Travelers 63 Aventure de Paris Arrival

[traveler63]

We are here, after a long day and almost a near miss coming into CDG. We were making our final approach, pilot was feathering down, flaps down and all of a sudden, he leveled out and accelerated. Seems the plane in front of us, suddenly slowed down for no reason and so we had to go all the way around and start over again.
The apartment is very nice, and even though we were exausted, we still stayed up and went to dinner after finding a twice a year small food show which had everything from foie gras(Imec you would have had a out of body experience) to crepes. We are going back today, as it ends at 6:00pm, to purchase cheese, olives, wine etc. I will take pictures and will have more about it later. Truth be told, I was so tired, I can't remember much of it.

More later.

[bixaorellana]

Oh my gosh, T63 ~~ thanks for taking the time to post that. I can't believe you had the energy after the flight, the fright, and taking yourselves out to eat.

Get some rest so you can really enjoy yourself.

[Deleted]

I'm glad you've arrived, T63! I just got in myself at 5:45 a.m. yesterday, so I am having the opposite-direction version of jet lag.

[traveler63]

Well, here is the second installment of Arrival. We First, we had to stock the refrigerator, so we went to Paul on Avenue Opera had our firs cup of espresso since we left home and a chocolate pastry. We then went to literally next door to the Monoprix and shopped. Talk about two people out of their comfort level!!. we purchased some fruit, veggies, pate, cheese, and some of the staples. We walked back along rue de Ventadour across Rue des Petite Champs and another short distance to the apartment. Knowing little or no French, it is amazing to me how helpful people are and with good humor. I shudder to think if the roles were reversed how some Americans would respond.

We did go back to the Food Fair. The food products were foie gras, cheese, wine, olives and olive oil from the south of France. One little brochure that I picked up is called le Vieux Moulin. It is for the olive oil. They are located south of Nyons. We also met and bought two bottles of wine from Domaine de Moulerin. The lady is acquainted with our friend Guy in Bordeaux. Her wine is very good. We continued and bought a sandwich Spanish ham and cheese to go with, a foie gras sandwich(eat your heart out Imec,it is so buttery and the flavor was sublime). We bought olives and oh these are soo good. The vendor was from the Provence area. This event was at the 4 Septembre metro entrance and ended at the Passage Choiseul We continued thru the Passage and this was amazing, because I didn't know that a branch of the passage cut off and the exit was about one block from the apartment.

We dropped the food off at the apartment and started out again. We walked down one rue and up another, and finally admitted that we were wonderfully lost. We ended up on Rue du Septembre somewhere along there was another open air market. We didn't stop, our feet were barking and we were on our way back to the apartment. We wandered back and found rue des Petits-Champs which we are familiar with. When we found Willies Wine Bar we decided it was time for a glass of champagne so we went in and sat at the bar. Well, one thing led to another and we ended up having a long lunch. First course was une tatin de petits oignons & pommes, petite salade aux pignons. Tart of small cibola onions and apples with a small salad. Main course was Le Fermier carrement cochon caramelise au miel et aux epices. Baked pork chop in spices with baby carrots and onions. Dessert was la panna cotta aux fruits des bois. Wow, no dinner for us tonight. Throughly happy and content we walked home. So ends our first full day in Paris.

[Deleted]

Ha! From the street names mentioned, you more or less just walked around in circles. That's normal since every street in Paris is crooked and unless you have a compass embedded in your brain, you immediately get lost.

But I am very much reassured that you will not go hungry!

[bixaorellana]

Read this, started to respond, then went and made myself a giant salad instead.

If you'd planned it, you could not have come up with a better first day in a fabulous foreign city. This is so much fun to read about -- thanks!

[lagatta]

Yeah, that sounds wonderful but a bit too rich for me when jet-lagged. No nice of you to keep us up to date. Bixa, note that they did purchase veg and staples at Monoprix.

