Winding down

What a great place to work on textbooks!  Yesterday, we went to the library to return books and to get our deposit back.  A trip to the library is a mundane errand, but when it involves walking across the Champ de Mars, by the iconic Eiffel Tower, and along quintessentially Parisian avenues, boulevards, and streets, it isn't quite so mundane.

A kilim and a Beluch bag face on display on the Avenue de Suffren.

This year, we needed the American Library in Paris and its resources.  We learned that it has a superb American literature collection, as its name implies.  We also learned that it is a somewhat warm and stuffy building; after the hike from the apartment, it takes a while for me to cool down at the library.  The climate control there perhaps operates on a humidistat.

The American Library has all the latest technology for cataloging, checking out, returning, and searching for books.  It is not for morning people; the doors don't open until 1PM, and they close at 7PM.  The staff does answer the phone before 1PM, however.  The staff members are kind and helpful.  We thank them!

Yesterday's visit to the library will be our last for this summer.  So the staff returned our 60-euro deposit that enabled us to borrow books.  Next year, when we return, we will re-up our membership for four months. 

Tajerrashti, an impressive oriental rug store on the Avenue de Suffren.
We spent a while looking into this shop's window because of some impressive carpets on display.
There  is an embargo against Persian rugs now, so we didn't tempt ourselves by going inside.
However, there are some great rugs from Afghanistan (like the Beluch
bag face on the wooden horse) and Turkey at this shop, and it is
the kind of place that does restoration work and cleaning of rugs.  The shop also
buys good rugs and carpets.

After the library errand, we had refreshments once again at Le Relais de la Tour on the Avenue de la Bourdonnais.  Where we sat at a high-top in the front corner, the window was open so that the berets and refrigerator magnets on display in front of the souvenir shop next door were inches away from Tom's shoulder.  I especially admired the laminated Mona Lisa placemats just to the right of my knee.

We had the same convivial server as before.  He brought Tom a warm piece of apple pie and a hot espresso, and to me he served a glass of chardonnay. 

As we were finishing our refreshments, I watched a middle-aged American tourist make all the mistakes she should not make in Paris:  she did not say bonjour or hello, she just launched into her order to the server, without even a smile!  And she did so in English, without even attempting one word in French.  She did not say please or s'il vous plait when she ordered.  She did not say thank you or merci when her order arrived.  I just cringed.  I cringed.

Evening sky as seen from our kitchen window.

We sauntered home at the warmest part of the day, when the temperature reached 72 F and the sun blazed.  What a lovely Autumn day!

We dined simply at home, enjoying the view from the balcony, and talking about plans for next summer.

Celebrate: Eat Dessert First

We weren't expecting much yesterday; just an ordinary brasserie where Tom could have an espresso and pie, and where I could have a glass of wine, at the end of a productive afternoon.  Tom had just finished writing the preface to a new edition of one of his books, I'd started writing a book, and we'd just walked to the American Library in Paris to return and check out books.  It was good to be out of the apartment, which is filled with 10,000+ books.  Books, books, books.

Parc Saint Lambert just before sunset on a lovely summer evening.

Because of the completion of the preface, the occasion called for a minor celebration.  I remembered that there was a brasserie on the Avenue de la Bourdonnais between the rues General Camou and Montessuy which had caught my attention because it has such an honest and classic appearance, and because it isn't big.  It is right around the corner from the American library.

Le Relais de la Tour is the name of the place.  We paused briefly on the sidewalk to check it out.  When we decided to enter, the servers were friendly and welcoming, professional yet humorous.  One showed us to the best table in the place -- a round booth tucked in the corner.  I noted that the decor is an honest, refreshing, non-presumptuous Art Deco.  We were comfortable in our spacious booth.

A couple tables were occupied by older, local residents.   This is a very good sign, especially in a highly touristy area like this neighborhood at the foot of the Eiffel Tower.

