Happy 25th Anniversary to Us!
Rain again! And we must let you in on a little secret: Walking along hand-in-hand in a cold drizzle with the damp of centuries coming up from the cobblestones is romantic for about the first 50 meters. After that, it's just cold and damp!
However, the sun soon appeared (and disappeared, and appeared, and...), so we set off to the northeast, visiting the Bastille (well the square where it used to sit), Opera Bastille, Hotel Sully, Place des Vosges, the Marais neighborhood, the Carnavalet Museum (history of Paris), all before lunch!
This is the Colonne de Juillet (July Column), which stands in the square where the Bastille used to stand. Now you would think that a commemorative column in this square would be commemorating THE French Revolution, you know, the one where the peasants rose up, and among other things, tore down the hated Bastille stone by stone using just hands and fingernails. Right? Wrong. Look closer at the base. See the year? Even I know that the Revolution didn't happen in 1830. This column commemorates "the Trois Glorieuses — the "three glorious" days of 27–29 July 1830 that saw the fall of King Charles X of France and the commencement of the "July Monarchy" of King Louis-Philippe" (I stole this from Wikipedia). HA! So you thought that THE French Revolution was their only revolution? Apparently they had several more, and until the last one, pretty much each simply resulted in exchanging one king for another.
By the way, if you saw Les Miserables recently, you may be interested to know that the plaster elephant was originally on the pedestal where the Colonne de Juillet now stands.
Then it was off to the Marais, where apparently they get pretty damned serious if your rent check bounces:
We visited lots of grande maisons, many with good sized courtyards. There were groups of school children out on field trips. Here we see French attention to detail. In what other country do they specifically teach citizens how to pee on the sides of buildings?
Some of the little nippers are even taking notes - proper form is paramount!
Heading into the Place des Vosges, we saw what we thought was crass commercialism - an Apple iPad billboard covering a corner of the Place! Quelle horreur!
Actually, it's just a nifty way to hide restoration work. Here is a shot from a tighter angle:
Monsieur Modus also had a fun mannequin:
I'll have to split today's activities into two posts as we're going out now.
À bientôt!
OK, we're back now...
Continuing from Place des Vosges, we went into the Carnavalet Museum, which tells the history of Paris in a very disjointed and boring manner. So for instance, a beheading in the square in the 1790s is juxtaposed with an 1830s Belle Epoque dinner party:
At least most of the rooms were cordoned off, so we had that going for us...
After wandering the Marais a bit more, it started to rain hard so we ducked into Au Bourguinon du Marais, which is supposed to serve the best beef burgundy in Paris. I found that it was just so-so, but the Cote du Rhone was fabulous. As near as I can tell, the wine was named something like "Jackass" - see the bottle in this photo (as with all photos, click to expand):
In the evening we strolled through the Botanical Gardens, which is sort of a combination of the Atlanta Botanical Gardens and Fernbank Science institute rolled into one.
Of course, we would never see this in a state-funded park in Georgia:
At least most of the rooms were cordoned off, so we had that going for us...
After wandering the Marais a bit more, it started to rain hard so we ducked into Au Bourguinon du Marais, which is supposed to serve the best beef burgundy in Paris. I found that it was just so-so, but the Cote du Rhone was fabulous. As near as I can tell, the wine was named something like "Jackass" - see the bottle in this photo (as with all photos, click to expand):
In the evening we strolled through the Botanical Gardens, which is sort of a combination of the Atlanta Botanical Gardens and Fernbank Science institute rolled into one.
Evolution? C'mon, that's some Frenchified book-learnin' that's agin the Bible!
But, those Frenchies sure know how to make a greenhouse!
Just before dinner the front finally moved through and we had this beautiful scene as the sun set:
And panning to the right -- a rainbow!
This was a great omen; we had an excellent dinner at Le Reminet, just a couple of blocks from the apartment. It is a small, neighborhood restaurant that is recommended in several sources (we had intended to eat at the Tour d'Argent - it's right across the street from our apartment, the very top corner can be seen to the right of the rainbow photo above - but we just didn't feel like getting all dressed up and dropping beaucoups des euros!).
Anyway, Le Reminet was tiny and packed - and good! I had an outstanding prawn/vegetable/orange appetizer. Claudia's main course was the best cod we've ever had. I had no idea that a cod dish could be made to taste so complex. Dessert was also something special - a coconut mousse on a lime biscuit with ginger ice cream in a chocolate coronet. The presentation was only out-done by the taste! Sorry, the place was way too crowded to take photos.
Speaking of crowded, we sat cheek-by-jowl with newlweds from Chicago. They were having their honeymoon dinner that night, sitting next to us oldsters celebrating our 25th anniversary. So, though the day started drizzly and cold, it ended well.
But, those Frenchies sure know how to make a greenhouse!
Just before dinner the front finally moved through and we had this beautiful scene as the sun set:
And panning to the right -- a rainbow!
This was a great omen; we had an excellent dinner at Le Reminet, just a couple of blocks from the apartment. It is a small, neighborhood restaurant that is recommended in several sources (we had intended to eat at the Tour d'Argent - it's right across the street from our apartment, the very top corner can be seen to the right of the rainbow photo above - but we just didn't feel like getting all dressed up and dropping beaucoups des euros!).
Anyway, Le Reminet was tiny and packed - and good! I had an outstanding prawn/vegetable/orange appetizer. Claudia's main course was the best cod we've ever had. I had no idea that a cod dish could be made to taste so complex. Dessert was also something special - a coconut mousse on a lime biscuit with ginger ice cream in a chocolate coronet. The presentation was only out-done by the taste! Sorry, the place was way too crowded to take photos.
Speaking of crowded, we sat cheek-by-jowl with newlweds from Chicago. They were having their honeymoon dinner that night, sitting next to us oldsters celebrating our 25th anniversary. So, though the day started drizzly and cold, it ended well.
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