Monday 31 January 2011

Lundi Lundi...


It's Lundi in Paris and there was a sprinkling of snow in the early morning. I know this as my friend left on the first Eurostar back to London. The time difference means he can take the 7am train from Paris and be at his desk in London City by 8:30am. All very impressive although it meant I was left in no man's land - tired but awake and waiting for my alarm...
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Not that I am complaining. The weekend was glorious and despite the chill, we managed to pack in everything I wanted. It is amazing how many English blogs there are devoted to eating and going out in Paris. The wine tasting lived up to expectation and we stopped by the Maison Europeeane de la Photographie to see the latest photo exhibition which covered topical subjects such as the meaning of war as well as the big fashion names and famous landscapes from new angles. Much more manageable than a trip to the Louvre which I feel can be quite draining after all the queuing you do to take a look at a picture of a smiling woman which you have seen a million copies of.....
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The food was unsurprisingly very good. One of the best things we did was to have brunch (which here seems to cover more the lunch-dinner slot so maybe we should call it lunner...?) at Rose Bakery which is run by apparently run by an English lady (blog-pedia-style knowledge) with student waiters who were more than happy to serve you in English which I think takes the charm out of coming to Paris - half the fun is seeing whether you can ask for what you want and trying to look like nothing is wrong when something completely unexpected arrives! Then we went to a chocolate boutique run by the much coveted Jacques Genin. I believe this is the first time he has sold direct to the public (his chocolate usually only sells to the top restaurants & caterers) and it was truly worth visiting. If anyone visits Paris, I can really recommend it. The shop is deliciously clean and spotless, all the staff are wearing clinical white overalls and the hot chocolate (proper thick molten smooth chocolate....) is served in classic white tea sets. The whole experience makes you feel very special.
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We walked out of the City Centre past busy Republique towards Bellevue and ended up at a beautiful hilly park with fir trees and a lake feature with a suspension bridge which takes you up to a little stone gazebo-type structure. I would say it's much prettier than the Luxembourg gardens on the left bank which are crowded and surrounded by the sounds and fumes of busy roads and tour buses.
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Am determined not to fall into the trap of finding something I love on the first weekend and re-visiting it with different friends. For my next victim/friend who is coming next week, I am only going to do new things. The google trawling through the memoirs of past Parisian travellers starts again in earnest!

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