Day 39 - MON 4/8 - La Joconde & Train Bleu

It's Monday and it's supposed to be raining all day but the spring Paris weather surprises us with a mild, bright day. Maybe this day will turn out to be special but then again every day has been special.

We are liking our new 15th arrondissement neighborhood more and more and appreciate the wonderful food stores, cafes and markets near us. It's a family-friendly area as you can see by the trike tied up in front of our building. 

                                              

Gail is feeling better and walked over to Bon Marche where she bought advance tickets for all of us for the Louvre, today's target destination. We meet at the pyramid entrance and there are already hundreds of people milling around, but we get right in. Inside the pyramid we descend to the common entry area and find our way to the highlight attractions of the permanent collection. 

     

The Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci is our first target...completed in 1506, a.k.a. La Joconde, said to be Lisa, the wife of Francesco del Giocondo...now considered the most treasured painting in the world. Hundreds of people are gathered in the large foyer area competing for a close up glimpse of this fabulous and haunting painting. It is smaller than expected and well secured behind bullet proof glass, but stunning nonetheless. We are enthralled and hang around the area for a while.

                               

     

                                            

We then head for the famous Winged Victory and Venus di Milo....both breathlessly beautiful but in need of a dusting. 

     

     

We then stroll along several long corridors viewing huge paintings of wars, biblical scenes and portraits of once famous people. The museum is a world wonder and definitely worth the time, effort and entry fee.

      

     

     

     

     

     

It's now nearly 2:30 and we are ready for lunch. Gail suggests Le Cafe Marly located in the Louvre and with an outdoor terrace as well. We chose inside to keep warm. The Marly is expensive but delicious, and perfect for our needs...we linger for about an hour.

    

We then head over to Gare de Lyon, one of the major train stations of Paris, and into Le Train Bleu, the Belle Epoch brasserie/cafe in the Gare de Lyon. 

The restaurant was built in 1900 and named after the train that headed south from Paris to take the rich people of the time to the Côte d'Azur. People have been flocking to the restaurant since its inauguration, with regulars including Coco Chanel, Brigitte Bardot, Jean Cocteau, and Salvador Dali. It has been in many movies, and is still as popular as ever, serving 500 dinners per day. We have some delicious macaroons and miniature pastries with wonderful cafe. We end up relaxing there for almost two hours, actually taking a little cat nap there on the huge leather sofas that are so inviting and comfortable. They will never ask you to leave...just like in the States, n'est-ce pas?

Today is an eating marathon, because after our lovely lunch at Cafe Marly and relaxing Train Blue snack, we are off to dinner. 

Our destination is Premices, a classy new restaurant on rue de Rodier in the 9th, recommended by our good Paris friend, Stephanie Fray. Stephanie knows her stuff and mentioned that the chef/owner is an up and coming chef whom she thinks will be a star some day. That's good enough for us. 

We are welcomed by Maitre D', Leatetia, an adorable and competent young woman of about 30 with fair command of English. We explain how we know of the restaurant and name drop Thierry from Le Grand Vefour. Well, she proceeds to introduce us to chef/owner Alexandre Weill with whom we engage in a lengthy discussion, mostly in English, and learn that he was an investment banker before he decided to follow his passion for cooking. 

Alexandre is a classically trained French chef and wow'ed us with our three course dinner selection.  The dinner lasted three hours and we became convinced that Premices will become a destination restaurant soon. The pictures say it all.

All three of us are blown away, not an easy thing for hardened foodies we three. Aside from the cuisine, Weill designed the interior which features easy toned wall coloring, black chairs and lighting and white linens. Mirrors and a few paintings adorn the walls to make the restaurant look as good and classy as the food tastes.

We say our good-byes and Alexandre asks for our blog address to follow our journey.