The Relais menu proclaims that all desserts are home made, so we ordered a chocolate mousse and a café gourmand.  It was all suberb, and our little desserts were indeed home made from the best ingredients.  You can't fake high quality chocolate! The creme brulée was perfect, and the ice cream in the profiterole was excellent.  I ordered a glass of wine which was not inexpensive, but it was very good.  We like Relais de la Tour very much, and we will return.

Dinner in the evening was just a light meal at home.  Then just before sunset, we walked down to our favorite local park, Saint Lambert, where we sat on a deep blue park bench and took in the sights of families enjoying the cooling evening air in that lovely green space.

Café gourmand at Le Relais de la Tour at 27 Avenue de la Bourdonnais in the 7th arrondissement.

Those two outings plus a trip to the grocery in the morning were more than enough to allow us to complete our daily goal of walking 5 miles.

Here's another photo from Tuesday's evening walk.

Rue de Furstemberg in the 6th arrondissement.

Incongruity that jostles

In the touristy area near the base of the Eiffel Tower, regular life goes on.  The Avenue de la Bourdonnais may be home to many souvenir shops, but it is also the address for a large clump of municipal buildings that include a gymnasium, a library book depository, and, turning the corner on the Rue General Camou, a big high school named for Gustave Eiffel.

The Eiffel Tower last night, as we walked home.

In France, students must decide their vocational path fairly early, so high schools are specialized.  While logic would dictate that a school named for Gustave Eiffel would have a mission of preparing future engineers, that is not the case.  The focus of this school is professional training in the commercial and administrative sector, including the hospitality industry.

That early choice of career path might seem to stifle creativity and growth.  But this school has something called the "Opera Project," which is described as follows:

The opera project is a great adventure, where the pedagogical, human, educational and artistic converge to help students grow.

The first objective of this project is incongruity: to propose something that astonishes and detonates, that jostles, panics, forces to move. This is to make the high school team reshuffle the deck, to go against the grain of daily life where students are often stuck, to go to the opposite extreme of their comfort zone, to make them fall off the walls and break the glass ceiling.

The second objective is consideration: we take the time to watch our students attentively and we look at them with interest, giving them the feeling that they were chosen, that we set the bar very high, that they will have to reach up and out.

To educate is to raise, and the words take on their full meaning here. With these two objectives, the incongruity that jostles and the consideration that repairs, we will gradually generate desire, then pride and finally ambition. With the hope that they find or reinforce their motivation for schooling and studies.

While I have no way of knowing how well the Opera Project works, the cliché-filled description offered shows that at least somebody cares about teaching students how to think and set goals.

Rue Monttessuy

We dined on the Rue Monttessuy, just a block away from the Gustave Eiffel high school, at Firmin le Barbier.   We discovered this tiny bistrot last year, around the same time of the year, when we were seeking more highly rated bistrots that are open in the middle of August.

The dinner last night was delightful.  An extended Japanese family occupied two tables inside and one outside.  They were all having so much fun, being served a big steak dinner family style.  Gigi, the server, was of Chinese background, but she communicated very well with the family in English.

When the family left, we all exchanged farewells.  It is a very small bistrot, after all!

At last, when it was our time to go home, Gigi asked if they would see us again next year.  Clearly she paid attention to the data in my Lafourchette reservation.  She knew we'd dined there almost exactly one year ago.  I responded, "Peut etre la semaine prochaine"  (perhaps next week), and she was delighted.  So were the chef and sous chef, who were nearby, just behind the counter.

We all said goodbye to each other, and then Tom and I were out in the cool, damp evening air,  making our way toward the Champ de Mars and Eiffel Tower.  We crossed the Champ in the dying light, but the lawn was alive with groups of people picnicking. 

Today is the Feast of the Assumption.  I'm writing this at noontime, and the church bells are ringing.  Happy holiday!

Here are some photos from the superb dinner at Firmin le Barbier:

Starter courses were a pork and foie gras terrine, above,
and escargots in a yogurt-based soup, below.

