Paris Journal 2010 – Barbara Joy Cooley Home: barbarajoycooley.com

Photos and thoughts about Paris

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We arrived at Charles de Gaulle Terminal 1 on Wednesday evening after five wonderful days with our friends Arnold and Mareen in Munich. The RER train connects Terminals 2 and 3 with central Paris, but from Terminal 1 you have to take a train to get to the RER train, and that’s just one additional step too many, considering that the apartment in the 15^th requires a metro ride after the RER train ride. So we took a taxi instead. I thought the traffic wouldn’t be bad at 6:30 to 7 in the evening, but I was wrong. The Peripherique (highway encircling Paris) was pretty jammed. Because of gas mileage, I guess, none of the taxi drivers seem to want to drive right through the middle of Paris anymore. They take the Peripherique as far as they can, and exit it to go into central Paris at the point closest to their destination. That’s too bad. I miss the days of riding in a taxi through Étoile, around the Arc de Triomphe. At any rate, our taxi driver was good, and we were home by about 7:30. He’s Muslim, and I assume was fasting for Ramadan until after sundown. I don’t know how he had the patience to deal with the traffic jams on an empty stomach. He must be a serene person. So we arrived home at last. We had eaten so well and so much in Germany, that we skipped dinner, electing to nibble on some cheese instead. On Thursday, we went shopping at Ed for basic groceries. Tom noticed a man about his own age who was surreptitiously putting extra veggies into his bags after he’d already weighed them and put the price stickers on the bags. Tsk tsk. Our English friends, Carol and Ron, came over to our place at 6:30 for champagne (actually a crémant from the Jura) and snacks, then we all walked down the avenue Émile Zola to Oh! Duo. The Valeros are back from vacation! Hooray! The little restaurant was busy. Maybe there was a pent-up demand after the long vacation closure. Françoise Valero has a new assistant, the best one ever as far as we can tell. The assistant is about 22 years old, tall, brunette, and she has a goofy, pleasant smile. Her English is very good; that’s something Françoise needs. Joel Valero came out of the kitchen to greet us. Ron ordered the shrimp salad starter course, and I had the roasted tomato stuffed with mushrooms and escargot, which I shared with Carol. Tom had the warm goat cheese salad that comes with the inexpensive 22-euro three-course dinner. For main courses, Ron and I had the special of the day: duck breast with roasted peach slices in a fruity sauce with Joel’s incomparable puréed potatoes. Tom’s main course was the poached salmon, and Carol had the rouget, or redfish/red mullet. Tom and Carol each had Joel’s superb tarte fine aux pommes (very fine, flat open-faced apple tart) for dessert, and Ron had a rhubarb soup lined with finely sliced strawberries. No dessert for me. It was an absolutely delicious dinner all around. And it was great to catch up with Ron and Carol, to hear about what they’ve been doing in Paris, and to tell them about our adventures in Bavaria. We all walked together to the Émile Zola station of the metro line 10, where Ron and Carol took the subway home to the Mabillon stop. They had walked enough for the day. Tonight, Ron and Carol will accompany Elisabeth and Ron to the Louvre, which is open to members (and one guest each) on Friday evenings until 10pm. That’s a really good idea. The weather is warmer than I expected it would be in Paris. I was surprised at how dry all the plants on the balcony had become. I think the weather must have been hot while we were away. Today was supposed to be rainy and cool, but it isn’t. Preparations are underway for our move to the 6^th on Sunday. Onward! Sign my guestbook. View my guestbook. Note: For addresses & phone numbers of restaurants in this journal, click here.

Friday, August 27, 2010 The Castel Béranger, and its guardienne in the pink pants. Place Joffre. ← Previous Next →