A few parks and a café along the way

Deep shade in the Parc Saint Lambert, named for Bishop Lambert
 of Maastricht who was murdered in about 705 because he denounced King Childeric II's adultery.

The sun was just strong enough that we wanted to sit in the shade while we soaked in the ambiance of the Parc Saint Lambert -- a lovely place created on the site of a former gas-works.  On the park bench next to ours sat an older gentleman who was doing the same.  He was alone, but not for long.

The short, dark middle-aged guardienne of the park passed by; she exchanged friendly greetings with the gentleman and went on her way.  Next, a tall, blonde, athletic young woman who had been walking briskly stopped to have a long, animated conversation with the man.  While they were talking, a man in a wheelchair and his wife came along and joined in the conversation.  Then another man joined the group.

Parc Saint Lambert

The older man remained seated on his bench while the others formed a deferential circle around him.  As far as I could tell, they were talking about local issues, and people wanted very much to know what this wise gentleman thought about these issues.  Maybe he was a popular mayor of the 15th arrondissement before Philippe Goujon . . . .

The 15th arrondissement's town hall is near Parc Saint Lambert.  That was our next stop -- the vast, open plaza in front of that stately building.  To get there, we passed through the petite Rue Léon Séché, which is no longer a street.  Bollards now block cars from the tiny street, planters have been installed and cobblestones restored.  The Rue is now a Place, and it is for pedestrians only.  The Armandie seafood restaurant facing the Place was hosting a wedding party dinner on its terrace.

Town hall of the 15th arrondissement of Paris.

We paused in the open plaza in front of the town hall to photograph a beautiful statue by Antoine Bourdelle (1861-1929) of fellow sculptor Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux (1827-1875) at work.  Bourdelle's workshop is now a museum, on Rue Antoine Bourdelle in the 15th arrondissement.  (Also see http://www.bjoycooley.com/7-21-14.htm.)

Statue of Carpeaux by Bourdelle (1909).

On the opposite side of this plaza is one of the frequently spotted Wallace Fountains.  These were some of the earliest water-bottle-refilling fountains installed anywhere, but they originated in 1872, before plastic water bottles existed (the introduction of high-density polyethylene was in the 1950s).
Richard Wallace, an Englishman who had inherited a large fortune, decided that all the people of Paris should benefit from it.  So he financed these fountains (photo below), which were designed by Charles Auguste Lebourg .

Wallace Fountain in the plaza in front of the 15th arrondissement town hall.

The fountains were desperately needed because many aqueducts and other public water supply lines had been destroyed in 1870 and 1871.  Potable water was expensive, and so the poor often drank alcohol instead.  That was a public health crisis.

We crossed Rue Blomet to visit the next park, Square Adolphe Cherioux.  Two fine sculptures grace this park:  Histoire inscrivant le centenaire, and Maternity.  The newer, pesticide free and less water-intensive style of gardening in Paris parks has given a softer feel to the formerly more formal parks like this one.

The new-style flowerbeds give parks like Square Adolphe Cherioux a softer look. 

From Rue Blomet, the park leads uphill (the great hill of Montparnasse) to Rue Vaugirard.  There we turned left, and turned right on the Rue de la Procession, so we could visit another park, Square Necker.

[We did not pause in Square Necker because a man in a white van was playing loud music which permeated the entire area.  Tom could not tolerate the sort-of rap-like music.  The simplistic, mechanical, unchanging beat bothers him, and often the vulgarity of the lyrics do as well.  Similar music had driven him out of a dry goods shop on the Rue du Commerce earlier in the day.  Somehow, I block out this music, as though I don't hear it at all.  It is so non-musical that it is like loud white noise to me.  I stayed in the shop so I could buy a couple of beautiful pillowcases for just 4 euros.]

After circling Square Necker, we walked down to Rue de la Convention and headed back toward our neighborhood.  We stopped for refreshments at La Source, near Rue Alain Chartier.  A cluster of charming cafés in that triangular intersection face a plaza gobbled up by café tables and chairs, and by a children's carrousel.  Here we are surrounded by Parisians; we are far from any tourist attractions, including the Eiffel Tower.

Feeling refreshed, we bought newspapers and magazines at a news kiosque.  We walked up the Rue des Freres Morane, passing by another Wallace Fountain in the Place du Comtat Venaissin, named for a part of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region of France.  Here in Paris, this Place is home to Les Trois Garcons brasserie and Indien Villa restaurant.

When we were home, we realized that we'd almost completed our 5-mile goal for the day.  So we rested and then headed out for a good dinner at Pietro Commerce, an Italian restaurant across from the St. John the Baptist of Grenelle church.  5 miles, done!

Square Adolphe Cherioux, named for a former elected official of the 15th arrondissement.

Here's to many more!