A specialty of the house at Firmin le Barbier is Quenelle lyonnaise, champignons et nantua d'étrilles 
(soufflé-like seafood dumpling with a curry-like bechamel-based crayfish sauce and mushrooms).
We each thoroughly enjoyed the quenelles last night.

Raspberry sorbet and chocolate tart (above),
and creme brulée flavored with passion fruit (below).

Who wouldn't want to be in Paris if being home wasn't possible?

August 26, 2016 -- Ann Hildago, the mayor of Paris, got her start in politics here in the 15^th arrondissement.  She’s a liberal, and the 15^th arrondissement is generally more conservative than she is.  Nevertheless, she has proven to be a good administrator, and so she was elected to replace longtime mayor, Bertrand Delanoe, when he retired in 2014.

Shoppers in the rue de Furstemberg.

She is an immigrant, born in Andalusia, Spain, in 1959.  Now as mayor, she is determined to build two refugee camps in Paris.  She says it is not possible to “sit idly by while the Mediterranean becomes a graveyard for refugees.”  The number of refugees in France is expected to grow to 30,000 in 2017.

I have seen coverage of this new refugee camp story in British news media outlets, but I haven’t seen any in American publications so far.  So I share this with you.

Construction of the camps has started, but the exact locations have not been disclosed because the City wants to avoid violent protests.

One of the camps will be somewhere in the densely populated northeast part of the city – where many refugees are already camping.  The other camp will be south of the city – perhaps not far from the 15^th arrondissement.  One camp is for single men; the other is for women and children. These camps will have modular shelters for up to 1,000 people, and will conform to United Nations standards.  They are scheduled to open sometime in September.

Rilletes of trout with toast, a mis en bouche at Stephane Martin

Meanwhile, there is a large makeshift camp in the Jardin d’Eole, north of the Gare du Nord and Gare de l’Est train stations, on the edge of the 18^th and 19^th arrondissements.

French police have broken up makeshift camps in the capital more than two dozen times this year.  They take the campers to local shelters, but these shelters are only for short-term stays.  Soon, the refugees are back out on the streets, looking for a place to camp for the night.

Most of the refugees here in Paris are from Sudan, Eritrea, and Afghanistan.  Paris and Calais are the main destinations for migrants in France.  In Calais, they seek a way to cross the channel and enter Great Britain.

Charities and individuals in France are also being encouraged to take in refugees.  Many are doing so.

Back in the spring, Mayor Hildago angered wealthy residents of the 16^th arrondissement by announcing a plan for an “emergency accommodation center” for homeless and migrants in that arrondissement’s Bois de Boulogne (a huge park).

Also in the Spring, ten restaurants in Paris opened their kitchens to refugee chefs from Syria and other countries.  They cooked from June 17 to 21, for what was called the Refugee Food Festival.

Yesterday evening, we took shelter from the extreme heat at the Restaurant Stephane Martin – an honestly and truly air conditioned place on the rue des Entrepreneurs.  We thoroughly appreciated an elegant dinner of bass filet and eggplant for me, and veal and mushrooms for Tom.  Tom also had a lovely apple tart for dessert, and I had a rich little fondant of dark chocolate imported from Tanzania.

Bass filet with thin slices of grilled eggplant

We were surprised when we entered the place to be greeted by Steven, the server who used to run the dining room at l’Alchimie until three years ago.  We had a lively conversation with him – especially because we were the only diners in the restaurant!  The heat must be causing people to stay home.

I took my long walk in the early morning again today, to avoid the heat.  This time, my route included the avenues de Suffren and de la Bourdonnais.  Seeing the brasseries set up their rows of little round tables and chairs in the morning is fun.  I also enjoy seeing the delivery trucks supplying wonderful ingredients for the days’ meals in various eating establishments along these commercial ways.

