Today we just wanted to take it easy and spend some time checking out a few neighborhoods.
First we went over to the 15th Arondissement (zip code, if you will) where we will be moving at the end of the month. It's much simpler there than where we are now in the 6th Arondissement. There isn't the same energy level, and it's much more of a local residential neighborhood. But we checked out the cafes, bistros, supermarkets, pharmacies, etc, and it's OK for us, but a longer trip to the more central areas than where we are today in the 6th Arondissement. It is, however, very close to the Eiffel Tower, which is amazing to see close up.
Then we walked across the Seine to Passy, one of our old stomping grounds, which is a classy chi-chi neighborhood in the 16th near where we used to live. It has a gorgeous shopping street, top-of-the-line indoor food market, and Inno, a huge mall. It was fun to reminisce there.
We had a 7pm reservation at a famous old bistrot, the one that Julia Child actually made famous called Chez Georges, so we hopped on the Metro and went home to freshen up, and then off to the 2nd Arondissement to the restaurant. The food was fabulous! Although we could only get this early reservation, by 8pm it was filling up with people. Although it is probably in all the guide books, there were only one or two other tables with English speaking guests, and the rest were Le Tous Paris (the "A" list of Parisians). Eventually, two guys, Sylvain and Alban, were seated next to us and, uncharacteristically for the French, started chatting us up. We spoke for about an hour, mostly in English, and they were so charming and gentile. They are both in their 40s, and in the stock market and have lived in many places. They gave us insights into the French mentality, and we did the same about the Americans. We talked politics and economics and then they gave us good restaurant recommendations. They will email us tomorrow with all their contact information and hopefully we'll see them again.
The food was amazing...we shared a frisee salad with lardons and a poached egg on top, then I had my favorite, rognons (veal kidneys) with mushrooms sautéed in a cream sauce, and Marty had the best roasted duck with wild mushrooms he said he ever had, and then we shared a tarte au citron for dessert... a typical bistrot meal. The two guys each had riz de veau (calves brains) with morrels which looked amazing and I'll probably have that when we go there again in a few weeks with our friends, the Harlings.
It was a wonderful, fun, and relaxing day...we needed that.
No comments:
Post a Comment