Oversleeping on Saturday

Slept in until 10:30am today, quite a late start.

Took the metro to Ile la Cite. We had a plan to start at Notre Dame, but we started at Saint Chapelle instead. Gorgeous place, paned glass so striking it gives one goosebumps.

Walked around the courtyard of the Palace of Defence, out and to the left to see the oldest public clock in all of Paris (and yes, it does still keep time). Walked along the building but then reversed ourselves and went to Notre Dame. Took pics of John in front of Charlemagne's enormous statue. I told John there was a resemblance: their noses. :-) (John is a descendant of Charlemagne....as are, no doubt, a few million people!)

Then we went and wandered on the left bank for a bit. We stumbled onto an old church, avec flying buttresses (hereafter referred to as "flying butts"). We weren't able to figure out the name of this old church, but the architecture suggested it was quite old. Towards the back a family was having a little boy baptised and he wasn't very happy about the cold water being poured onto his head. Rounding the corner, left side of the alter, we came across an old polish woman poised in front of a Polish redention of the virgin Mary...she muttered away something in Polish about the significance of this particular relic being Polish. Atop of the virgin were symbols of the flags of both Poland and Lithuania. I tried in a combination of Polish/French/English to figure out what she was trying to convey, but the most I could get was that there was a Polish/Lithuanian connection and that she was Polish. I told her in my best French that my grandmother was Lithuanian and my grandfather, Polish. That brought a great smile to her face. Too bad Florence or Betty weren't on hand for a quick translation.

About this time, John's blood sugar had dropped critically low (actually, I think it's always low) and we succumbed to a tourist trap of a restaurant on the left bank, a stone's throw from the Seine. We ate Mr. Croquet (6E) and washed him down with an inferior red (4.5E). Escaping narrowly, we wandered over to yet another tourist trap of an area...the footpaths that are south of Rue de la Huchette. At one time I'm sure that this area was indeed charming, but today it's a veritible Disneyland: restaurants of all varieties, tzatchkies everywhere, and all crammed into the tiniest of areas. No wonder Joy never found decent bread. It couldn't possibly exist in this area!

We continued down the Seine towards the Musee d'Orday and arrived there a bit after 4:00pm. We got in for 5E each although the posted price was 7E. We viewed most of the Van Gogh, Renoir, and Toulouse-Latrec exhibits. Just as we were approaching the Art Nouveau exhibit they closed down, and ushered us out in a veritable sweep of the museum. Although we did see 2 Henri Rosseau pieces and Gustav Klimpt or two, I would really have liked to have seen the Art Nouveau section, which included quite a bit of furniture, some of it rather substantial.

Leaving, we headed into the interior of the St. Germain du Pres. This area was literally swarming with people, much like the footpaths of the area near Hutchette was earlier today. I caught a glimpse of the infamous Les Deux Magots and quickly decided that it simply wasn't worth eating at if it meant dealing with the crowds close up. Besides, sitting in a cafe, being a tourist, watching other tourists, simply didn't seem to be an experience worth writing about. We hopped aboard the 96 bus on St. Germain and exited on Oberkampf and stopped at our local internet pub to check email and have a drink.

At 8pm, it seemed as though we were fated to be thrown out a second time today, so we packed up and headed off for dinner at a place we'd seen last night while lost in the 11e-, Le Chistera. (Another tenant of 27 Rue des Bluets had also recommended it). We arrove without reservations but were promptly seated and given a little dish of pate, bread, and a sausage much like pepperoni/capricolla?

We ordered a half bottle of a 2002 Bordeaux (Chateau Mauperey, Cotes de Castillon,10.5E), which was pretty decent for the money, but have really been tasty with some decent stemware. That is one thing I have noticed here in Paris: they insist on drinking their red wines in the tiniest of glasses. I would have thought that in the land, famous for its wines, that they would have the sense to use correct stemware. I have yet to see a single restaurant or bar use an appropriate red wine glass.

So for food, John ordered three courses (25E): mushrooms provencale style, seabass in a chive cream sauces with dry sauteed spinache, and prunes in armagnac. I ordered just two (20E): breast of duck with potatoes, and creme brulee. The mushrooms were tasty, with lots of parsley, garlic, and olive oil. We cleaned the plate with slices of our baguette. John's seabass was a fillet, pan fried and covered in a light sauce. The spinach was very different. Usually spinach leaves a wet mess on ones plate,but this spinach was pleasantly dry and flavorful. My duck was cooked medium rare and was served with a brown honey sauce and pan roasted potatoes. Superb. The prunes in armagnac were interesting, flavorful, and surprisingly the alcohol wasn't too strong. While the creme brulee was tasty, the texture was a bit off. The custard seemed to have seperated a bit and there was a lot of moisture left in the dish. Not that we were totally offended: we gobbled it right up. We finished off with espresso and chocolate coffee beans (5E).

After walking a few streets home, we both collapsed into bed and slept quite well.

Last word:
One thing that I am really pleased about when dining out is that prices include a near 20% tax AND gratuity. I'm not exactly sure how much of this goes to the waitstaff, but when you consider that we're accostomed to paying out 15 to 20, the meals we are eating here really are quite a good deal despite the dollar being as weak as it is.