Roasted veal and button mushooms cooked in butter

I generally take very few photographs when I’m out walking alone in the morning.  For security reasons, it is better to look like a Parisian who knows where she’s going rather than a vulnerable tourist pausing to photograph the wonderful sights.  I’m just being extra cautious; the streets of the 7^th arrondissement, where I walk in the mornings, seem to be extremely safe, as are most streets of the 15^th.  (Actually, a violent crime rate map that I recently saw indicates that the 15^th is even safer than the 7^th.)  

One commentator on TripAdvisor states that, “The violent crime rate in Paris is a fraction of the rate of any US city.”

Apple tart at the Restaurant Stephane Martin

According to this interesting U.S. State Department report, pickpocketing is the only main concern, and that is particularly around tourist attractions – and, I would add, on line 4 of the metro.  Read that State Department report if you want to know more.

Toward the end of my walk, I sat in the Place du Commerce to cool off and admire the flower beds before going home to water the flowers on the balcony.  I remembered that yesterday evening, as we walked home from Stephane Martin, we saw a sign at one end of the park, announcing a regular boules tournament there -- the Boulodrome!  

Moelleux au chocolat made with dark chocolate from Tanzania

To accommodate enthusiastic boules players, a high temporary wire fence has been constructed on either side of that far end of the park.  This is to prevent them from hitting passersby in the head with their boules.

That would be an ignominious way to go:  "Tourist killed by errant boule in Paris park."

For those of you who are not familiar with this game, according to Wikipedia,  "Boules (French pronunciation: ​[bul]) is a collective name for a wide range of games in which the objective is to throw or roll heavy balls (called boules in France, and bocce in Italy) as close as possible to a small target ball."

Even though the evening air was stifling hot, dedicated players were out in the park, throwing and rolling their boules.

Laissez les bon temps rouler . . . . 

Storefronts telling stories

August 9, 2016 -- The storefronts of Paris delight those who love to amble aimlessly.  Some shop windows are sleek and shiny, showing off the latest fashions.  Some are cluttered with cute and colorful stuff.  Some are welcoming, even enticing, strewn with good things to consume.  Some, like the travel agency windows, tell stories about places you can go, things you can do.  And some are deliberate or unintentional throwbacks to a Paris of the past, one that exists only in spots, here and there.

Souvenir shop on the Avenue de la Bourdonnais welcomes in many languages.

Au Petit Sud-Ouest, on the Avenue de la Bourdonnais, specializes in foie gras.  Toasters on the tables ensure that
your toast is warm when it receives the foie gras.

The use of English as a seemingly clever way of naming a business is popular, but as you can see,
it is fraught with unintentional (and funny) poor word choice.  Been food, now what?  Indigestion?
(Been Food is located on the rue Saint Charles.)

The nearest bar/tabac to our apartment is this one on the rue du Commerce.  Always, until this year, it has been closed for the entire month of August.  I am shocked to see that it is open for the entirety of August this year!  There is even a small poster by the front door announcing this, for those of us who can hardly believe our eyes.  While Tom and I do not hang out in bars at all, we do realize that the bar/tabac is an important resource for buying metro tickets, stamps, sim card recharges, and lotto tickets.  This tabac has never made any attempt to update or upgrade itself.  It is a time capsule, standing in stark contrast to the shops up and down the street, a rue du Commerce which has become a chic shopping destination.

Looking down at the rue du Commerce.

Paris, most certainly

August 6, 2016 -- The Avenue de la Bourdonnais is situated perfectly to offer the quintessential Paris to anyone who strolls along its broad expanse from the Seine down through the seventh arrondissement to the École Militaire. 

The Dome brasserie on the Avenue de la Bourdonnais

First, Tom wanted to see the Eiffel Tower, so we walked up the rue du Commerce to the Champ de Mars where, we discovered, the grassy lawn is being restored in three stages.  From now through the end of the year, sections of the park are being fenced off and re-seeded.  Wood chips were evidently put down on the “lawn” for the Bastille Day fireworks, probably because the lawn had turned to mud from the excessive rains earlier in the summer.  The wood chips are not beautiful, but the Eiffel Tower is still as lovely as ever.

