Bonjour!
Oh -- view from the apartment windows!
I don’t think that I mentioned before how we’re handling breakfast…under normal circumstances, and in the 5th arr. there was both a working elevator AND a boulangerie across the street making breakfast preparation very simple. However, be that as it may, we have decided to take turns going out for the morning croissants – yesterday it was me, and today was R’s turn. There is an adequate boulangerie down the block; a 2 or 3 minute walk. However, it all makes we miss the 5th arr. even more!
So…back to yesterday early evening. My best friend Jay, who spent a week in Paris in December, sent me what her brother had sent her for their trip – a terrific list of gourmet shops and restaurants to visit in Paris. And, as I’ve passed all these wonderful chocolate shops for years without ever going in (what WAS I thinking??) I decided to remedy this last night. So…there is a chocolate shop by Michel Chaudon in the 7th arr., which is where we are located – figured it would be a good place to start. R was not interested in the least, (and was counting the additional stairs, I’m sure!) so I set off alone – minus umbrella, as no rain forecast…duh…I should have looked out the window; it started to sprinkle as soon as I got outside, but no WAY was I doing those stairs again…Lovely walk – about 15 minutes each way, but I was able to find an entirely new section of the 7th which was very nice – restaurants, florists, antique stores – a Pizza Hut! – and the chocolate shop. Wow…I should have brought the camera! Where do I begin? There were dark and white chocolate Eiffel towers; there were animals and tennis racquets – and of course there were the shelves and shelves of individual chocolates. I ended by taking a small box of assorted chocolates, and believe it or not, I haven’t really made too much of a dent in it! Wonderful chocolate, though…
Dinner was incredible – why does the chicken in France always taste so much better than anywhere else?? We had our roast chicken with roast potatoes and haricots vertes – wonderful!
Up this morning around 7 – can’t believe we’re sleeping so late, but it could have something to do with those stairs. R’s turn to go for croissants, while I set the coffee table and got out the grapefruit juice and raspberry jam. They do make some wonderful bread here, that’s for sure! Of course after croissants in the flat, we also have to run the vacuum cleaner, as no way you can eat those without making a mess!
Sculpture on the way to the museum -
Our plan for today was to take the bus out to the Port du St. Cloud and find the Albert Kahn Museum and Gardens. Paris is full of many small places that very few people have ever heard about and that turn out to be just wonderful – and this museum was certainly one of them! As it turns out, we got there about 10:30 a.m. but it didn’t open until 11. Very problematic day weather-wise – sunshine, blue sky, black clouds – just wait a few minutes and the weather will change! This time, we went out without either jackets or umbrellas…and it was certainly brisk walking! We had to take two buses – one across the Seine to Palais de la Decouverte, picking up a 72 that was heading out to St. Cloud which is on the edge of town next to the Blois de Bologne. As we had some time to wait for opening, we stopped in a little boulangerie and R had espresso (even though he had requested Café Americain) and I had hot chocolate with muffins. Back to the museum, (just down the block) and voila, they were open!
FABULOUS museum! Albert Kahn was a banker in the early 1900’s who was interested in color photography and the making of early movies. He would commission artists, photographers and film makers to go out every year to explore different places on the planet and record what they saw. The 1929 stock market crash decimated his fortune, but by that time his collection had really developed. The country got his collection, and the city his house and garden, and I’m pleased to report that he was allowed to stay in his house until he died in 1940. Now, the museum does exhibitions based on the images that they have, and they also commission photographers and film makers to go back to some of the places originally visited.
The current exhibition is on Mongolia, both Inner and Outer, and the years 1912 and 1913. The photographs were incredible – I can tell you right now that I NEVER want to live in a yurt!! There was also film footage taken in Ulan Bator which showed townspeople (or yurt people?) on horseback and camel as well as llamas and their serfs. There was some truly remarkable film footage of an expedition taking place around the same time frame, originally proposed by Andre Citroen (maker of the automobile) whereby an automobile would make the trek from Beirut to Peking – across the Himalayas! UNREAL! The expedition took three years to put together, and there was a big supporting cast – including diplomats to go ahead of the car team to negotiate safe passage for everybody – there were bandits in those hills in them days! The car was actually fitted with tank-like tracks in addition to the four wheels, which were definitely needed in the mountains. At one point there is footage of this vehicle literally sliding off a hillside, and in another going across a wooden and rope bridge that creaked and bounced at every foot. And, when they got to the high peaks of the Himalayas they actually had to disassemble the automobile, carry the parts over the mountain through the snow, and put it all back together on the other side! Zowie! They did, however, eventually make it to Peking!
After a good long look at the photographs and films, we went out into the gardens, which we had heard were very good. That’s actually incorrect – they were SENSATIONAL! R says he thinks this was better than Butchert Gardens in Victoria or the Huntington in Pasadena, and I might be agreeing with him!
The grounds (comprising 8 acres in the middle of a busy neighborhood!) started out as a Japanese garden – lovely, rushing stream; small temple-like buildings everywhere, along with very Asian-like plantings. From here we wandered into a beautiful meadow planted with grass and flowers and huge conifers. There was a formal English rose garden, with magnificent roses over trellis’ as well as an amazing apple hedge – staked down very close to the ground, in well-trained lengths; early apples already growing; roses smelled wonderfully! Finally, when we thought we had seen everything, we mounted a path over a hill and we were suddenly transported back to Japan! Absolutely STUNNING ponds filled with huge coy and several red curved bridges across the water. Additionally, someone there really knows how to do bonsai, as there were some of the most beautiful plants we’ve ever seen displayed on stands at various places in the pond. There were pink azaleas; on one, even the leaves of the plant were pink! Cannot describe how absolutely gorgeous this garden is! We also found an interesting family – mom and three children, one of which was very young – all sitting quietly and sketching one of the bonsai in the pond! (Which will hopefully be excuse enough for all the photos of it I’m going to post…)
Okay...here they come!!!
By this time, we had spent the better part of almost 4 hours in the museum and gardens, so decided it was probably as good a time as any to stop for lunch. Right across the street from the museum was the Brasserie Jean-Baptiste, which looked good from the outside; even better inside! Fortunately, we had missed most of the lunch crowd, so we didn’t have to worry about too much noise from other diners. I ordered their tomato/mozzarella/parmesan salad with pesto dressing; R had their “special” croque monsieur (grilled ham and cheese sandwich) on Poilane bread. Both were wonderful! For dessert, R had their homemade sorbet – fruits rouges and citron (red fruit and lemon) – fabulous! I had their mille feuilles pastry with strawberries and pistachio cream; beyond fabulous! All washed down with some glasses of Sancerre (dry white wine)…the kind of meal you get on a regular basis in France!
By this time, neither of us wanted to take the bus back, as we were requiring naps after the wine…so we ducked into the subway stop which was five feet from the restaurant door, and with only one change of line, we were back in the 7th! (Stopped at the local Franprix to pick up some water and a few other things, but the store was AWFUL, I’m sorry to report, so looks like it’ll be back to the Carrefour for us..) Then up those wretched flights of steps once again for a total and complete collapse – naps are good! (Note from Robert: The elevator guys appear to be making progress but not fast enough.)
We were thinking about heading over to the Louvre tonight, as the crowds are usually very light then (everyone having their own naps!) but I’m not sure that we’re going to get out of the building! Fortunately, we do have supplies in-house for tonight – if we ever again get hungry!
More later!
m
xxx
Gorgeous gardens! And also really delicious looking food. I wish I were there!
ReplyDeleteBrenda