Paris - Day Two

Oct 5, Tuesday 

The Original Farmer's Market

Of the many good things about Paris, one for sure is that you just can't get a bad cup of joe.  We ordered ours from a cafe stand just a few doors from our rented apartment.  In the morning, Parisians order an espresso, a tiny cup of pure caffeine and they down it like a shot at the little one person stand, be they business men in Armani suits, prettily made-up office girls with their Marc Jacob bags, or little old ladies with really good shoes, and off they go, the ritual takes maybe a good two minutes with even a sparring conversation with the barrista, of course, as Americans we order our cafe creme "to go," the whole conversations takes over 10 minutes and what's with paying with coins.  When we wrap our hands around the cup and sip/savor, it's worth the hassle and we can walk, chat and sip, the art of multi-tasking.  I don't think I ever saw another soul walking around the city with a cup of coffee.  That's what separates US from THEM, that and the many ways they wear their scarves....

Only a few blocks away, we walked to Marche Raspail between Rue du Cherche-Midi and Rue de Rennes.  What is it about fresh cheese, meat, produce, flowers, all in the open, it's just so exciting... like you want to pull on your Hunter boots and start farming something.  I know we can't all be farmers but we can all cook something and share it.

I had the chance to taste foie gras pate from an artisan and duck farmer from the south.  He spoke about his region, which I was not familiar with, with such passion and almost violent enthusiasm... at least that's what I think he was talking about, there was the whole retirement age issue going on... but he was speaking French and I was just in awe of my friend, Kellie, translating in her high school French...  I nodded a lot and tasted with a lot of ohhhs and ahhhhs.  The market comprised mainly of food stuff, some clothing (which was odd) and beautiful market baskets from Madagascar, if only I didn't have visions of people yelling at me about it not fitting in the overhead bin, I would have snatched one up. 

 

I had to see the famous Poilane bakery, where the business has been handed down some thirty years ago and the younger generation is continuing the seventy year tradition of baking famous brick oven  bread that is guaranteed internationally to be at your door step in 48 hours.  But this is not the white french bread you see people walking around tucked in their back pocket.  They refuse to make that type of bread... order some and find out why it's so popular....

We continued our stroll down Rue de Raspail (this is still morning, we will come to a snails pace come evening) down to Rue du Cherche-Midi, where we happened upon this statue, the Centaur by French sculptor Cesar, which is just down the street from Le Bon Marche, the best place for retail therapy as any I have ever seen.  Every designer shoes, handbags, clothes and home furnishings that you can, again, ohhh and ahhh at.

I was so glad that Kellie decided that this is where she needed to get her husband a souvenir.  It gave us a chance to practice the hunt, not for a deal, there are none to be found here, but for the perfect gift.  She found it with the help of a Frenchman with a similar cranium, a perfect gray wool pageboy hat.  We decided that we needed some food after looking at and thinking about food all morning.  We walked into the a cafe across the street where the host/waiter tucked us into a great spot for people watching, right in front of a busy intersection (rue de babylone and rue du raspail) at Sip Babylone,  Kellie and I both admired and critiqued people's fashion sense, we noticed that Parisians definitely dress up and were a little daring in their choices, whether they were college students or older (a lot older) retirees. When our food arrived, we were as quiet as if we were at church, we didn't say a word until after several bites.  This could be the best quiche Lorraine I have ever had, and I have tried many in my day.. Story has it, this dish is not named after a granny or some crazy aunt or even a well meaning neighbor.  It's a region in France where this specific quiche was made popular, the French, they are so efficient that way.  Ours had the perfect blend of ham and cheese and eggy goodness and the perfect crust.  I think it can also be made with thick bacon. After a good session of people watching and a preview of this year's fashion do's and don'ts, we plucked ourselves off the cafe seat and dusted the baguette crumbs and headed toward the river. 

We noticed several neighborhood markets in different areas and they all had fresh produce in common, how can you not cook and eat fresh when you have this within walking distance?  I think it's as Adam Gopnik said,  "Everyday things in Paris are wonderful, " in one of his books.  And I agree.

After walking all morning, we decided to take the Batobus, a little shuttle boat cruiser on the Seine River that takes you from the left bank to the right bank and all the way around with stops at every major monument.  We caught ours at the St. Germain stop and went around the Notre Dame to the Louve stop.  We got off to take in the site and enjoy the cloudy day in the Le Halles area. Historically, the market place of Paris, the great markets are no longer there, but there's a nice little eclectic neighborhood with boutiques and many kitchen wares store, notably E. Dehillerin, which is more like an old fashioned hardware store, but for cooks, with every imaginable cookware/bakeware one would ever need or even imagine that they would need.  It is paradise, but crowded and serious people needing serious things, I even noticed a package set aside for someone from Guy Savoy to pick up, so we didn't spend much time although we should have.  We took a break from all the walking and enjoyed a refreshment at Cafe Noir, which is known for it's friendly owner, but not a one was to be seen or heard, but we enjoyed the Arabic music and a glass of Stella beer.  After more window shopping, we were back on the Batobus for a cruise around the Eiffel tower and back to our stop.  Even when it drizzles in Paris, it's a beautiful thing.

We walked back to the apartment for a quick change and went to find our second dinner spot in Paris, after the first dinner, we were determined to be a little more discriminating..  As we were walking around the Montparnasse area, we encountered the Eiffel tower light up in all it's glory (sorry for the bad grainy video).

 

 After walking around, we settled on an establishment that looked old, it was called Montparnasse 1900, I hoped it was the age and not the address.  We were discouraged upon entering, it looked abandoned in the parlor or so we thought.  Upon entering the inner chamber, there was a crowd of people, and beautiful stained glass ceiling, we were lucky to be seated  Again mostly French people, but they actually had good looking food in front of them and bottles of wine.  After perusing the menu, I ordered the 7 hour roasted lamb a jus and potato puree and Kellie had the roasted chicken.  We eaves dropped on the diners to the right, a father and daughter (I hope) and a table full of businessmen to the left.  We sat and soaked in the the hustle and bustle of the professional waitstaff as we enjoyed our bottle of Sancerre in a champagne bucket.  Nourished and exhausted from our second day in the city, we prepared to be joined by our friend, Joan, the next day for the rest of our Paris adventure.