Paris Journal 2009 – Barbara Joy Cooley Home: barbarajoycooley.com
Sign
my guestbook. View
my guestbook. ← Previous Next
→ Back to the beginning
|
The French are not like us. At least, their government is not like
ours. France actually has a law
requiring places to be closed on Sunday.
Most places, in fact. The law
has specific exceptions that allow for some few groceries, such as the
Champion I visited the other day, to be open until 1PM on Sundays, and for
some stores in “touristic” areas to be open on Sundays. The definition of a “touristic” area is
vague. There is also vague language
about the need to pay workers perhaps doubletime if they work on Sunday. This week, the National Assembly
is going to debate a proposal to broaden the scope of places allowed to be
open on Sunday, and to better define the concept of a touristic area and when
workers must be paid doubletime. This is a major debate. You see, many French leaders, conservatives
and liberals alike, think that allowing places to be open on Sunday will
destroy the French culture. I think that the reason the
Champion in our neighborhood is allowed to be open on Sunday, albeit only
until 1PM, is that it is in a very urban and somewhat touristic area. But I’d like to get some of those deputies
from the National Assembly to accompany me to the Champion on Sunday
morning. There they’d see that
tourists are few and far between in the store on that day; by far, the vast
majority of shoppers are working Parisians.
While the deputies no doubt
think they’ve already done right by these folks by allowing the store to be
open until 1PM, I think it is quite insufficient. You can see how harried these folks are. If the store had its normal, weekday hours
(8:30AM to 11:30PM) on Sunday, these working people would not be so
desperately trying to cram all the shopping into these few morning hours. In the 15th
arrondissement, you cannot find grocery stores open on Sunday. At least I haven’t found them yet. You can find a few of those tiny little
markets open, but they are expensive and don’t have the selection of
household items that people need. The market under the tracks at
Grenelle is open on Sunday mornings.
But it is time consuming and expensive to shop there, plus a number of
household items just cannot be found there.
And by 1PM, it shuts down. For all the talk about
supporting working people, I think the French government is really out of
touch with them. I want those deputies
from the National Assembly to have to shop at Champion on Sunday morning. But they probably mostly have
wives or staff who do their shopping for them. As happens in the U.S., the
proposed new law has lots of proposed amendments stuck to it. Who knows what law will actually
emerge? On va voir. Speaking of working people, bouillons were created just for
them. Here’s a hilarious excerpt about dining at the Chartier bouillon,
from Paris on a Plate: A Gastronomic Diary, by the witty Australian
food critic Stephen Downes. Last night, Tom and I dined at
the Bouillon Racine near the
Odéon Theatre. We did call ahead,
which was advisable in the past. But
when we arrived at 8:25PM, there were lots of tables available. I think that the restaurant business has
dropped off noticeably. By the way, I’ve been updating
the restaurant
recommendations. So places like
this one that we discovered in the past two years are now being added. Keep checking back. I ordered the 3-course menu, but
I ordered light. Starting with a
gazpacho which was very light and smooth (and which I shared with Tom), I
followed up with the fresh, grilled sardines and puréed potatoes served with
just a little melted butter and tapenade.
The portions were small, fortunately.
Sardines here, by the way, are not like sardines in America. Here they are a nice, small, but not tiny,
mild fish, and they have not been soaked in brine. I ended with the dessert of the
day, a pear tart made with an almond crust.
It was heavenly. Tom had lamb chops, which were
substantial and good. Surprisingly,
they came with polenta instead of potatoes.
This is an example of how the Bouillon Racine has modernized its menu;
it is no longer strictly traditional French as the Chartier bouillon
is. I don’t think a traditional
bouillon would have served gazpacho, either. Tom finished with ice cream,
which was not cheap but it was excellent. The greatest thing about
Bouillon Racine is its good looks. The
Art Nouveau interior has been meticulously restored and maintained. Because of the drop in number of restaurant
customers, we were seated on the ground level for the first time. I was able to marvel at the absolute beauty
of the bar and dining room on that level, and the exquisite lighting and
décor. I was sorry that I did not have
my camera with me. Maybe next time. Sign
my guestbook. View
my guestbook. |
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
The
rose window on the front of the Ste. Clotilde basilica.
In
the interior of the restaurant Le Basilic, the columns also serve as
attractive lighting. There’s
that cat again!
|
