Paris Journal 2008
Sign
my guestbook. View
my guestbook. ←Previous Next
→ Barbara’s home page
|
Yesterday evening, we walked over to the apartment in the 6th to meet up with Wendy (a friend from Sanibel, and sister to our friend Carol from England) for a walk and dinner. We started in the Luxembourg Gardens, strolling slowly until the Gendarmes started blowing their whistles to shoo everyone away at the gardens’ closing time. Then we walked up the boulevard St. Michel, pausing to gaze at the ruins of the Roman baths at the Cluny, and continuing on up the rue de la Harpe, which was buzzing with people, activity, and food smells as always. Turning right past the old St. Severin church, we also were able to show Wendy the church called St. Julian le Pauvre, the oldest church in Paris. We even were able to point out the oldest tree in Paris, in the park next to that church, before the guard shooed us out of that place, too. We crossed the busy Quai de Montebello and went down to the bank of the Seine to show Wendy the Six Huit, now being renamed the Riverside, where it is possible to have drinks and a great view of Notre Dame. But it was after 9PM, so we decided to look for dinner instead. After some discussion, we concluded that the best idea would be to walk over to Le Caveau du Palais on Place Dauphine at the western end of the Ile de la Cité (17-19 Place Dauphine, 1st arrondissement, Tel. 01-43-26-04-28). This gave us the chance to traverse the huge square in front of Notre Dame, and to walk by the Hotel Dieu. We explained to Wendy that this is a big public hospital for the poor, as well as a 14 room hotel for anyone who wants to stay there. We went by the ER entrance (“urgencies”). We told again about the poor care Tom received in this hospital’s clinic for crime victims in 2000. We pointed out the location of St. Chapelle, where you can see windows that are as good as or better than the ones in the cathedral at Chartres, and the big old Conciergerie prison. We passed the old flower market and the Guimard entrance to the metro at Cité, and then skirted around the big Palais de Justice via the quai de l’Horloge. That brought us to the charming, leafy Place Dauphine, where the light from old-fashioned street lamps was sifting through the trees. We had not been to Le Caveau du Palais for a long time. Somehow, I omitted it on my restaurant recommendations, and I should not have. That will be corrected this Fall when I will update those recommendations. The woman who runs the place is the same one we remember from years ago. But she is more relaxed now. The restaurant was almost completely full, but she had a table for us inside. We could see a part of the kitchen from where we sat. I was impressed. There were three or four men doing the cooking, and they all looked very competent. Our food was superb. We started by sharing a generous serving of terrine de campagne (country paté). With the terrine came a ceramic container of some of the best sweet pickles we’ve ever tasted. For the main course, I had the best supreme de volaille I’ve ever had – very moist, tender, slices of chicken breast served with a rich reduction (demi-glace) sauce . The potatoes au gratin came in a ball wrapped up in bacon. It was too much for me – Tom and Wendy had to help with these potatoes. Tom said his lamb chops were some of the best he’s ever had, and Wendy devoured her fish (cabillaud, or freshwater cod, I think) with gusto. The fish filet came with vegetables and a nice-looking sauce made with white wine and butter. Tom had a nice apple tart with ice cream for dessert, and Wendy had a marquise with two kinds of chocolate, dark and white, and crème Anglaise. One of the restaurant reviews I saw claims that this place is full of lawyers from the nearby courthouse at lunch. I have no doubt that this is true, but I’ve only seen it in the evening. Real Parisians eat here, along with tourists who are of the slightly more sophisticated kind. The restaurant is small – long and narrow – and most of the tables are on the sidewalk terrace, where the smokers sit. The interior is very interesting because the building is so old. Very ancient-looking wooden beams are exposed everywhere. Madame was very pleased when we walked back to the other end of the restaurant to thank her and to ask for a couple business cards at the end of the meal. By the way, my gastronomic dictionary says that cabillaud, or freshwater cod, can grow as large as 100 pounds, and the female can lay as many as 10 million eggs at once. It is a low-fat fish. The other fish on the menu included bar, also known as loup (sea wolf). I saw it served to the table next to us, and it looked very good -- a grilled, whole fish. This is a European bass with fine, delicate flesh. It comes from the Mediterranean. We walked Wendy back to the apartment, trying to orient her toward her closest metro station, Mabillon, and the most convenient shopping areas. Today, her plan is to visit the covered market under the tracks on the Boulevard de Grenelle. -----------------
For those of you who know me, you must know that I lost a good friend this past week. Dr. LeClair Bissell passed away while in Connecticut preparing to sell the house that she and her deceased partner, Nancy, owned there. It was unexpected – an intestinal embolism that proved not to be surgically correctible. She was a wonderful, strong woman who worked throughout her life for women’s rights. For a while, she ran an emergency room in New York City. She was a practicing believer in rescuing animals, especially unwanted chihuahuas. She was the daughter of Clayton Bissell, a general. Her mom and dad are buried in Arlington National Cemetery. Ike Eisenhower gave her some horsebackriding lessons when she was a girl. She gave generously to political causes and candidates that she believed in. She served for years on the board for Planned Parenthood of Southwest Florida. She was a world-renowned expert in the field of treatment for alcoholism among medical professionals. For this work, you will see her name cited thousands of times on Google. I’m sad that I did not have a chance to say goodbye to her. But I am happy that I can remember so many times in the past couple years when I made sure to talk with her at Zonta and political gatherings. I loved to listen to her – she was always so well-informed and well-spoken. I am sure it was clear to her that I think she was a very special person. Here’s a
link to some books by LeClair.
Don’t miss The Cat who Drank Too
Much. LeClair will be greatly missed.
Sculpture of lovers amidst flowers in the Luxembourg
Gardens. |
Sunday, August 24, 2008
Mach III, part of this year’s temporary art exhibition
in the Luxembourg Gardens. This, and
the sculpture below (A Certain Walkman) are by Philippe Seené, an artist born
in 1959 in Paris, who lives and works in Paris. This 1986 sculpture is made of “résine patinée,” and is
310 cm tall. Un certain
walkman is from1987, and is 250 cm tall. Site: http://p.seene.free.fr For more about the artsenat program, see www.senat.fr
Old and new sculptures together in the Luxembourg
Gardens.
The cute little house in the Luxembourg Gardens is now
showing an exhibit of paintings of bulls.
They remind me of the work done by a friend of Wendy’s and mine, Sherry Rohl, who is famous for
her horse paintings. However, Sherry is
much, much more talented than whoever painted these bulls. The Senat art program ought to show
Sherry’s work.
Interesting plant in the Luxembourg Gardens. Sign
my guestbook. View
my guestbook. |
