Distance Walked: probably at least 6km if not more, Alcohol Consumed: 2 glasses pinot noir, 1 glass 2012 Saint Emillion Grand Cru
I started the day with breakfast at a hipster cafe (the male barista had a man bun). I expected the coffee to be good, which is was, but the croissant was from yesterday and was stale. They took delivery of today's pastries as I was eating mine. Not happy Jan.
The trip to Paris was uneventful. I even braved the Metro to get to my hotel from the Gare de Lyon without any reason to worry about pickpockets. And I picked the correct exit (out of 5) at the metro stop near my hotel. I'm on a roll. I was to early to check in (I arrived at about 1pm) but they let me leave my suitcase, so I headed out for lunch.
I'm in the Marais district which is fabulous. So much happening and such interesting people and shops. It isn't a pedestrian area, even though it is very central. However, the pedestrians behave as if it is and the cars just have to cope. My only concern is that I am nowhere near chic enough and far too straight for this neighbourhood. Mind you, there is a "Proud to be Leather" festival going on in a nearby street so perhaps that has skewed the demographics.
My first choice for a lunch stop claimed to be full, which was clearly a lie. About 1/3rd of the tables were empty and at 1:30pm there was unlikely to be a mad rush before the end of lunch service at 2pm. My next choice, La Chaise au Plafond, turned out to be terribly earnest about house made food. The front page of the A4 menu was a manifesto about the shocking state of restaurants in Paris and all but claimed the chef/owner of this restaurant has single-handedly forced Parisian authorities to enforce a meaninful way of flagging restaurants that really cook their own food, rather than heating up pre-made dishes. He was also very intent on telling you about the origin of the ingredients in each dish. He stopped short of saying your steak was from Daisy the cow but only just.
When I went in and asked if they had a table for 1, the waiter looked around at all the empty tables and looked at me like I was an idiot and said I could sit where I liked. I was inclined to take offence but over the course of my lunch I saw he was rude and dismissive of all the customers. One poor couple came in at 1:55pm and he simply ignored them. They stood in the doorway for a good 5 minutes and he made no attempt to speak to them, even though he had to brush past them a few times. They eventually got the hint that he wasn't going to serve them and went away.
I had the soup of the day, which was a cream of some green vegetables - zuchinni and swiss chard I think. The waiter had better things to do that tell me what I was eating. It was very tasty, whatever it was. For main I had the dish of the day which turned out to be a pork chop with a mustard sauce. It came with fried zucchini slices (they must have got them cheap at the market) and mashed potatoes with leeks. The veg was good and the mustard sauce was tasty, but the chop was a bit tough. Dessert of the day was a fruit salad of pear, peaches and pineapple chopped into the tiniest pieces I ever seen, topped with a scoop of cream flavoured with vanilla. I also had a reasonable coffee to finish my meal.
After lunch I went to the Musee des Arts et Metiers. I had translated this as the Arts & Crafts museum and was not particularly interested in it, but my map of the Marais had an ad about it. It turns out it isn't Arts & Crafts, it is their Science & Technology museum. It was absolutely fascinating. It had all sorts of scientific instruments including some belonging to Pascal and Lavoisier and Foucault's Pendulum was in the basement. The only thing I didn't like about it was they had some computers on display that I remember using when I was a teenager. I'm not that old! I stayed until they kicked us all out at 6pm.
I checked into my hotel, the Hotel Bretonnerie, to be told I had been upgraded from a Classic room to a Charming room and it is charming. It has massive exposed beams in the ceiling, plush furnishings and a bathroom with marble floors and vanity and red & gold wallpaper on the walls and ceiling!
I headed out to dinner, a little concerned I might have trouble finding a place that would serve a single diner on a Saturday night, given this is such a popular area. I settled on a place called Robert et Louise as you could eat at the bar, so I wouldn't be taking up a table for two. It is called a restaurant de feu - which translate as restaurant of fire. It was in a very old building and it serves mainly meat which is cooked over an open fire in an old fashioned fireplace just like the one I'm getting rid of in Albert. It was a tiny place with a kitchen in one corner and the fireplace at the back. There was also a room downstairs with more seating and another kitchen that cooked the other dishes.
I had a seat at the bar upstairs and had a great view of how the barman/maitre d' managed the restaurant. If people came in without a reservation and he didn't like how they looked he would say the restaurant was full. If he liked them, he let them have one of the free tables or spots at the bar. I felt very priviledged to be permitted to dine there.
For entree I had a massive serving of pork rillettes which were delicious. They also plunked a large jar of cornichons on the bar next to me that I could help myself from. They were then taken away to be served to other customers. I'm sure food safety people in Australia wouldn't permit that. For main I had a confit duck leg, that came with roast potatoes and a salad. The duck leg was also delicious. Very tender but very rich. I hate to think what my cholesterol levels are like right now with all that saturated fat. While I was eating, a couple at a table behind me finished up. They had half a bottle of Saint Emillion wine left and they generously gave it to the pretty blonde woman sitting at the bar next to me. She generously shared it with me.
I didn't bother with dessert there as it isn't made of meat and can't be cooked over an open flame. Instead, I went to a wander around the neighbourhood as it is a very pleasant 26C right now and the streets are full of people. It seemed dull to just go back to the hotel. I came across a gelateria. The take ice cream very seriously here. Proper shops list the name of the chief ice cream maker on the door. I decided dessert was appropriate after all. I had a scoop of grapefruit sorbet which was very refreshing and a scoop of smoked chocolate which was just odd.
One more day of self-indulgence to go and then it is back to real life. Singapore Airlines has already started sending me emails letting me know I can check in online. Killjoys.
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