DAY 11 - MON 3/11 - Clignancourt

As today is Monday, although freezing and raw, we wanted to go back to the big main Flea Market at Porte de Clignancourt and just browse, knowing it would be pretty empty.

First we took our local #4 Metro to the northern end of the line, Clignancourt (spot the lovely loving couple snuggling on the Metro right behind Marty below), and wended our way directly to our favorite areas in the Flea Market:  Biron, Paul Bert, and Serpette.

        

Then we went straight to one of our favorite bistros, Le Paul Bert, in the Marche. What a lunch!! I had the best fluffiest Quiche Lorraine with a little salade verte. Marty wanted soupe a l'oignon (onion soup), but today they had a special soupe de l'ail (creamed roasted garlic soup) with a flavor from the heavens, sooo Fwench. Then we finished with the famous classic tarte Tatin with creme fraiche...ooh la la!...and topped it off with two cafes noisette, espresso with a little hot milk. If we could only get such flavors in the States at a little corner restaurant, we would be in heaven!

Then into the Marche aux Puces (Flea Market) we go, only to find that most of the stalls are shuttered closed. Maybe it's because it's a cold winter day around 3 o'cock in the afternoon, or maybe because it's the afternoon of this Sat-Sun-Mon-only market and they close early on Mondays, we don't know, but we are a little disappointed. In any case, we actually find quite a few stalls that are open, almost all to ourselves, and so we just wander around taking in the sights. We only bought 2 vintage children's books, in French, because now our grandsons will be studying French in their Vermont schools instead of Spanish, as they are so close to French-speaking Canada.

       

       

       

       

       

        

        

       

Then it was home to get warm and have a power nap (that seems to be our routine now), and then off to La Regalade for our 8:30 reservation, another old world restaurant, in the 14th Arondissement, further away from the center but well worth the trip. The prix fixe dinner was devine, starting with Coquille St. Jacques (fresh sweet raw scallops) in a basil sauce topped with a shaving of parmesean cheese, followed by boeuf Bourgogne and roast lamb, and finishing with a Grand Marnier soufflé and some outrageous rice pudding with caramel sauce, served with a big wooden spoon because it was so thick.

Tables at La Regalade are minute and cheek-to-jowl, so of course we got talking to our neighbors, Rita and Boudoin, from Brussels. He had his own business of wholesale bathroom equipment with 300 employees and recently retired, they travel a lot and have two other homes, one on the Canary Islands, and one on Lago di Lugano in Switzerland, overlooking Italy which they love but would never buy anything there. We talked the whole night away, and Boudoin ended up offering us a Brandy, and then we closed the place down at around 12:30! It happens to be my birthday today, and what a serendipitously great day it was.

Will we ever stop going to markets or taking pictures of food? It's possible, but don't bet on it!
If you are bored with it, or turned off, just find something else to do until we either stop traveling or start seriously dieting. Everyone knows that food, good healthy food, is a big part of our lives, and we want to memorialize the good meals through pictures.

So no more commentary, just enjoy the photos...we tried to give you a close up feel for the atmosphere...this is only a small portion of the Marche, and it's so varied...carpets, furniture, spools of thread, wood-working planes and tools, lamps, chairs, decorative objects, boules, vintage clothing, chapeaux, shoes, and much more...