On Saturday I ended up going back over to Montmartre to take the Culture Fish Tour. Two brothers and their sister, who have an American dad of Lebanese descent and a French mother, decided to start the company together. As far as I know, they give two tours – one of the major sights of the city and one of Montmartre. Their tours are pay-whatever-you-think-it-was-worth tours. I wanted to hear about the history of Montmartre and take a few photos during daylight hours, so decided on that one. Pierre was standing outside of the Blanche Metro stop wearing orange and holding a Culture Fish tour sign. By the time we were ready to get started (4:30 p.m.), there were probably 14 or so of us. We did walk up the hill, but not directly via those arduous steps. We kind of zig zagged. Besides, Pierre knew plenty of shortcuts. He is quite personable and the tour was all kinds of informative. At the end of the tour, about half of us gave him money, but the others didn’t. He didn’t seem phased at all, which is a great attitude!
My dinner that night was at Le Drapeau somewhere off of Rue de Rivoli. I ordered a ham and cheese omelette. I pronounced it in French, but the waiter asked “What is that? A ham and cheese omelette?” Why yes! What? You understand French and English, too?! He wasn’t really being a jerk, but had the slightest bit of an attitude. In all fairness, he seemed to be the only waiter for both the inside and the outside; the outside was full, too.
My plans to go out later did not come to fruition. Either I’m getting too old and tired, jet lag still has its grips on me or my feet wouldn’t let me. I limped back to the apartment and slowly made my way up those 3 flights of stairs. I just need to give my feet a rest, I kept telling myself. The next thing you know, I had my PJs on and then it was all over!
On Sunday I’d signed up for a Flea Market tour with City Walks. I’d tried to go to Puces St. Ouen 6 1/2 years ago, but couldn’t seem to find it. Now that they took me on the tour, I DID have the right place, but it was closed for some reason the time I tried to go; I know it’s only open Saturday, Sunday and Monday, but I’d tried to go on a Saturday. Marie was very nice and spoke with a decided English accent. I wasn’t sure if she’s French, but speaks English or whether she’s English/British and speaks French. There were 7 of us taking the tour. The Puces St. Ouen is composed of several markets, each specializing in different things. We obviously didn’t make it around to all of them, but she concentrated on about 5 in the hour and a half that we had. I’d asked if the prices were set in stone or if bargaining is expected. She said that the most discount you can count nowadays seems to be 20% off of whatever they initally tell you. I didn’t find any antique rosaries or cuff links, but ended up buying a couple of hand painted fashion sketches, which will look nice once they’re framed.
I then wandered off to Le Jardin du Luxembourg to take photos of La Fontaine Medici. Though colder than previous days, it was a pleasant day to be in the park. My very late lunch was a ham and cheese crepe from a vendor in Le Quarter Latin; it cost me all of 3.40E.
As usual, my feet were killing me by that time. I came back to the apt. to give them a little rest.
I was scheduled to attend dinner with an expat, Jim Haynes. He’s lived here for more than 25 years and hosts a dinner nearly every Sunday, inviting 50 people or thereabouts. He asks that one donates 30E for dinner and all the wine you can drink. I’d reserved a spot via E-mail back in January. I was excited to be meeting people from all walks of life gathered at his atelier. I was running late, but was halfway there on the Metro, when they shut down our train at the Montparnasse station. No one was waiting around for a second train, so I figured that I must switch lines and find an alternate way to get there. Actually, there is NO alternate way to get to the Alesia Metro stop. When they announced that the stops between Montparnasse and Porte d’Orleans would be unavailable until Monday morning, I knew that expat dinner wasn’t in the cards for me this time around. So I did the tourist thing, took the Metro to St. Germain des Pres and had a light dinner (a croque monsieur, a bottle of San Pellegrino and a Heineken) at Cafe de Flore. Granted, it was overpriced, but I quite enjoyed sitting outside under the heat lamp watching the world go by. My waiter was exceedingly nice, too. I still wasn’t ready to call it a night, so headed to Les Halles for a nightcap. At Cafe du Centre, I had a panna cotta a la pistache avec fruits rouges and a glass of Brouilly. That panna cotta was divine; wish they made them like that in San Francisco!
This morning I wanted to get those postcard perfect shots of the Eiffel Tower from Palais de Chaillot. Let me tell you, it was windy and freezing up there. My hands nearly froze in the 10 minutes that I had my gloves off adjusting the cameras! The shots were beautiful, though.
My next mission was to find Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal, which was supposed to be near the Sevres-Babylone Metro stop, next to Le Bon Marche. I found it easily and walked inside the chapel. After a few minutes of prayer, I went to the gift shop to purchase medals and rosaries. I made that special trip to pick up medals for two of my friends – one whose three-year-old son passed away two days after Christmas and one whose mother passed away a month ago. However, since these medals are for protection, I definitely need to keep some for myself as well!
I went back to Les Halles for lunch. I have no idea what the name of the cafe was that I had lunch at. I sat outside under a heating lamp again. I ordered a Salade Campagnarde and an Orangina. The salad said that it had potatoes, ham and Camembert as well as greens and tomatoes. I still didn’t expect the humungous size of it! I made my way through 1/4 to 1/3 of it, but couldn’t force myself to eat any more. Let’s repeat once more – Boy, do the French know how to make a salad!
Years ago my ex-roommate, Franck, had taken me to a cookware supply store called E. Dehillerin near Les Halles to look for a sugar bowl. This time I wanted another copper pan. Surprisingly, the store was easy to find. Getting the pan proved a bit harder. Although there must have been 4 employees, everything seemed to be in mass confusion. It must have taken me 20 to 25 minutes to get my pan. I’d had it picked out from the start, but needed someone to tell me the price (had to look it up myself in their catalogue by the item code), had to get someone to actually bring me the pan, then I had to fill out forms and pay. Whatever… that copper pan is worth it. It’s still cheaper than buying in the U.S., even though the Euro is stronger. NO ONE will be using that pan, though, other than me!
I also stopped at another kitchenware store that has the cutest vintage French tins. I love things with La Vache Qui Rit on them, but when she showed me a tin with Le Petit Prince on it, I had to have that one as well. My plan is to store all of my flavored salts in those tins, rather than having them spread out all over the kitchen.
Stay tuned for more…
