only she had said 20K, we might have considered (NOT!) This was a good day for fun eating experiences. Rich lamented on the last trip that he never got to have a "street crepe" in the Latin Quarter, so it was my mission to find him one this time. We stumbled upon a vendor just as we were getting hungry for lunch and ordered a cheese and ham crepe. The son started to make the crepe by ladling out the batter, but tore a hole in it when he tried to flip it. He called to "Papa" for help. His father tried to salvage the crepe and peeked at us once to see if we would notice. Since we were monitoring him closely, he sighed and tossed the defective shell and started over. Obviously an expert at his craft, the father masterfully made the crepe with graceful movements that were almost like a dance. When he finished, he presented our prize with a flourish and said "Voila". We took our crepe and coca cola granita to a nearby park and ate on a bench while watching the children play. A "French macaroon" consists of two meringue cookies sandwiching a cream filling, as opposed to the coconut based North American treats of the same name. Although you can get French macaroons in Toronto, we read that the ones sold at Laduree in Paris were the best. Having now sampled these macaroons, I can attest to the veracity of that statement. These were lighter, less sweet and came in a larger variety of fillings, such as caramel with salted butter (the best!), coffee, lemon, cassis, mint, apple, mimosa and much more . Each one seemed to melt in your mouth and then burst with flavour. I'm only slightly ashamed to say that we started out by buying six cookies to share, gobbled them up within a few minutes and went back for more. I am too ashamed to admit how many we eventually ate that day... We dined at an unusual restaurant chain called L'Entrocote which did not have a menu for appetizer and main course because they only served one choice. You start with a salad consisting of lettuce, walnuts and mustard dressing, followed by a plate of sliced steak and frites, followed by a second plate of steak and frites! The only thing you were asked was what you wanted to drink and how you liked your steak. If you had wandered into this restaurant not knowing what to expect, you would have been very perplexed. The concept must work though because there was a constant lineup to get in, starting even before the restaurant opened. There were a large number of tables all placed very close to each other and what seemed like over a dozen waitresses all dressed in the same uniform of black dress, white apron and black shoes. The food must be prepared on mass since each "course" is served very quickly with the entire meal including dessert (for which there was a menu and a choice) concluding within 45 minutes.. this is unheard of in European restaurants where it is typical to linger hours over a meal.

Paris 2010: Marais District

Place des Vognes is a beautiful square (in the true sense of the word since it's shape is an exact square) in the Marais district that was built in the 1600s for King Henry IV. Today, it is a pretty park surrounded on all sides by restaurants, shops and art galleries, nestled under stunning arched ceilings. Visiting the art galleries proved to be a challenge. Although they all indicated that they opened at 11am, the actual opening time seemed to vary between 11-12 or did not open at all. Those that did open displayed an interesting variety of paintings, drawings and sculptures with a large number depicting Americana, especially scenes from New York City. Because of my love of musical theatre, I had a personal affinity for the piece called "Singing and Dancing in the Great White Way", that showed a composite of famous musicals on Broadway. I also liked the quirky sculptures that came in all shapes, sizes and materials including these colourful dancers and a series of life-sized wire sculptures that I would have loved to own. On a tip from our niece Lindsay, we ventured into the Jewish quarter in search of falafals for lunch. We couldn't remember the name of the place she recommended, but stumbled across Falafal King, led there both by the delicious aroma that filled the street as well as the vocal "restaurant barker" who insistently urged us to sit down. We ended up with the most delicious pita filled with a mix of falafal, shawarma, cucumbers and tomato. Walking away sated, we made a note to thank Lindsay for the great recommendation, when steps away, we came across 4 other falafal restaurants. It turned out we didn't go to the one she suggested, but we had a great meal all the same. Continuing down Rue de Rosiers, the Jewish area was full of kosher restaurants and bakeries, book stores and art galleries. I liked this humorous depiction of the parting of the Red Sea displayed in one of the galleries. Also in the Marais area is the photography museum, which was currently showing an collection of photographs by Russian photographers. These photographs ranged from documentary-styled black and white photographs from Stalin era, to present day photos depicting contemporary and unconventional themes, as well as "staged photographs" meant to shock or cause discussion and contemplation. There was a disturbing set of photos of what seemed to be young child prostitutes, dressed, made up and posed provocatively. Another series of photos showed Russians of various occupations with their families, highlighting the differences in social standing, clothing, decor of the home and even facial expressions and demeanours of each group.

