Dinner last night was just a ten minute walk, following the Marci school of city touring which says : “run around all day, anywhere you want, take public transit everywhere, but once you are back at your hotel, be it 6 or 7 or even 8pm, just walk close by for dinner”.
I always pick the neighborhood to stay in first and then I pick my hotel. I don’t mind running all day, but once the day is done I want to be near lots of good places to eat dinner.
Astier, a bistro in the 11th, qualified on the location and the Good Eats. Again, the food sounded simple, like my beet gaspacho with crunchy veggies. The deep purple was rich looking and the flavors layered and fresh.
Steve started with the pickled herring and I think he was quite surprised when the waiter delivered and LEFT on the table a quite large glazed terracotta container of herring, a serving spoon and fork, a bowl of small potatoes and a basket of bread. Then he left. Clearly this was an all-you-can-eat, help yourself appetizer (much like their 16 Euro, unending cheese plate, reminiscent of Le Bec Fin’s desert trolly).
For main plats Steve had duck two ways, roasted and confit, and I did the typical Jewish woman thing and had a second appetizer, shrimp ravioli with mushroom compote in lemon foam. All were delicious, as was the Cote d’Rhone. Today we headed back to the Marais to the Jewish Museum to see, not their permanent collection but, two special exhibits.
One was the life of Helena Rubinstein and her beauty empire and the other was about an unknown Argentinean Jew, Adolph Kaminsky, who emigrated with his family to France around 1932.
Leaving school at an early age he went to work as a clothes dyer and became quite expert at stain removal and the chemistry of dyes.
But his days of forging to help those in need never stopped. He worked with the French Resistance, the Haganah, the Algerian National Liberation and any other third-world liberation movement where his skills were needed. He even worked for the French Military Secret Services, forging Russian documents for French spies. Later in life he turned to photography, many of his images on display. His whole life, he very simply, very humbly, just saved as many lives as he could. He is still alive today living in Paris at age 94. Imagine if every person in the world could do 1% of what he did.
Although we were in the Marais and I had clearly told Steve we should have falafel for lunch, somehow we ended up at a non-descript sidewalk bistro for a small bite before a bit of shopping at the great little designer and artist stores that line the streets of the Marais. I was on a mission to buy a special birthday gift for my sister’s 60th and found just the right thing, which I cannot divulge in case she is following the blog.
We headed to the Pompideau for the special exhibit and fell prey to the inexperienced traveler’s mistake- we never checked which day they were closed and ....it is Tuesday. At that point we were hot and sweaty and ready to metro back, strip off our clothes and cool off. Tonight we were hoping to have dinner at another place on our local map, Le Sevran, but we haven’t been able to get a reservation and we are still pretty full from lunch. Ces’t la vie. Tomorrow is our last full day in Paris, and on this trip. Laurent will be back from Barcelona and we have a great dinner reservation to spend our last night with Laurent and Miguel. After that, look for my typical trip wrap up of observations and tips and maybe one more WTF.
I always pick the neighborhood to stay in first and then I pick my hotel. I don’t mind running all day, but once the day is done I want to be near lots of good places to eat dinner.
Astier, a bistro in the 11th, qualified on the location and the Good Eats. Again, the food sounded simple, like my beet gaspacho with crunchy veggies. The deep purple was rich looking and the flavors layered and fresh.
Steve started with the pickled herring and I think he was quite surprised when the waiter delivered and LEFT on the table a quite large glazed terracotta container of herring, a serving spoon and fork, a bowl of small potatoes and a basket of bread. Then he left. Clearly this was an all-you-can-eat, help yourself appetizer (much like their 16 Euro, unending cheese plate, reminiscent of Le Bec Fin’s desert trolly).
For main plats Steve had duck two ways, roasted and confit, and I did the typical Jewish woman thing and had a second appetizer, shrimp ravioli with mushroom compote in lemon foam. All were delicious, as was the Cote d’Rhone. Today we headed back to the Marais to the Jewish Museum to see, not their permanent collection but, two special exhibits.
Leaving school at an early age he went to work as a clothes dyer and became quite expert at stain removal and the chemistry of dyes.
Then in 1942, after being released from Drancy (a Nazi work camp) with the help of the Argentinean embassy, he became an amazing forger. He worked for the Jewish Resistance forging thousands of documents, once doing 900 documents in three days, allowing three hundred Jewish children to escape from France.
But his days of forging to help those in need never stopped. He worked with the French Resistance, the Haganah, the Algerian National Liberation and any other third-world liberation movement where his skills were needed. He even worked for the French Military Secret Services, forging Russian documents for French spies. Later in life he turned to photography, many of his images on display. His whole life, he very simply, very humbly, just saved as many lives as he could. He is still alive today living in Paris at age 94. Imagine if every person in the world could do 1% of what he did.
Although we were in the Marais and I had clearly told Steve we should have falafel for lunch, somehow we ended up at a non-descript sidewalk bistro for a small bite before a bit of shopping at the great little designer and artist stores that line the streets of the Marais. I was on a mission to buy a special birthday gift for my sister’s 60th and found just the right thing, which I cannot divulge in case she is following the blog.
We headed to the Pompideau for the special exhibit and fell prey to the inexperienced traveler’s mistake- we never checked which day they were closed and ....it is Tuesday. At that point we were hot and sweaty and ready to metro back, strip off our clothes and cool off. Tonight we were hoping to have dinner at another place on our local map, Le Sevran, but we haven’t been able to get a reservation and we are still pretty full from lunch. Ces’t la vie. Tomorrow is our last full day in Paris, and on this trip. Laurent will be back from Barcelona and we have a great dinner reservation to spend our last night with Laurent and Miguel. After that, look for my typical trip wrap up of observations and tips and maybe one more WTF.
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