4.01.2005
a beautiful day
Times reflect the local time in Paris. Due to circumstances beyond my control, but generally regarding not being able to find internet access for my laptop, I was unable to update my blog posts live. Blog postings reflect, thus, the time and date that I wrote the entries, but all of them were posted back here in Oxford on Monday night.
Today was a lovely day – we were going to spend it in the Louvre today and then go outside for tomorrow, but the weather was so gorgeous today we seized the moment and struck out for more outdoorsy types of activities. First up, breakfast.
OK, so breakfast isn’t exactly what one might consider an ‘outdoorsy’ activity, except that a light and crisp and flaky and yummy pain au chocolat is much better when enjoyed in the sunlight and open air. And enjoy it I did. I was denied my pain au chocolat yesterday when the woman mistook my order (as it may have been mumbled, and in bad French, but then what is good French?) and gave me a sour apple pastry. Not that I minded the sour apple pastry, it was delicious. But I enjoyed my pain au chocolat very very much, especially as it was a day delayed. It was most enjoyable: light and toasty with delicious swirls of deep, dark chocolate.
Onward then to the Musée Rodin, which, according to Let’s Go, some call the best museum in Paris. I certainly wouldn’t go that far (the Musée d’Orsay is just too good), but I can see what they might be going for, especially on a nice and sunny day. The actual museum building is really well furnished – it’s old but it has a certain grandeur and character and elegance. If only they could bring themselves to restore the mirrors – nothing quite so disappointing as mirrors that are cloudy. The real draw for the museum is the expanse of lawn and gardens stretching out behind the main house. On this, the 1st day of April (Happy April Fools Day!), the grass was growing and the bushes were starting to flower, but I can only imagine what the place might look like in a month or so. It really was incredibly elegant. And to have Rodin sculptures scattered about the grounds is truly amazing.
From there, we walked up to the Place du Concorde, and then left down the Champs-Elysées. Even while walking next to an 8-lane road filled with cars, the fact that we were in a lovely park did not, for one moment, let in the notion that this was, indeed, a bustling metropolis. Paris has always felt like a series of little neighborhoods, and not like a city. At this point, we hadn’t eaten anything except a pastry each, and were sorely tempted by the aroma of perfectly browning butter wafting across our path. There truly is no smell like perfectly browning butter – our mouths were watering instantly. Sadly, it would be a little while longer yet before we got food.
We passed a guy with a McDonald’s cup in one hand and a copy of USA Today in the other. Seriously, he couldn’t have found something better? At least try the International Herald Tribune! Yes, I know that I’m being a snob. And proud of it, really. Oh, and we also passed by a giant Louis Vuitton handbag on the side of a building. Up toward the Arc du Triomphe, I was surprised to learn (at least, in the guidebook, which could, I suppose, just be Harvard students messing with our collective heads), that the original design for the Arc du Triomphe was to be a giant elephant. This would have been a blessing, I suppose, in relations between the French and the Republican party in 2004, but those ‘benefits’ would have been negated by the fact that, from at least one angle, one would be driving directly toward a giant elephant’s butt. We climbed to the top, from which the view was gorgeous.
Afterwards, we went down to check out some wacky architecture at La Défense. It’s totally modern architecture at its absolute weirdest – there were some very good looking buildings and some very bad ones too. But the main thing we were struck by was the juxtaposition of buildings that seem all business with sculptures and such that were exceedingly whimsical. Very cool, but also very disorienting.
Walking later through Montparnasse, we were tempted to get crepes, but thought better of it, being as dinner was to be in just a little while. We also tried to walk back to the UNESCO compound, but we got there as the business day was closing and they were shutting up. We responded by sitting in a little park between UNESCO and the Military Academy (speaking of strange juxtapositions) and enjoying the sun.
