Day 7: Paris

Day 7:  Paris

Quote of the Day: Another great meal

Weather: Supposed to get into 80s with humidity, instead most of the day until mid-afternoon was very pleasant and the humidity didn’t show up

 

Notre Dame from atop Institut du Monde Arabe

Our last full day in Paris so of course we start with bread and way too much pastry from the best bakery in town, just down the street from our apartment (no coincidence).  There will be plenty of leftovers for Sunday morning breakfast and then the train ride to Aix.

Institut entrance: hard to see and building is also monochromatic

Huge, mostly unused atrium; from inside building it seems half of all the floors are missing

Atrium used to make honey? You can see the bees moving in and out

First stop: a nice walk to the Institut du Monde Arabe with a great view of the damage to Notre Dame (it was hard to see when walking next to the scaffolding). The Institut is mostly a museum, an excellent one covering the 22 nations of the Arab speaking world (thanks to AS for the tip). There’s a mix of the ancient and the contemporary art, some of it fascinating and the juxtaposition exciting. While THB’s pet peeves are in evidence (poor lighting and hard to read attributions), there is much to see here of interest (and without many visitors).

Note how lighting shadows top 1/3 of art piece

Great piece, half in shadows

Relic of camel drinking out of tall water fountain

Note where attribution is; even the twins might have to bend over a bit

You want fine print, we have fine print for you!

Mini-quran on arm-strap

After almost 1.5 hours, we are just a few minutes from lunch at kitchen (ter)re, the sister of Ze Kitchen Galerie. And, again, lunch is terrific:

THB finally gets a menu to take back and give you faithful followers a version of French menu-speak

Haricots verts, eau du tomate, feta, fraise, condiment olive epicee

(Green beans, tomato water, feta, strawberry, spicy olive condiment)

Green beans and marinated fish so good neither of us wanted to trade...trade we did

Poisson marinee, vinaigrette verjus-wasabi, condiment oseille, raisin, caramel de pomme

(Marinated fish, verjus-wasabi vinaigrette, sorrel, raisin, apple caramel)

Suggestion de Marche, special of the day is grilled salmon with grain

Salmon done exactly right

Blesotto (endgrain), moules de Bouchot, soubressade, herbes, marine, bouillon thai de coquillage

(Blesotto (endgrain), Bouchot mussels, soubressade, marine herbs, thai shellfish broth)

Moules in broth very rich

Bottle of Evian, an American pale-ale-ish from Netherlands, glass of white burgundy, $110.

Back to the jewelry gallery to finalize next steps. Now to await estimate of cost of ring and estimated completion dates.

Some recreational shopping at the big department store in town, Bon Marche. A bit of success, not much luck on shopping for the twins.

Bus to near the apartment (using up the last of our 10 pack of metro/bus tickets at around $1.20 per ride…a big bargain!!). Pick up a half bottle of wine and few snacks for the train ride tomorrow, dine on leftovers (pate, cheese, fresh bread, olives, tomato salad), and do a bit of blogging.

Next up: Chateau/Villa La Coste near Aix

Shots from around town

This kid's board was so big he couldn't carry it with one hand; as with most boys, after 2 blocks they were punching each other (you can guess who had the advantage of hands-free)

THB took this pic before seeing what these folks thought was so interesting

How many cameras do you need to catch them off the ground (THB thinks the one of the left never got off the ground, and he got his shot in one take)

One of JOB's faves: why are there more horses asses than horses

The fire department wheeled out this hook and ladder to repair a pipe just to left of their firehouse