The wood chips still cover the section of the Champ near the Peace Pavilion, and the re-seeding has commenced farther up the Champ, toward the Eiffel Tower.  Also at that end, by the right foot of the Tower, the seventh arrondissement was having its annual fair.  The first booth we saw was occupied by the same Native American musicians we saw at this fair last year. 

We were impressed by their talented playing of handmade woodwind instruments, and so we bought their Sacred Spirit CD.  As we walked on by all the booths offering various kinds of colorful country cuisine, our stomachs rumbled.

Straw sculptures on the Champ de Mars

Straw sculptures here and there at the fair added a comical “country” touch to the festive scene. 

At the foot of the Tower, we veered off to the right to the Avenue de la Bourdonnais.  The David Martinot florist shop was closed for vacation, but we stopped to admire shell sculptures in the shop’s windows.  Surely Sanibel Shellcrafters have made something like these before?  But this is the first time we saw such roses made into eggs using little clamshells.

Shell sculpture at the David Martinot florist shop.

We passed by the foie gras restaurant called Au Petit Sud-Ouest noting that the toasters are still there, amusingly lined up on the little tables along the sidewalk, and that the menu prices seem to have been reduced. 

The Avenue de la Bourdonnais sports many attractive brasseries on various corners, and it also has more than its share of colorful, ubiquitous souvenir shops.  But it does offer some unique shops as well, like a place that has large hams hanging in the front window.  I am not satisfied with the ham in plastic packets sold at the grocery here, so I said to Tom, “Let’s go into this shop finally, and buy some good ham.”

The ham shop is adorable, in a shabby, old-fashioned way. Red-and-white plaid tablecloths adorn three bright green tables on the sidewalk in front of the shop, which is run by a couple of cute older people.  

The Parma ham shop on the Avenue de la Bourdonnais.

Upon entering, we realized that this is an Italian ham shop!  So we bought a little Parma ham and some Salame Felino.  As the lady was slicing, weighing, and wrapping the ham and salami for us, her husband chattered incessantly, in Italian, with his buddy who had just wandered into the shop after us.  He was saying something about “the Americans,” but we don’t know what.  I looked around while we waited.  This shop, it seems, is THE place to buy authentic Italian cheeses, which are hard to find in Parisian groceries or fromageries.

The prices were reasonable.

We thanked the lady as we left the shop, and we didn’t go far before we stopped, opened the butcher-paper packages, and sampled the ham and salami.  Both were delicious.  We were so happy that we finally stopped in this place; we knew we could postpone no longer.  Soon, that shop will disappear, I’m sure.

We do love French cheeses, too.  We just discovered how much we like Saint Marcellin.  We had stopped in the Thomas fromagerie on our first day (Thursday) to buy our usual favorite, Salers, and I saw the small rounds of Saint Marcellin.  On a whim, we bought one. I’d read about Saint Marcellin in an Alan Furst novel that I recently finished, so I wanted to try it.  We both enjoyed that first little round so much on Thursday evening, that we decided to return to the this fromagerie on the rue du Commerce as we ambled back from our walk along the Avenue. 

Then we crossed the street to buy a superb, warm baguette from the Maison Kayser bakery. 

After rejuvenating at the apartment, we went out again in the evening to dine at my favorite Parisian restaurant, L’Alchimie.  I’d made a reservation online, and I’m so glad I did:  this was Chef Eric Rogoff’s last evening before he goes on vacation for a couple weeks.

Spicy duck and roasted Daikon at L'Alchimie.

He made us a fine dinner last night.  We started by sharing a slice of foie gras terrine, which was served with a melon and port gelée.  Then Tom had duck with spicy honey and a spicy confit of daikon (radis blanc).  I ordered the sea bass, which came atop a pool of broth and softly cooked fennel with a few clams.

Tom’s dessert was an apricot tart with a scoop of peach sorbet. 