This perfect day was capped by a delightful stroll through Paris’ Chinese quarter. It’s difficult to call it a Chinatown, in that it was much less squalid and gross than, say, an American Chinatown. Unless you count the suburban ‘Chinatowns’ where everyone has a PhD (Lexington, MA comes to mind). We went to an amazing Vietnamese sandwich and deli shop recommended by Let’s Go, where we were treated to a delicious sandwich special of marinated cold meats, shredded carrot, pickled cucumber, cilantro (ew!), and a tangy Vietnamese sauce. I picked all of the cilantro out of mine. It was made easier by the fact that the cilantro was not just leaves, but whole twigs! This would have made an amazing dinner had I not gone without a proper lunch today. No, pastries don’t count.
So, while I was contemplating a prospective sandwich number 2, the sad fact that the deli had closed impressed itself upon me. Side note: Diana is looking over my shoulder as I type this. She thinks I am being pompous. I would venture to say that what good is having a blog if you cannot spin clever turns of phrase for one’s own amusement? End side note. Diana, it should be noted, was perfectly content to go home and go to sleep, and was rather incredulous that I should still be on the prowl for further ingestables. While we were looking at a menu posted outside a little Chinese restaurant, the waiter poked his head outside and invited us in. At this point, I needed no more convincing, Diana was not so sure. But in we went. Soon, we had a pot of tea (good Chinese tea and not this weird English nonsense that I’ve been forced to swill the past two months) and had ordered two bowls of what turned out to be exceedingly delicious duck noodle soup. The duck was perfectly roasted, though like last night’s duck, a little gamier than what one might find in the US. The soup was richly flavored and carried both the flavor of the duck and also an underlying current of garlic and ginger. The noodles were also heavily flavored with garlic and scallion. Unfortunately, perfection does not exist in this country: the duck noodle soup was sadly tainted by the presence of the sinister cilantro. Seriously, I think it tastes like soap. Two big spoonfuls of cilantro migrated via spoon from my bowl to Diana’s. My soup tasted like soup again. :)
I enjoyed my second dinner immensely and was left incredibly full. This might be the first night in a long time that I go to bed full. It is not that I don’t go to bed satisfied with the food that I’ve eaten. But tonight, I’m full. So I’m back in the hotel with a tummy full of soup and totally ready to attack the Louvre tomorrow.
Today was a lovely day – we were going to spend it in the Louvre today and then go outside for tomorrow, but the weather was so gorgeous today we seized the moment and struck out for more outdoorsy types of activities. First up, breakfast.
OK, so breakfast isn’t exactly what one might consider an ‘outdoorsy’ activity, except that a light and crisp and flaky and yummy pain au chocolat is much better when enjoyed in the sunlight and open air. And enjoy it I did. I was denied my pain au chocolat yesterday when the woman mistook my order (as it may have been mumbled, and in bad French, but then what is good French?) and gave me a sour apple pastry. Not that I minded the sour apple pastry, it was delicious. But I enjoyed my pain au chocolat very very much, especially as it was a day delayed. It was most enjoyable: light and toasty with delicious swirls of deep, dark chocolate.
Onward then to the Musée Rodin, which, according to Let’s Go, some call the best museum in Paris. I certainly wouldn’t go that far (the Musée d’Orsay is just too good), but I can see what they might be going for, especially on a nice and sunny day. The actual museum building is really well furnished – it’s old but it has a certain grandeur and character and elegance. If only they could bring themselves to restore the mirrors – nothing quite so disappointing as mirrors that are cloudy. The real draw for the museum is the expanse of lawn and gardens stretching out behind the main house. On this, the 1st day of April (Happy April Fools Day!), the grass was growing and the bushes were starting to flower, but I can only imagine what the place might look like in a month or so. It really was incredibly elegant. And to have Rodin sculptures scattered about the grounds is truly amazing.
From there, we walked up to the Place du Concorde, and then left down the Champs-Elysées. Even while walking next to an 8-lane road filled with cars, the fact that we were in a lovely park did not, for one moment, let in the notion that this was, indeed, a bustling metropolis. Paris has always felt like a series of little neighborhoods, and not like a city. At this point, we hadn’t eaten anything except a pastry each, and were sorely tempted by the aroma of perfectly browning butter wafting across our path. There truly is no smell like perfectly browning butter – our mouths were watering instantly. Sadly, it would be a little while longer yet before we got food.