[imec]

*eat your heart out Imec,it is so buttery and the flavor was sublime*

Enjoy T63! Isn't it just incredible? Truly without equal.

[cristina]

T63, thank you so much for taking the time to post! I hope you will continue as I am now in my countdown phase...2 weeks before I leave to sail across the Atlantic and 3 weeks before I arrive in Paris. In the interim, I plan to live vicariously through your posts, as I have done with imec's as well as as k2's photo essays.

[lagatta]

imec, if you aren't travelling all the way to France, you can also find creditable foie gras here in Québec. But it is usually duck - we don't have a lot of gavage of geese here.

[bjd]

Lagatta -- much of the foie gras in shops now is duck rather than goose. I made mine with duck liver too.

[lagatta]

Yes, just wanted to point that out to imec - if he is here on a quick business trip he can take the métro up to Jean-Talon and find foie gras and lots of other goodies at the market to take home. (métro is much faster than taking a taxi from the central business district).

[Deleted]

Apparently lagatta thinks that imec is underfed...?

[lagatta]

No, I just think he must be jonesing for some foie gras by now...

I remember several such withdrawals after returning from studying in Italy.

[imec]

Thanks lagatta. There is a shop in town which occasionally stocks Quebec foie gras - but at $250-300/kilo!!! I hope it's more reasonably priced in Montreal...

[lagatta]

Yes, it is much more reasonably priced here.

[Jazz]

Hi Traveller63,

It's lovely to begin to read your reports. Don't worry about going in circles, (re: Kerouac)...I did this all the time, forever, and for years.... and loved each moment. (I get 'lost' better than anyone that I know, with fabulous discoveries...) It sounds like you are are staying in the 8th or 9th Arrondissment? How do you like your apartment? I would like to hear about it.

A month in Paris is beautiful. In my trips to Paris, I spent three times in an apartment...one month on rue de la Roquette (11th arrondissement) and one month on rue Maitre Albert, (5th arr.) Another time, my friend and I rented an apartment for two weeks in a lovely place, a 2 minute walk from rue Mouffetarde in the 5th.

Your first day seems to have been rather sumptuous. I look forward to reading your report, when (if?) you have the time. We all experience Paris in a unique way. My days were 'roughly' planned and I would change within moments. This, I think, is the only way to go. I have visited Paris 6 times in the last 8 years...each visit was more beautiful and led me to unknown depths of the city. It is rich in history and filled with 'possibility' of the present. Each day, and each moment of each day, shifted as I experienced something new. My most beautiful and memorable moments, hours, were unplanned....'out of time, out of place'.

So, there is no 'standard' of reporting. You are there, it is your experience of the day...and that is the most special. I look forward to your posts, now, or, when you return. You are in Paris, in beautiful September and October... enjoy, mon amie.

[traveler63]

Jazz,

Actually we are on the fringe of 2 to 8 a couple of blocks off Ave. Opera. We just walk out our door and two blocks away we are on Opera. One of the our streets is Ventador which takes us out and we look directly at the Opera Garnier which is literally less than a 10 minute walk. The Monoprix is right there. Our address is 19 rue Marsollier. Our closest metro is Pyrimides, which is now closed and under construction. Being close to this metro was one of the deciding factors on this apartment, oh well !!!

You are right, some of the things that we have seen where the results of walking in a circle.

We are taking a day off, I think we are still very tired. More later

[Deleted]

T63, the RATP site doesn't say anything about Pyramides being closed, and it lists all of the temporarily closed stations (Dupleix, République, etc.). Maybe it's just one of the entrances that is closed. In any case, there are two metro lines there, so one of them has to be open.

[traveler63]

Thanks K2, the entrance around corner from the monoprix is definitely all torn up. What's the other metro line there and or is there another entrance for Pyrimides???

[Deleted]

Lines 7 and 14 go through Pyramides. I see 4 entrances on this map, but I know there is also an elevator entrance somewhere out on the sidewalk, because line 14 is fully equipped for the disabled as well.