Life in Paris
Trip Start
Jun 29, 2008
1
8
58
Trip End
Nov 27, 2008
Paris,
Île-de-France,
France
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
1. Getting around. Paris is a delightful city to walk around and, where distances are a little too far or your feet are a little too weary, the metro is incredibly convenient. However, to enjoy the city in true Parisian style, I recommend hiring a bicycle. Paris has a fantastic system of bikes for hire - you can arrange to have a card for 1 day, 1 week or 1 year, and then you use it when hiring out bicycles from various locations around town. It is very cheap (indeed, the first half hour is free) and a great way of getting from one place to another. Odette (Ben's cousin) and I hired bikes on Sunday morning (being the day the Tour de France was entering town, we thought it appropriate). We just went on a short ride around the Ile de la Cite and Ile St Louis on this occasion, bit the options are endless. All the bikes have a basket on front (and a chain to lock the bike to a pole if required), so if you want to do your shopping and bring it home, they are ideal!
2. Gourmet dining. We went to an absolutely delightful restaurant around the corner from us on Ile de la Cite, called Au Vieux Paris. They have a wonderful French menu at reasonable prices, the decore is reminiscent of old world charm, the staff friendly and cheerful, and to choose your wine, you go down into their underground cellar. Jan had escargot once again for entree and, remarkably, after already braving frog's legs on a previous restaurant trip, I had one of them (pictures included)! To be honest, they drown them in so much flavour, I couldn't tell you if they had one of their own - it was fine but, for me, not anything I need to repeat (better than frog's legs though). I had a daily special for entree which was a combination of eggs, cream and fois gras with small toasts, which was quite rich but enjoyable. For mains I had a scrumptious chicken confit, already being a fan of duck confit. The wines we chose, both the white (polly fume) and red (from St Emillion), were really good. Our shared desserts, of creme brulee and a magnificent chocolate dessert (like a small cake with a runny rich centre of chocolate), were ooh la la!!
3. Shopping. I have had a range of shopping experiences from wandering down the Champs Elysee (where I actually found a nice reasonably priced shirt in a French shop which I purchased, and where we came across the Peugeot shop), through the Marais (which includes the Jewish quarter) where I found a kitschy watch with an Eiffel Tower second hand to replace my other watch which died, and on Place de la Madelaine today where we went gourmet shopping at Fouchon (you should see our rich desserts for tonight!!). Ice-cream is big here in Paris, and I have been frequenting my local Amorino gelati shop on Ile St Louis (the lemon gelati is magnificant). I have tried the famous Berthillon ice-cream too, and while the Framboise (raspberry) was pretty great, you get much more bang for your buck at Amorino. As you can tell, it is very lucky we are doing a lot of walking or my clothes wouldn't still fit!
Tonight, we plan on another Parisian experience - a boat trip down the Seine. Paris in the evening is absolutely delightful - plenty of people out enjoying themselves, and wonderful late sunsets. Paris really can be quite charming when the weather is fine.
