More Dinners in Paris

But, first, before we settle somewhere for dinner, we must have the obligatory aperitif/pre-dinner drink elsewhere.  Only after that are we prepared to saunter out into the world and track down the elusive meal.  After all, this is Paris, and according to the BBC, there are only about 40,000 restaurants in Paris to choose from.

 Aperitif at various locations around Paris

For our Friday night dinner, we treat ourselves to a real gastronomical extravaganza at La Gaigne.  We first dined at La Gaigne when it was a small place with a few tables in the Marais.  We read a glowing review in the New York Times and decided we had to try it and it was incredible.  We went back the next year and then, again, last year at their new location near Gare Saint-Lazare.  It's still incredible!

We study the menu at La Gaigne for a while, then decide on the month's tasting menu (English version), five courses of pure delight.

 Tasting menu at La Gaigne

Several times we get carried away with dining and forget that we are also taking pictures!  Here's a few from when we manage to remember.

A few nibbles with our champagne

Black pudding loaf with foie gras, carrot and beet chips

 Ring of red radishes over cream of green peas

 Filet of John Dory, artichoke puree, braised stuffed artichokes

 Roast breast of Dombes duckling

Desert and another glass of champagne

Crispy tile pastry with lime sorbet and lots more

Along with this all, we have a bottle of Pomerol recommended by our server/sommelier (not taking the suggested wine parings, although he does bring us each a glass of Mareuil Clos Saint Andre to accompany the ring of red radishes over cream of green peas, telling us that the white wine is a better complement to the delicate flavors of that dish).  On our way out, we take their picture and tell them we'll be back next year!

The friendly, knowledgeable staff helped make a wonderful experience!

The next day, it's hard to decide, but since we dined three times  in local restaurants where we were the only non-Parisians, it is time for a more traditional touristic meal.  We pick Leon of Brussels (Léon de Bruxelles) on the Champs-Élysées for moules frites and don't regret it.  It isn't the same as dinner in Brussels, but close enough for a Paris trip.

 Leon de Bruxelles for moules frites

Moules in one hand, frites in the other!

 And, of course, chocolate for desert
Profiterole without the pastry - awesome!

Sadly, it will be soon time to head home from our long weekend in Paris, wanting a few more days and maybe a side trip to Reims to visit the champagne caves or St. Emilion for some Bordeaux and great food (all easily reached from Paris on the TGV high-speed train, 45 minutes to Reims, a day trip, and 3.25 hours to Bourdeaux, overnight stay in a wine chateaux).

Dinner in Paris

Our first dinner in Paris, we head away from our hotel to a find a restaurant that we truly enjoyed last year, L'Annexe.  As we wander down the street, we don't see it and ask the hotel where it went.  We're told that L'Annexe is no more, but that the same location has a new restaurant with the same chef and a different cuisine.  We decide to give it a try and are glad we did.  La Table Verte focuses on fresh, organic cuisine, using products from their affiliated Green Grocery next door (9 rue Saussier Leroy), and we have a great meal!

Risotto with pancetta

Lightly-seared Ahi tuna

Getting started at La Table Verte

On our second day, as we walk from our hotel to Musee Marmotan Monet, we pass a restaurant we haven't been to in a few years and decide to come back later for dinner.  Le Poincaré is on Avenue Raymond  Poincaré, one block from the Trocadero and 1.5km (.9 miles) from the Arc de Triumph.  We originally walked in several years ago after checking out the restaurants on the circle at Trocadero and deciding that they were too touristic.  We then walked just one block away from the tourist sites and there it was, warm and welcoming with good smells and a happy local crowd.

It's the same now, there is an after-work group in part of the restaurant that winds down as we dinner folks start to drift in.  That makes for a happy sounding room that slowly transitions to more serious focus on food.   We start with pate, served on slate and fantastically-creamy French onion soup.  Then I have a sausage, served with beans and mustard, while Laura has a lifetime supply of charcuterie.

 Starters: pate and creamy French onion soup

 Sausage and charcuterie plates

 And for desert, chocolate, two spoons

The menu

We ask about a dish I really enjoyed previously, sardines in a can with toast, and learn that the source of the sardines no longer carries them and the chef is looking for a new supplier with just the right sardines to match his vision of the dish.  We'll have to come back next year and see if he finds a replacement.  Our server admits that was her favorite dish also.

After dinner, we walk one block over to the Trocadero to watch the lights on the Eiffel Tower and then stroll along the Seine to Place de la Concorde, then back toward our hotel (both to see the beautiful sites and because Laura needs to walk off the 20 pounds of charcuterie).  But, just past the hotel on Avenue Wagram, we spot a cafe named, appropriately, "The Place to...?", a welcoming spot for an after-dinner drink, and we take a table outside for some wine.  And, we come back the next night after dinner also.

 

The Place to ...?

As we leave The Place to...?, we take a quick twirl to the music, dancing on the sidewalks of Paris (others are dancing inside the cafe) and get a resounding "Bravo" from one of the outside tables.  We give them a quick double thumbs up and head back to our hotel, having properly filled the day with Parisian experiences.

