Marci and Steve Go Back to Europe

Au Revoir  Our dream has come true and come to an end.  A month in Paris, a whole 30 days. I am still pinching myself some days, Steve is pinching me the others.  I feel a bit Parisian because I: can get through a day without visiting a museum, have ridden at least ten different metro lines and racked up 50 rides, velibed through the city, bought fish at the poissoniere twice and baguettes at the boulangerie and wine at the cave du vin daily for thirty days, can wear a scarf even when it is 70 degrees and even can leave my apartment without a camera. I am a litlle sad to leave but know I must because I have LITERALLY WORN OUT MY SHOES, my feet need a rest and I have checked off every box of my 'must do' Paris list. AND...... Prague and Eastern Europe await for the next leg of our adventure, so stay tuned.

Petite palaces in Paris and Grande Spectacles in Versailles Two cities, two surprises and one long day. Sometimes quite by accident you stumble on a gem. Not that it was unknown, how could anything right in the middle of Paris called the Petit Palais be a secret? But there are no stars or triangles next to its listing in the guidebooks. The descriptions are rather plain as one of two structures built for the last great Paris exhibition of 1900, Art Nouveau architecture housing the City of Paris art collection. But we were meeting a friend for a drink at 3 in the 2nd, stopping to gawk in the hip  concept shop Collette near Place Vendome and with only a few days left in Paris, how could we sit home all morning?  We might as well 'hop' into the Petite Palais nearby first and kill an hour. You approach with the Royal Palais on one side, the Petite on the other but they are only relative descriptions of their size as both are huge and grand.  Walk up the steps, into entry and ...

Divine dinner at $1.00 a Minute Pierre Sang Boyer was a Top Chef contestant on France's Season 2 in 2011.  We figured we would take his advice (see earlier blog when we met him at his Philly cream cheese giveaway) and show up at opening time one night in hopes of getting a stool at his 10 seat counter. If there were no stools left, would we be willing to 'stand' at one of the other six spots, eating at small high angular tables half inside and half on the sidewalk?  Not sure and glad we did not have to find out. We were the first to arrive and had our choice of stools.  The kitchen, which is exactly the length of the 10 seat counter and one person wide was bustling with activity, dish clanging and food prep by no less than six cooks. The mise en place was ready but the main ingredients were still being prepared for the six course tasting, no menu, no info. Unsure of what we would be eating, we had to take the suggestion of the staff, a bottle of white would be the preferr...

Dinner at the future #49? With a bit of art thrown in for good luck. Yesterday was centered around nabbing a dinner rez at Bones  at 8:30pm , pretty much the early prime time for dinner.  That left a whole day with no plans (kind of refreshing) so we decided to fill it with a small thing we have not done yet, which you must do in Paris, even if it is your fifth visit. We tackled the Louvre, vowing of course to skip all of the highlights.  We decided to walk over around  3:30  to give ourselves four hours or so before heading directly to dinner. As ou can see, I have grown, taller and thinner and gone red. I now look totally Frenchified and finally have those long legs I always dreamed of. All the books touted Wednesday late day as the 'slow' time at the Louvre, an oxymoron if I heard one since the lower lobby was teeming with a sea of people. But we know to use the Carousel entrance and the ticket machines (even though yet again CapOne denied Steve's card, ...

In the past few years, Steve has become an avid reader of the annual published list of the top 50 restaurants in the world.  ( SEE:  www.theworlds50best.com )  Every year, he reads it and checks off where we have eaten, since the list changes each year. He is always excited when we have eaten somewhere before it hits the list. Then before we travel he consults it to decide where we might want to eat. A couple of years ago we checked off three on the list with a single visit to Mexico City, so you can imagine that Paris counts quite a few on the list each year.  Steve's enthusiasm to dine at the top 50 is always tempered by my reminder that we never think the 'best' list for Philadelphia (The Fountain today, Le Bec Fin of yesteryear) is worth the cost when there are so many great little funky spots for a quarter of the price.  We tend not to love traditional, formal dining and so in Paris we seek out hole in the wall places with great chefs (see the Le Baratin bl...

Marci has the day off again..... OK - Here's any easy one. Seen in the 1st arrondisement:  No, he was not arrested for this - in fact he is paid to perform this act. First correct answer wins the promised fashion accessory that was not won from last contest. Thanks for playing, and good luck. Steve Schwartz

Seraut is Alive and Well at Luxembourg Gardens Paris can be so sophisticated. So modern. So chic.  And so old fashioned. Close your eyes.  Hear Sondheim's 'Sunday in the Park with George'.  See Seraut's 'A  Sunday Afternoon  on the Island of La Grande Jatte'. Open your eyes.  Surprise, it is Luxembourg Gardens on a Sunday of a Parisian summer day, here and now. The clothes are more modern, the ankles and more are bared, baseball caps replace parasols except for a few Asian women but the feeling is the same. People strolling slowly, taking in the flowering meticulous gardens, lazing beneath the squarely trimmed rows of trees, reading, picnicking, napping.  You can almost see bowlers on men and ruffled skirts on women.  There is a large fountain and a nice breeze.  And little boys are sailing wooden toy boats, genuinely enthralled by following their boat all around, nudging it with a stick when it returns to the edge.  The vendor rents boa...