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From
the Saint Vincent de Paul chapel on rue de Sevres,
Detail
of the ceiling and a painting in the Saint Vincent de
Statue
in the Saint Vincent de Paul chapel.
Window
detail in the St. Vincent de Paul chapel.
Organ,
ceiling and nave of the St. Vincent de Paul chapel. |
Saturday, September 29 We are planning for our departure from It will save us a small pile of money, too. And perhaps some time. We haven’t taken this train for some
years. Back then, one had to take a
bus from the train to the terminal.
Now, RATP shows the train actually arriving in the base of the
terminal. We shall see. It sounds too good to be true. But if it does work out, it looks like the taxi drivers
just lost a couple annual customers going from the I have so many photos left to show you that I think I
will continue this journal for a little while after our return to
Sanibel. But you never know, life can get to be so busy there. Last night we went out in the never-ending rain to La Bastide Odéon, a restaurant that did not quite make it into
my revised restaurant
recommendations for this year.
This is only the second time we have been there, and I had a couple
questions about it, so I reserved my judgement
until now. It is a bit expensive. And the pasta dishes are a little
strange. But everything else on the
menu seems to be good. Because it is
favorably reviewed I the new Michelin red guide, there are many Americans
there. Even though we made our
reservation in French, arrived speaking French, spoke French when we were
seated, there was a delay in receiving our menus because the server was
waiting for a English menus to be available. I finally stopped him and asked if I could
see the menu (after waiting for 10 minutes or more). He said to me, in French, “The English
menu?” And I said, “Francais, s’il vous plait.” Then
the menus arrived immediately. I’m confused by menus in English. I know French cuisine in French, and if I
see an English menu, I’m constantly wondering, now what is that dish? What is it in French? And I certainly don’t want to order it in
English because I fear they won’t understand English well enough and they’ll
bring me the wrong thing. I ordered millefeuille aux aubergines (would the English menu say “a thousand
leaves of eggplant”? I don’t think
so. You see why this would be
confusing.), and then tête de veau for
my main course. Tom ordered the farm
chicken, roasted, and then the millefeuille for dessert.
That’s a different kind of millefeuille altogether, of course. And I have no idea how they’d translate it
on an English menu. My Dictionnaire Gastronomique
says a millefeuille
is “a rectangular, layered flaky pastry filled with pastry cream and topped
with white icing” --
too many words for a menu item. And
Tom’s was topped with confectioners’ sugar.
He said it was the perfect kind of dessert for a 10-year-old. He enjoyed it thoroughly. The old building that holds this apartment has been
undergoing some improvements lately.
Some stone workers came into the cave (basement) and chopped away at
the surface layer of stone and mortar to remove it so the cave can dry out
before receiving a new surface. And
the courtyard has been slightly re-arranged to provide a more hidden nook for
the garbage cans. The ancient, huge
door into the courtyard was recently restored, too, so the whole effect is
quite nice. We’ll miss this place.
It has been very quiet lately, and that’s amazing given how crazy the
neighborhood can be just on the other side of the Saint Sulpice square. Having the We’ve been told
that the Hotel Recamier, around the corner from us, will be completely
renovated next year. So if you’re
coming for a short visit and you want to stay in this perfect little
neighborhood, you might want to check that out. A few words about the St. Vincent de Paul chapel photos
at left: The chapel was built from 1826-27. The reliques of
the saint were placed there in 1830.
The chapel is on the grounds of the former Mother House of the
Congregation of the The medallions at the center of each window (one is
shown at left) illustrate the life of The chapel is part of a complex of
buildings (and the garden!) that serve as a seminary and world-wide reception
area for the Lazaristes – missionaries scattered
across the globe. It also serves as a
retirement center for the missionaries. We plan to go out to eat with our dear landlord friends
tonight. That will be a great way to
end this summer. More later . . . . ←Previous Next→ |