More Paris Art Exhibitions - Musée d'Orsay and Grand Palais

There are several temporary exhibitions that we want to see in the Paris museums, the first being the L'Art et L'Enfant (Art and Children) show at the Musée Marmottan Monet.  Another day, we head over to the Musée d'Orsay to see the renovation and the Impressionist paintings on the top floor.  The museum is housed in a former railway station, the Gare d'Orsay, and contains the largest collection of impressionist and post-impressionist works in the world.  I first saw many of these works in the museum Jeu de Paume in the Tuilleries, across the Seine, many years ago, before they moved to the new Musée d'Orsay in 1986.

The Musée d'Orsay recently underwent a two-year renovation, finished in 2011, adding new exhibit spaces and, little by little, abandoning the spirit of the train station (but a lot of that spirit still remains).  We hadn't visited the museum since the renovation as the lines to enter, when we walked by, were always very long.  This time, however, we purchase tickets in advance over the Internet before leaving home and breeze right in.

 Musée d'Orsay interior

The entire top 5th floor of the museum is devoted to Impressionism, packed with works by Manet, Monet, Renoir, Degas, Pissarro, Cézanne, and numerous others.

 One of the Impressionist display rooms

 Many views of the Cathedral at Rouen (Monet)

 Monet Water Lilies

Picture taken with the Water Lilies (she was here)

Looking out from the top floor of the museum, we see great view of Paris and Montmarte.

View of the Eiffel Tower

View of Montmarte

 View of Montmarte through the old train station clock on the 5th floor

After Musée d'Orsay, we head over the the Grand Palais to view the photography of Seydou Keïta.  Born in Bamako, Mali around 1921, Seydou Keïta received a gift of a Kodak Brownie from his uncle and found his calling.  His studio was popular with travelers from West Africa and his photographs were a key part of the emergence of African photography, focusing on bringing out the personality of the subjects.

Photography of Seydou Keïta

It's also great to see the inside architecture of the Grand Palais.  There is a lot of construction and the windows are covered as the main hall is prepared for a large exhibition, but we can see some of the interior peeking through.

 Interior of the Grand Palais

After this, we are museum'd out and it's time for a glass of wine!

Wandering Around Paris at Night

As the sun sets, we tourists all rush to take pictures of the famous monuments with the glowing sun behind them.

 Arc de Triumph, Eiffel Tower in the distance

 Arc de Triumph in the setting sun

 Looking the other way (from the Arc toward Place de la Concorde) down the Champs-Élysées

 Tourists and locals alike crowd into the center of the Avenue des Champs-Élysées near the Arc de Triumph to get the perfect sunset picture.

 Standing in the middle of the Champs-Élysées for sunset picture

 Driver stops and offers to take a picture

Once the sun sets, it's time to walk along the Seine and see the many views of the Eiffel Tower.  The Eiffel Tower lights up and sparkles on the hour, a fabulous site.  We start at the Trocadéro, across the Seine from the Eiffel Tower.

 Eiffel tower across the Seine

 Eiffel Tower from further along the Seine

Next, we pass the Grand Palais, where we'll see a fabulous photography exhibit in a day or two.  But, in the meantime, the glass roof makes for a spectacular light show.  The Pont Alexandre III Bridge, considered the most ornate, extravagant bridge in Paris, crossing the Seine to the Grand Palais is also lit up.  This bridge was built between 1896 and 1900 and was named after Tsar Alexandre III, who had concluded the Franco-Prussian Alliance in 1892.  This alliance of common foreign policy and military interests between France and Russia ended in 1917, but the bridge lives on!

Grand Palais at night

Pont Alexandre III Bridge to the Grand Palais

As we pass the Grand Palais, we can start to see the Grand Roue de Paris ferris wheel in Place de la Concorde in the distance

 Grand Roue de Paris in the distance

We continue toward Place de la Concorde, with increasingly great views of the wheel.  In the center of Place de la Concorde, the Obelisk (Obélisque de Luxor) is lit up.  The Obelisk stands around 22.8 meters (75 feet) high, weighs an estimated 227 tons, and comes from the temple of Ramses II in the Luxor Temple complex, where it was originally erected over 3000 years ago.  The Obelisk was a gift from Egypt to France in 1833.

 Grand Roue de Paris in Place de la Concorde

 Obelisk in the center of Place de la Concorde

And, as we walk along, we try for the best selfie with the Eiffel Tower (until someone comes along and offers to take our picture and we, in exchange, take theirs).

 Selfie

 Non-selfies

And, a bonus picture from a previous trip, a view from the Pont Saint-Michel bridge which connects Place Saint-Michele to the  Île de la Cité.  We stopped a passing roller-blading student and asked her to take our picture with the Pont Neuf bridge in the background.  The original Pont Saint-Michel bridge was finished in 1387, with the current modern bridge build in 1837.

Night on the Pont Saint-Michel bridge