We wake up early. Annamarie,
the owner of the inn has breakfast ready.
I’m pretty sure she lives on zero sleep.
There’s no way she can get so much done so gracefully otherwise. We pack, say goodbyes to our host and hit the
road. It’s a long drive back to
Paris. The French highways are great, very
good condition, well-marked and efficient.
We still can’t figure out why every rest stop has at least two traffic
circles, but we’ve long since accepted the roundabout culture. The scenery from Buane to Paris is beautiful,
mostly agriculture, the vineyards giving way to pastures as we drove.
We only hit traffic for the last 10 miles or so, and even
that still moved. We decided return the
car and spend the last night at a hotel near the Airport. Turned out to be a good decision for a few
reasons. We check in to the Marriott,
dump the bags and head to Avis. It’s no
small feat. We find a building marked
Hertz/Avis on the perimeter of the airport, but it’s not the car return. Fortunately, one of the service drivers saw
our perplexed faces and gave us a “follow me!”
Thank god we did, and it still took another 15 minutes to get to the car
return, which was at the top of a corkscrew parking structure.
We cab it to into Paris.
Probably a mistake not to take the train, as the cab took a full hour in
Paris traffic. It was stressful for us
and we weren’t even driving. On a
recommendation, we head to Au Pied de Cochon (thanks Patty!), one of the
timeless Parisian restaurants is the 2nd arrondissement (district). This is a place that stands on ceremony and tradition,
so I’m guessing the menu hasn’t changed much since they opened in 1947. The first restaurant in Paris to be open 24
hours a day, they specialize in seafood and pork. The menu ( http://www.pieddecochon.com/en/menus/
) is exotic to say the least, including dishes like “Crisps of Pig’s Feet and
Snails”, “Veal Kidneys Flambeed with Cognac” and “Salad Saint-Antoine” which
includes grilled pigs ears, snails, crispy crustaceans, calf eggs and
pomegranate over mesclun. I start with
half a dozen oysters, but the wait captain (dressed exactly like what you are thinking)
talks me out of The Real AAAAA Duval, convincing me that this traditional tripe
sausage is probably too strong for the uninitiated. He directs me to the sausage special
instead. Mandy, now way past her eating
out limit, orders the onion soup (fantastic, even compared to others in France)
and cheese board. It’s cool and rainy so
we are sitting inside watching the comings and goings of the staff and
patrons. The three-man business meeting
on one side of us order desserts that wouldn’t fit in my suitcase. The Greek mother and daughter on the other
side catch our attention as mom gobbles up the “Temptation of Saint-Antoine
Patron des Charcutiers”, which includes tail, ear, muzzle and breaded pig’s
foot, all served with a side of Bearnaise.
I didn’t even know cured meats had a patron saint, but now I understand
why it needs one.
It’s clearing up, so we decide to walk the neighborhood, see
the sights. At one point Mandy asks “what’s
that building there?” “The Louvre”, I
answer, finally getting my bearings. We
decide to go back in. We are really glad
we had a guide on our first visit, as we had some idea of the lay of the land
and the collections. As amazing as this
museum is, it’s equally overwhelming.
We head towards the Latin quarter and Marais, just wandering
really. On again off again rain and we
duck under awnings or into doorways when it gets heavy. We see the iconic green boxes of the booksellers
on the sides of the Seine, some trying to keep tradition but most forced to infuse
souvenir shop tchotchkes to help revenues.
We cross the river and stumble across Sainte-Chappelle, one of the
places we missed on Mandy’s list. Commissioned
by King Louis IX and opened in 1248, this royal chapel was built to house the
king’s collection of religious relics including Christ’s Crown of Thorns. Getting inside is a little odd as it’s now
mostly surrounded by the Palais de Justice, the massive courts complex. It’s worth finding your way in. The stained glass is unlike any. Fifteen unbelievably detailed stained glass windows,
50-feet high each, give the feeling that you are being lifted to the
heavens. Pictures cannot do it justice
and we’re happy we saw it in person.
It’s been a long day at the end of a long trip. Café is in order. We finish our walk into the Marais section. We find a street lined on one side with cafes
and with shops on the other. We pick one
in the middle, settle into our small table and order our afternoon drinks. Ahhhhhhh, daydrinking. We’ve come full circle in 14 head spinning days. In the morning, we’ll be in the airport,
schlepping bags, returning to real life.
But for now, for just one last hour, we’ll just be. Here.
In Paris.
No comments:
Post a Comment