Paris 2010: L'Orangerie, Ile de Cite and St. Louis, Shakespeare and Co.

Although this Paris trip was supposed to be about visiting off the beaten track, less touristy attractions, this view of the Eiffel tower was so breathtaking that we could not resist stopping to take some photos. Then it was off to the L'Orangerie Museum in the Tuileres Gardens to see the Monet Water Lilies that were less prominent in the previous museum that we visited. This time we were not disappointed. Before entering the rooms with the huge water lily canvases, we had to pass through a totally white and bare room which was supposed to instill a calming effect which Monet desired you to have before viewing his paintings. Finally we were ready to see the Water Lilies and were they ever magnificant! Spanning entire walls, the paintings conveyed the beauty and sereneness of Monet's Givency property. We walked along the Seine to reach the two islands Isle de Cite and Ile St. Louis. Along the way, we passed the Paris Plage, which turns part of the Right bank of the Seine into a "beach" for several weeks in July and August. There were beach chairs and loungers covered by umbrellas, water stations for getting wet (primarily used by kids), sand lots, games and refreshments. We strolled through Ile de Cite to see the facade of the Notre Dame Cathedral again since on the previous trip, it was covered with scaffolding. To our delight, we found a jazz band entertaining the visitors in a park just facing the Cathedral. While the band had the usual bass and drums, it was unusual that the lead instrument was a violin. We sat on a park bench and listened to the band play for over half an hour. The best for me was a moving rendition of one of my favourite songs, "My Funny Valentine". We next went to Ile St Louis in search of Berthillon ice cream. Although just about every other store and restaurant sold Berthillon ice cream, Rich wanted to get it from the actual Berthillon parlour. Imagine our surprise when we found out that it was closed for summer vacation, to reopen in September. The French, and Europeans in general have the right idea about work vs vacation. Could you imagine a North American ice cream chain closing during prime tourist and ice cream eating season? We settled for getting the ice cream at some other restaurant and had an amazing mix of cappuchino and dark chocolate. Finally we visited Shakespeare & Co which Rich has declared as the best book store ever, and his favourite stop of the trip. I first saw images of it in the movie "Before Sunrise" where Ethan Hawke is shown promoting his book when he runs into the love of his life, Julie Depry. It lived up to all our expectations when we saw it in person. The book store has been in existence at one location or another since 1919 and carries mostly English language books. It was frequented by famous authors such as Hemmingway, F.Scott Fitzgerald, James Joyce. It has books from floor to ceiling along all walls, nooks and crannies. There are wooden ladders to climb to reach the higher books. The upstairs is a really cool area, designated as a "reading" area since most of the rare books and magazines are not for sale, but you are encouraged to sit and browse through them. There were all sorts of different seating options including comfy arm chairs, benches, wooden chairs at a big table, velour theatre seats, etc. I sat for a long time reading what was equivalent to a 1950s gossip magazine, like today's People magazine. I read an article about Bing Crosby written by Bob Hope, an article about the power of the paparazzi to spread rumours about the helpless stars, and an article about a French movie depicting a jewelry store heist that caused a furour by giving step by step instructions on how to break into a real jewelry store using an umbrella as an essential prop! The store even had a typing room with an old fashioned manual typewriter that was made available for customers who wanted to "type letters".

