Barbara Joy Cooley's Paris Journal

Paris Journal 2015 – Barbara Joy Cooley Home: barbarajoycooley.com

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“I have an excellent adventure planned for us today,” I announced to Tom as he savored his morning coffee. “Great!” he responded, with enthusiasm.

We crossed the Seine twice to get there, but didn’t cross it at all when coming home. That’s because the Seine has a snake-like, winding course.

We took the line 10 metro from the avenue Emile Zola into Boulogne-Billancourt, a first-ring suburb outside of Paris’ official borders. There we changed to the line 9, which we took to its final stop at the Pont de Sevres.

The line 9 surprised us. It is composed of the more modern type of subway cars, in which you call stroll easily from one car to the next. The line 9 trains are also air conditioned, and the seats have been recently re-upholstered in a bright, colorful and sturdy fabric.

One review I’d read had explicitly said to use exit number 2 from the Pont de Sevres station, which is located near the head of the train. Those directions were most helpful.

When we exited the underground, it was easy to see where the Pont de Sevres was located. We walked over to it, and then crossed the Seine, which we’d done earlier, on the line 10.

Sevres is a second ring suburb of Paris, and on the public transportation system, it is in Zone 3. However, when you are on the metro, you are always in Zone 1. So a simple, regular Zone 1 metro ticket was enough to get us to the foot of the bridge leading to Sevres.

Coming back later, we elected to take the T2 (Val de Seine) tramway. It was when we were about to board that I noticed, out of the corner of my eye, some sign about being in Zone 3. I didn’t know if our tickets would work or not.

But they did work when we pushed them into the validating machine on the tram.

On the ride to the Suzanne Lenglen tram stop, I read the labels on the route sign posted in the tram car. We most definitely were supposed to have a Zone 3 ticket. Ooops.

We tried to use our ticket again to board the metro line 8 at Balard, but that didn’t work. Suspecting that it wouldn’t work, we each had another ticket ready, and so it was not a problem. We just wanted to know if it would work the way connectivity between the metro and RER trains works. Now we know it doesn’t.

We liked the tram, which is fairly new, although the driver was rough with the brakes. But since it is more expensive to take the tram to/from Sevres, we recommend taking the metro to the Pont de Sevres instead.

Why go to Sevres? Well, for the porcelain museum, of course! We love 19^th century French porcelain.

The national Sevres factory began operating in 1740 in Vincennes, and then was moved to Sevres in 1756. The Musée National de Ceramique started in 1824, and includes an internationally significant collection of ceramics (not just Sevres products). The museum is now part of a group called the Cité de la Ceramique - Sevres et Limoges. It includes the Sevres factory, the Musée National de Ceramique (informally known by its former name, Musée de Sevres), and the Musée National Adrien Dubouche de Limoges. The last of these is actually in Limoges, not at the Cité site in Sevres.

We started our 2-hour long visit at the museum by looking at ceramics from antiquity and the middle ages. Then we moved on to Asian ceramics – from the near to the far east.

Then came the Renaissance collection, and the architectural collection. There was a small collection of Native American ceramics, which looked remarkably like the much older ceramics from Cyprus, which we’d seen in the antiquities room.

Upstairs one floor was the grand salon featuring large Sevres vases. The long gallery to the right featured earthenware of European origin, and to the left, the gallery featured European porcelain.

The exhibits were beautifully organized and displayed in the renovated 19^th century building that retains its squeaky, creaky old wooden floors. Overall, we were delighted with the place. My only disappointment was that I expected more and more interesting sculptures in the garden.

I guess I’ve been spoiled by the garden at the Musée Rodin in Paris.

I caution those who do not read French: there is very little English available on the expository plaques and other info in this ceramic museum’s galleries. But if you do read French and you’re interested in porcelain, you’ll enjoy this museum very much.

You should eat breakfast or lunch before going to this museum; it has no café on the grounds at all. I suppose it is possible to walk on into town to find a place to dine.

When we’d approached the museum after crossing the bridge, we noticed a big sign posted on the road going to the center of town. It announced that the road would be closed on Sunday, due to the Tour de France.

Sevres is the “village of departure” on Sunday morning, the last day of the Tour. It will be an easy ride from there into the center of Paris.

We bought more metro tickets and climbed back out of the subway at the Place du Commerce, where we noticed the late lunch crowd at the Commerce Café. But we just picked up a fine baguette at the Maison Kayser bakery, and went back to the apartment for a small snack as we watched the Tour de France on channel 2.

Dinner wasn’t too far away – only a 15-minute walk each way. We tried a new place again, this one called O fil Rouge, at 69 rue Saint Charles (between rue du Theatre and the avenue Emile Zola).

The patron (below) greeted us and gave us our choice of tables. He explained the menu, and told us that his wife decorated the space. We thought the décor was cleverly done, with elegance, and within budget. The scarlet and gray (and black and white) color scheme warms my Buckeye heart.

We started by sharing a big, bright beautiful salad: Salade d’Agrumes et Crevettes. It had a splash of brilliant raspberry vinaigrette that had been sweetened just enough to counter the citrus. The shrimp were soft and tender as they should be; not rubbery at all.

Tom had the Black Angus rib steak, which was surprisingly good. It came with a good Bearnaise sauce and mashed potatoes (I would not call them a purée).

I risked the swordfish, which thankfully was not overcooked as it was at Vin et Marée. I would normally have ordered the filet de dorade, but the ginger cream sauce that was to come with the swordfish was just too intriguing. As it turned out, the sauce was as interesting and good as I thought it might be.

The specialty of the house on the dessert list, the patron told Tom, is the “brioche façon pain perdu.” We ordered one to share. It was fabulous! The homemade caramel sauce was rich, and the brioche was soaked in cream and egg, as a good pain perdu is. The crowning touch was a scoop of homemade ice cream.

After we’d thoroughly enjoyed this pain perdu (the best we’ve ever had), the patron told us about a couple who once visited the restaurant and consumed three of these (after full dinners!), and then ordered a fourth one to take home with them! I cannot imagine consuming that much super rich food at once. A third of this one serving of pain perdu was more than enough for me!

Back at the apartment, there was business to deal with in our email. The 6-hour time difference between here and home means that just as we’re ready to give up for the day, folks back home want to communicate with us.

We faced up to the tasks, and before we knew it, it was past midnight and I just couldn’t keep my eyes open any longer. Au revoir!

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Friday, July 24, 2015