We passed a guy with a McDonald’s cup in one hand and a copy of USA Today in the other. Seriously, he couldn’t have found something better? At least try the International Herald Tribune! Yes, I know that I’m being a snob. And proud of it, really. Oh, and we also passed by a giant Louis Vuitton handbag on the side of a building. Up toward the Arc du Triomphe, I was surprised to learn (at least, in the guidebook, which could, I suppose, just be Harvard students messing with our collective heads), that the original design for the Arc du Triomphe was to be a giant elephant. This would have been a blessing, I suppose, in relations between the French and the Republican party in 2004, but those ‘benefits’ would have been negated by the fact that, from at least one angle, one would be driving directly toward a giant elephant’s butt. We climbed to the top, from which the view was gorgeous.
Afterwards, we went down to check out some wacky architecture at La Défense. It’s totally modern architecture at its absolute weirdest – there were some very good looking buildings and some very bad ones too. But the main thing we were struck by was the juxtaposition of buildings that seem all business with sculptures and such that were exceedingly whimsical. Very cool, but also very disorienting.
Walking later through Montparnasse, we were tempted to get crepes, but thought better of it, being as dinner was to be in just a little while. We also tried to walk back to the UNESCO compound, but we got there as the business day was closing and they were shutting up. We responded by sitting in a little park between UNESCO and the Military Academy (speaking of strange juxtapositions) and enjoying the sun.
This perfect day was capped by a delightful stroll through Paris’ Chinese quarter. It’s difficult to call it a Chinatown, in that it was much less squalid and gross than, say, an American Chinatown. Unless you count the suburban ‘Chinatowns’ where everyone has a PhD (Lexington, MA comes to mind). We went to an amazing Vietnamese sandwich and deli shop recommended by Let’s Go, where we were treated to a delicious sandwich special of marinated cold meats, shredded carrot, pickled cucumber, cilantro (ew!), and a tangy Vietnamese sauce. I picked all of the cilantro out of mine. It was made easier by the fact that the cilantro was not just leaves, but whole twigs! This would have made an amazing dinner had I not gone without a proper lunch today. No, pastries don’t count.
So, while I was contemplating a prospective sandwich number 2, the sad fact that the deli had closed impressed itself upon me. Side note: Diana is looking over my shoulder as I type this. She thinks I am being pompous. I would venture to say that what good is having a blog if you cannot spin clever turns of phrase for one’s own amusement? End side note. Diana, it should be noted, was perfectly content to go home and go to sleep, and was rather incredulous that I should still be on the prowl for further ingestables. While we were looking at a menu posted outside a little Chinese restaurant, the waiter poked his head outside and invited us in. At this point, I needed no more convincing, Diana was not so sure. But in we went. Soon, we had a pot of tea (good Chinese tea and not this weird English nonsense that I’ve been forced to swill the past two months) and had ordered two bowls of what turned out to be exceedingly delicious duck noodle soup. The duck was perfectly roasted, though like last night’s duck, a little gamier than what one might find in the US. The soup was richly flavored and carried both the flavor of the duck and also an underlying current of garlic and ginger. The noodles were also heavily flavored with garlic and scallion. Unfortunately, perfection does not exist in this country: the duck noodle soup was sadly tainted by the presence of the sinister cilantro. Seriously, I think it tastes like soap. Two big spoonfuls of cilantro migrated via spoon from my bowl to Diana’s. My soup tasted like soup again. :)
I enjoyed my second dinner immensely and was left incredibly full. This might be the first night in a long time that I go to bed full. It is not that I don’t go to bed satisfied with the food that I’ve eaten. But tonight, I’m full. So I’m back in the hotel with a tummy full of soup and totally ready to attack the Louvre tomorrow.