All of this was wonderfully delicious, as dinner always is at L’Alchimie, in our experience.  We wished Chef Rogoff a very happy vacation, and told him we’d be back there to dine toward the end of the month.

Sea bass with soft fennel and clams, in broth, at L'Alchimie.

That was our first dinner in Paris this summer.  We’re a month late in arriving, but better late than never.  The previous evening, we were just too fatigued with jet lag to go out.  We did, however, snack elegantly on cheese from the fromagerie, fruit from the FranPrix grocery, and an organic baguette from the bakery on the rue Fondary.

On our street, we were surprised to see that the discount grocery that we’ve relied on for years is gone.  It is now a Carrefour City grocery, and was mysteriously closed when it should have been open on Thursday.  We tried again on Friday and voila, it was open.  It is all brand new inside, and is a far more modern and elegant store than the discount Dia had been.  Going to Dia, in fact, had been a little like going to a third world country, but the produce could be really good, at excellent prices.  Carrefour City will not be as cheap, but it is certainly cleaner, brighter, and better managed.  Change happens.

Apricot tart with peach sorbet, glass of port, at L'Alchimie.

Another, mostly pleasant change we experienced on Thursday.  The taxi rides from the airport to the city (and vice versa) are now charged at one flat rate.  From Charles de Gaulle airport to the Left Bank is 55 euros – a price we haven’t seen for some years.  The route the driver chose through the right bank and then over the Pont Alexandre III (my favorite bridge!) could not have been better; we were savoring the sights as we peered through the windows in our slightly foggy, jet-lagged state.

We’re happy to be here -- so happy to be here at last, in what we initially called “the summer of uncertainty.”

Paris, most certainly

August 6, 2016 -- The Avenue de la Bourdonnais is situated perfectly to offer the quintessential Paris to anyone who strolls along its broad expanse from the Seine down through the seventh arrondissement to the École Militaire. 

The Dome brasserie on the Avenue de la Bourdonnais

First, Tom wanted to see the Eiffel Tower, so we walked up the rue du Commerce to the Champ de Mars where, we discovered, the grassy lawn is being restored in three stages.  From now through the end of the year, sections of the park are being fenced off and re-seeded.  Wood chips were evidently put down on the “lawn” for the Bastille Day fireworks, probably because the lawn had turned to mud from the excessive rains earlier in the summer.  The wood chips are not beautiful, but the Eiffel Tower is still as lovely as ever.

The wood chips still cover the section of the Champ near the Peace Pavilion, and the re-seeding has commenced farther up the Champ, toward the Eiffel Tower.  Also at that end, by the right foot of the Tower, the seventh arrondissement was having its annual fair.  The first booth we saw was occupied by the same Native American musicians we saw at this fair last year. 

We were impressed by their talented playing of handmade woodwind instruments, and so we bought their Sacred Spirit CD.  As we walked on by all the booths offering various kinds of colorful country cuisine, our stomachs rumbled.

Straw sculptures on the Champ de Mars

Straw sculptures here and there at the fair added a comical “country” touch to the festive scene. 

At the foot of the Tower, we veered off to the right to the Avenue de la Bourdonnais.  The David Martinot florist shop was closed for vacation, but we stopped to admire shell sculptures in the shop’s windows.  Surely Sanibel Shellcrafters have made something like these before?  But this is the first time we saw such roses made into eggs using little clamshells.

Shell sculpture at the David Martinot florist shop.

We passed by the foie gras restaurant called Au Petit Sud-Ouest noting that the toasters are still there, amusingly lined up on the little tables along the sidewalk, and that the menu prices seem to have been reduced. 

The Avenue de la Bourdonnais sports many attractive brasseries on various corners, and it also has more than its share of colorful, ubiquitous souvenir shops.  But it does offer some unique shops as well, like a place that has large hams hanging in the front window.  I am not satisfied with the ham in plastic packets sold at the grocery here, so I said to Tom, “Let’s go into this shop finally, and buy some good ham.”

