Paris - Day ?? - July 8, 2008

Théophile Barrau, Suzanne, 1895, Marble
Restaurant Eliance Orsay, Musée d'Orsay, Paris, France, ©photo musée d'Orsay


I found some receipts so I can retrace my Paris steps now.

Up early to go to the Musee d'Orsay for the Impressionist works. Clay and I have a question as to whether the collection is bigger and or better than the Art Institute of Chicago. Also, what would the retail value of each of the works be. Clay wasn't feeling well, so half way through the museum we decided to have lunch there at the Restaurant Eliance Orsay. Eliance is basically a catering company that has the contract for the museum, so I wasn't expecting too much from the food. The ambiance was beautiful, and I thought that'd be enough.

We ordered a bottle of Pommery Champagne to begin. I had an asiette de fromage, of which I'm not sure what particular cheeses I'm served. They are surprisingly good though, Clay has gaspacho petit pois. For our entrees, I had entrecote with pommes frite while Clay has pave de foie de veau. Both entrees are fantastic. Perfectly prepared.

There was a table of four American ladies at the table next to us and I was almost ashamed to be from the same country, They basically ordered one prix fixe menu to split between three of them with one other dish to supplement their measly meal.

But, back to us. Clay finish with ice cream, his dessert of choice at almost every meal. They did have interesting flavors, but I'll need to consult with him to get his input.

After lunch, Clay still was pooped so he went back to the apartment and I finished the museum.

Paris - Day One

Clay and I left Los Angeles at 11AM on Thursday July 2nd via Air Canada to Montreal where we changed planes for a 10PM departure for Paris. We arrived at CDG at 11AM and proceeded directly through customs and baggage claim. It was literally less than 30 minutes to debark, pick up luggage and hail a cab. The cab ride to the center of the city was about 30 minutes. We arrived at our apartment at 4 Rue de Villersexel. In case anyone reads this while we are here, our phone number is 33 (0) 9 50 99 02 44. And obviously our internet connection works.

The apartment is typically Parisian small but absolutely charming and perfectly located near the Musee d'Orsay and the Ste. Germain. We settled in and unpacked and then wandered the neighborhood. Very pedestrian friendly with tons of cafes, bookstores, antique shops, galleries, clothing stores and food shops. We began our vacation with lunch at Cafe de Flore with a bottle of fine 2006 Chablis. Clay had an assortment of saumon fumé et semi-fume avec toasts and I had a salade de magrets de canard haricots verts frais. His salmon was prepared three ways: smoked, semi-smoked and cured and served with a homemade tartar sauce. My duck breast was cured and sliced and served with cold green beans and oil and vinegar. I decided to have gateau du chocolat opera and Clay had coupe flore with chocolat noir and caramel nougatine ice cream sorbet poire with sauce chocolat and chantilly. What a perfect first meal on this trip to Paris.

We wandered through the Ste. Germain, paying visits to a number of the antique shops, but alas, we were not able to swing the 6.000 euro for the 6 salad plates at one of the shops ran by two elder ladies. They referred us to another shop that had more dinnerware, but mostly XVI and XVII century work. We decided to wait to see the flea markets first. We did go to Blanc Ivoire on the Rue du Bac and Gien on the Rue Jacob where we found a few inexpensive plates to our growing collection of French tableware for our new patio.

We came back to the apartment to freshen up before heading to La Saint-Chapelle where we had tickets to a small concert.