Paris - Day 2

  Paris, Île-de-France, France
Friday, September 19, 2008

Before the trip, Jay had expressed his desire to go jogging in Paris, specifically, along the Seine. Although I had accompanied him on a couple of runs in Nice along the Promenade Anglais, my plans for Friday morning involved sleeping in.

After Jay returned from his run, I headed back to the supermarket Champion for some eggs and bacon. I found the bacon right away but conducted my own thorough search of the store for eggs before seeking assistance. I found an employee in the pain (bread) aisle and asked, "S'il vous plait, madame, ou est le eggs?" She responded, "Desserts?" "Non, merci," I replied as I walked away to attempt searching once again for the eggs. No luck. I sought her out again, this time with a piece of paper and a drawing of a row of eggs and sunny-side up eggs. She led me by the arm and planted me directly in front of several shelves of eggs. "Oui, oui, merci! Comment diton?" "Des oeufs," she said. You can see how I mistook "desserts" for "des oeufs," can't you?

My next stop was a flower shop around the corner, where I picked up a colorful bouquet of flowers for €4. Monsieur advised me to cut the stems and pull out the dead leaves before I placed the flowers in water (at least, that's what I understood from his gestures). Then it was off to a small café on Rue Dauphine for a couple cups of take-away coffee. As I crossed Pont Neuf, the oldest bridge in Paris, I felt pretty satisfied with myself for accomplishing all of my objectives that morning.

By the time I had returned to the apartment, Jay had already emerged from the shower and was ready to cook me breakfast. Back at home, I'm usually the one cooking him breakfast, so it was a nice change.



It was past noon when we finally set out for our first stop of the day, Notre Dame. Although there were sunny skies, it was chillier than I had anticipated. We immediately got in line for the climb to the top. Most of my waiting time was spent trying to fix an errant button on my jacket. Mind you, this called for being very creative and patient without a having a sewing kit handy. Not before long, we were heading up the long winding steps to the souvenir shop. After several minutes of browsing around, we were allowed to continue on to the next level. Both Jay and I commented on the fact that our perceived level of fatigue upon reaching our destination had definitely diminished since our first climb three years ago. 

Jay loves nothing more than to photograph the gargoyles, so he was in pure bliss for the next half hour. After he had taken every single gargoyle's photograph, we ascended to the top, which is something we had never done before. The view from the top is magnificent and we definitely exceeded the five minutes allotted.



After we made our descent, we strolled through Square Jean XXIII and admired the cone-shaped shrubs and rows of perfectly manicured trees. A few days later, I will rest my tired feet here while enjoying my Berthillion ice cream cone. By this point, it was past 2:00 pm and I was ready to feed my belly.



As we crossed Pont St. Louis, we had the pleasure of listening to a jazz band playing in the middle of the bridge. I tossed a few coins into their valise before we continued on toward our destination, L'As du Falafel.

As we headed toward Rue de Rosiers, we came across an interesting sight, an imitation Pinkberry frozen yogurt shop on Rue Vielle du Temple called myberry. A quick peek inside the shop confirmed my suspicion. Everything from the minimalist white décor to the toppings selection screamed Pinkberry. I wasn't able to confirm whether or not they offer mochi, which would be good to know if ever I was jonesing for some fro yo in Paris.



At last, we found ourselves in front of L'As du Falafel. This was the first time we were trying the renowned falafel and we were not disappointed. Every single crunchy bite was delicious and when Jay fed me his last piece of falafel, I knew that he must really love me.



The next item on my agenda for the day was dessert. Angelina, here we come. But first, we did a bit of window shopping along Rue Rivoli before hopping on the Metro at Hotel de Ville. We got off at Tuileries and a few minutes later, found ourselves in front of Angelina at 226 Rue Rivoli. We were seated immediately and after careful deliberation, we ordered the famous Chocolat Africain, iced coffee, a Saori, and a Fraisier. The hot chocolate was heavenly, like drinking a melted chocolate bar. My Saori was a Japanese cheesecake with flavors of lime and strawberry. It was light and paired well with the Chocolat Africain. Jay's Fraisier was essentially a strawberry shortcake, but was delicious all the same. I will definitely pay homage to Angelina when I go to Paris from now on.






Afterwards, we crossed the street and entered the Jardin de Tuileries. The afternoon had given way to warmer temperatures and I found myself not needing my jacket. We observed a game of boules for a few minutes before I wandered off in search of a vacant chair. I found a couple of empty seats by the western fountain and planted my derriere in one of them and my feet in the other. I hadn't realized how tired I was and soon found myself in a state of slumber.





Unfortunately, the warmth did not last too long and the jacket had to go back on. We made our way back to Ile de la Cite by crossing Pont des Arts and then doubling back at Pont Neuf. We browsed at a few of the bouquinistes, used-book stalls, along the quai.




As soon as we got back to our apartment, I phoned the restaurant Le Pre Verre to inquire about availability for dinner that night. "Bonjour monsieur, s'il vous plait, avez-vous availability pour diner c'est soir pour deux personnes, huit heur?" I grimaced, hoping he understood my request. He did. "Oui, we have room in the downstairs." "Merci, monsieur!"

We strolled leisurely to Le Pre Verre an hour later, crossing through the infamous and always crowded Rue de la Huchette and stopping at Shakespeare & Company, which was the one other thing that Jay wanted to see besides Notre Dame. As Jay did not have his trusty Canon SLR in his possession, he vowed to return the next day.









We found Le Pre Verre fairly easily, as it was a hop, skip, and jump away from the hotel we'd stayed at in February. We were 10 minutes early, but were immediately seated downstairs. The waiter propped the chalkboard menu on the table against the wall and we pondered our selections. This is what we ordered:


Saumon marine au gingembre et aubergines fumees - Salmon with ginger and smoked eggplant


Salade de figues, cul noir et quinoa - Fig, olive, and ham salad with quinoa


Cochon de lait fondant et chou croquant aux epices - Suckling pig poached in spicy sauce and cabbage


Caille confite et lard laque, patate douce sauce café - Quail roasted with caramelized bacon and coffee sauce


Truffade du chocolat noir, sauce sesame grille - Chocolate truffle and molasses ice cream


Poire pochee, caramel gingembre glace a l'olives - Poached pear with ginger caramel and olive ice cream

Every single morsel was delicious and it was, without a doubt, the best meal we'd had in Paris in four trips. It seemed that all of the diners downstairs were foreigners. Whether it was coincidental or purposeful, I could care less. The food was great and reasonably priced and we would definitely dine there again.