The ham shop is adorable, in a shabby, old-fashioned way. Red-and-white plaid tablecloths adorn three bright green tables on the sidewalk in front of the shop, which is run by a couple of cute older people.  

The Parma ham shop on the Avenue de la Bourdonnais.

Upon entering, we realized that this is an Italian ham shop!  So we bought a little Parma ham and some Salame Felino.  As the lady was slicing, weighing, and wrapping the ham and salami for us, her husband chattered incessantly, in Italian, with his buddy who had just wandered into the shop after us.  He was saying something about “the Americans,” but we don’t know what.  I looked around while we waited.  This shop, it seems, is THE place to buy authentic Italian cheeses, which are hard to find in Parisian groceries or fromageries.

The prices were reasonable.

We thanked the lady as we left the shop, and we didn’t go far before we stopped, opened the butcher-paper packages, and sampled the ham and salami.  Both were delicious.  We were so happy that we finally stopped in this place; we knew we could postpone no longer.  Soon, that shop will disappear, I’m sure.

We do love French cheeses, too.  We just discovered how much we like Saint Marcellin.  We had stopped in the Thomas fromagerie on our first day (Thursday) to buy our usual favorite, Salers, and I saw the small rounds of Saint Marcellin.  On a whim, we bought one. I’d read about Saint Marcellin in an Alan Furst novel that I recently finished, so I wanted to try it.  We both enjoyed that first little round so much on Thursday evening, that we decided to return to the this fromagerie on the rue du Commerce as we ambled back from our walk along the Avenue. 

Then we crossed the street to buy a superb, warm baguette from the Maison Kayser bakery. 

After rejuvenating at the apartment, we went out again in the evening to dine at my favorite Parisian restaurant, L’Alchimie.  I’d made a reservation online, and I’m so glad I did:  this was Chef Eric Rogoff’s last evening before he goes on vacation for a couple weeks.

Spicy duck and roasted Daikon at L'Alchimie.

He made us a fine dinner last night.  We started by sharing a slice of foie gras terrine, which was served with a melon and port gelée.  Then Tom had duck with spicy honey and a spicy confit of daikon (radis blanc).  I ordered the sea bass, which came atop a pool of broth and softly cooked fennel with a few clams.

Tom’s dessert was an apricot tart with a scoop of peach sorbet. 

All of this was wonderfully delicious, as dinner always is at L’Alchimie, in our experience.  We wished Chef Rogoff a very happy vacation, and told him we’d be back there to dine toward the end of the month.

Sea bass with soft fennel and clams, in broth, at L'Alchimie.

That was our first dinner in Paris this summer.  We’re a month late in arriving, but better late than never.  The previous evening, we were just too fatigued with jet lag to go out.  We did, however, snack elegantly on cheese from the fromagerie, fruit from the FranPrix grocery, and an organic baguette from the bakery on the rue Fondary.

On our street, we were surprised to see that the discount grocery that we’ve relied on for years is gone.  It is now a Carrefour City grocery, and was mysteriously closed when it should have been open on Thursday.  We tried again on Friday and voila, it was open.  It is all brand new inside, and is a far more modern and elegant store than the discount Dia had been.  Going to Dia, in fact, had been a little like going to a third world country, but the produce could be really good, at excellent prices.  Carrefour City will not be as cheap, but it is certainly cleaner, brighter, and better managed.  Change happens.

Apricot tart with peach sorbet, glass of port, at L'Alchimie.

Another, mostly pleasant change we experienced on Thursday.  The taxi rides from the airport to the city (and vice versa) are now charged at one flat rate.  From Charles de Gaulle airport to the Left Bank is 55 euros – a price we haven’t seen for some years.  The route the driver chose through the right bank and then over the Pont Alexandre III (my favorite bridge!) could not have been better; we were savoring the sights as we peered through the windows in our slightly foggy, jet-lagged state.

We’re happy to be here -- so happy to be here at last, in what we initially called “the summer of uncertainty.”