Lafourchette.com gives us incentives to go beyond our normal comfort zone.  It grants points, called "yums," for every reservation I make using its service.  We dine out often, and so my points have accumulated to the level where some of them will expire at the end of the year if we don't use them.  Only some restaurants accept the points.  So to use these points, we have to go where those restaurants are located.

The Square Adolphe Chérioux, on our way to Place Falguiere Le Bistro, yesterday evening.

Many of these restaurants are highly rated.  Those are the only ones I consider.  So we have now used yum points at two places this summer -- Les Truffes Folies (7th arrondissement) and L'Entente (2nd arrondissement).  Tomorrow we will dine at Le Lutin de Jardin in the 6th arrondissement.  At each place, we received a 25-euro discount (costing 2000 yums each), on top of a Lafourchette.com discount of 20 or 30 percent (on food items only, not beverages).

So if the normal tab for food items is 90 euros, we can get a 30 percent discount, bringing the total to 60 euros, and then another 25 euros off, bringing the final total to 35 euros (food only).  Not bad, eh?

Square Necker, with rare privets and a bandstand gazebo.

Not all restaurants on Lafourchette.com offer 20 o 30 percent discounts.  Some offer more.  An increasing number offer no discount at all.  But Lafourchette is still worth using for reserving at those places, because the customer still accumulates yums and the online reservation system is such a breeze to use.  Another benefit that I appreciate is the record of all my past reservations.  If I cannot remember the name of a place where we dined two summers ago, I can just scan through the list of my previous reservations until I recognize it.  That's handy, especially for a blogger.

Now, you may wonder why I use Lafourchette.com instead of its English-language version, TheFork.com, which is based in the U.K.

There are three main reasons, in no particular order:

1.  We prefer that the restaurant's staff knows that we speak French when we make a reservation.  This relieves the staff of some anxiety; we want to put them at ease.  Nobody wants to appear foolish in speaking another language badly, and that includes the French who aren't confident of their English language skills.

2.  On LaFourchette.com, I see reviews written by French speakers.  On TheFork.com, I see reviews written by English speakers.  I find that our criteria in judging food, service, ambiance, and location are much more aligned with the French speakers' criteria than with the English speakers' criteria.  That is probably because we've been summering in Paris for 21 years.  It may also be because I am a somewhat serious cook (as was my husband Tom, once upon a time).  And some things that bother British or American tourists in Paris don't bother us at all; some things that British or American tourists don't even notice are important to us (and the French).

3.  Lafourchette's sample menus in French are understandable and clear to us; but just like the menus in the restaurants, the English translations are usually woefully lacking -- in some cases, comically so.  Generally, it is just much easier for us to understand the menus in French.

Lamb shank at Place Falguiere Le Bistrot

I find the reviews to be very helpful.  I do glance at the number of reviews that a customer has submitted; if they are not "experienced" diners, I don't give much credence to the review.

Numbers matter:  if a restaurant's rating is 8.8 (out of 10) or higher, and there have been a significant number of reviews submitted for that restaurant, that catches my attention.

Poached salmon with homemade pasta and Carbonara sauce at
Place Falguiere Le Bistrot

Tomorrow, for example, we will dine at Le Lutin Dans le Jardin, which has an 8.9 rating on Lafourchette.com with over 8,000 reviews submitted.  On Tripadvisor (which now owns Lafourchette/TheFork), this restaurant has a 4 (out of 5) rating, with 279 reviews submitted.  Lafourchette reviews carry more weight, in my opinion, than Tripadvisor's because you have to have completed a reservation before you can submit a review on Lafourchette.  That prevents people from "padding" a restaurant's rating with fake reviews (positive or negative) when they've never set foot in the place.

The discount offered at Le Lutin is unusually high, at 50% off food items.  But the prices are higher than average, too.

So tomorrow, we will get 50 percent off, and an additional 25-euro discount.

Another reason to go to Le Lutin, besides its good reviews and value, is the experienced chef, Stéphane Cauet.  According to the restaurant's web site, this 40-something-year-old man from Picardy apprenticed at the Ecole de Paris des Métiers de la Table et de l'Hotellerie and at the Auberge d'Armaillé in Issy Les Moulineaux [just outside of Paris, near the 15th] with Patrick Bassement (restaurant Au Menil a Savigny Sur Orge, for 20 years), a student of Paul Bocuse and Michel Guerard.  After 20 years of experience during which he worked for several restaurants and participated in creating a number of different restaurants in Paris, Stéphane then decided to create Le Lutin Dans le Jardin.  It opened in 2007.

Knowing all this before we dine at a restaurant makes the dinner a richer experience.   Online information, offered by the restaurant web sites, restaurant reviews, Lafourchette and Tripadvisor are good resources.

At this point in time, I have submitted 255 reviews to Lafourchette.com, and 65 reviews to TripAdvisor.  Here's to many more!