Paris 2010: Les Halles, Marmotten Monet Museum

We returned to the Les Halles area to revisit one of my favourite sites from our last trip, which was what I called the "Big Head" sculpture. It is actually called "L'Ecoute" or "Listen" by Henri de Miller and sits in front of the pretty St. Eustache church. Inside the church is an usual cartoonish sculpture marking, or perhaps mourning is a better term, the destruction of the fruits and vegetable stalls that formed a charming market on the grounds of Les Halles. These were torn down and replaced with a huge underground shopping mall called Le Forum des Halles, which many Parisans still don't like today. Had lunch at a restaurant called L'Escargot and ate the signature dish which contained escargots in their conch shells, coated with three types of flavours - Fois Gras, Spinach with garlic and herbs, and Blue Cheese. Eating escargots involves a bit of a skill, as was seen in the movie "Pretty Woman" where Julia Roberts sent one of the slippery devils flying. You get a pincher utensil for grasping the shell and a tiny two pronged fork for prying out the meat and sauce. It felt a bit like dental surgery. Also provided was toast cut up into little strips, apparently so that you could poke it into the the shell to soak up the sauce. We decided it was just easier to pour the sauce out onto the plate and dip it from there. After lunch, we went to the Marmotten museum which was one of two main museums (other than D'Orsay) which featured paintings by Claude Monet. It was a bit disappointing because I wanted to see his famous water lilies, but I guess that was in the other museum, L'Orangerie. They did have on display one of his most famous paintings and one of the first ones to be described as the "Impressionist" style. This was "Impression Soleil Levant" which from far away depicts some boats on the water as the sun rises. However when you step closer, you see that the entire painting is just a series of quick dabs of paint. The other interesting display in the museum was a set of black and white photographs plus an old movie showing Monet in his beloved Giverny home which was the inspiration for all the water lily paintings.

Paris 2010: Belleville, Rue Mouffetard

When I imagined the Belleville area in Paris, I envisioned scenes from the cartoon Triplets of Belleville - cool jazz, vivid colours, art galleries. What it turned out to be was more of a China town/Kensington Market without the charm. The farmers/artists market that I read about was actually more like a farmer's market/big Honest Eds sale that spanned over 10 blocks! There were ethnic stores and restaurants abound, predominantly Chinese but also Tunisian and Mediterranean. The one known Artist compound that was supposed to contain works from over 200 artists turned out to be closed, possibly permanently. There was one cobblestoned street that was lined with brightly painted poles and colourful mosaic flowerpots. On both sides of the walls were large vivid murals. Rue de Belleville is very steep and at the top of it, you can see the Eiffel tour even though it is quite far away. We saw people pushing their rented Velib bikes up the steep cobblestoned road and were glad that wasn't us. There was a pretty Belleville park that was unusual since was only about 1 block wide, but contained about 3-4 flights of stairs, each leading to another platform of walking trails. This park had more height than width or depth. The Canal St Martin area was a nicer and more upscale area with restaurants and shops lining the canals, and quaint little streets intersecting it. We could an outdoor cafe facing the canal for a quick bite. In typical Parisian style, we sat cheek to cheek next to the other diners and our table. Our little table was no more than a foot and a half wide. But we were sitting down to ice cold Chocolate Frappes, looking at a pretty view of the canals, so life was good. We went next to Rue Mouffetard, which is a great street in the 5th arr. of the left bank, just south of the Latin Quarter. It was full of restaurants, meat, cheese, wine, chocolate and fois gras shops. We found a chocolate store that sold us seven chocolate truffles plus an ice cold chocolate drink for a mere 7 Euros. There was a store that specialized in nothing but frozen foods including gourmet entrees, vegetables (including exotic mushrooms!) and gourmet desserts. I'm thinking we definitely need one of these in Toronto! But the best and most unexpected part of that visit was the free massages that were being offered on the cobblestone street. My masseuse turned out to be an American student visiting Paris for the summer, so I was able to chat with him. He told me that the massages were being sponsored by a patron who wanted people to be relaxed as they shopped on Rue Mouffetard. He asked me if the strange man taking photos of me was my husband, or did I have a stalker... luckily it turned out to be Rich, or I wouldn't have photographic memories of this nice experience.