We had a discussion on Easter celebrations during French class before the Easter weekend. Needless to say, the Singaporean couple has nothing to share, since Easter is nothing big there. While the rest do have lots of yummy traditions to describe. For Paris, Good Friday is not a public holiday, however, the churches such as Sacred Coeur do have processions on this day. Typically, churches do not sound their bells on Good Friday and Saturday. After Rome sound their bells, France will follow suit, and this is when chocolates will rain into their gardens!!!! No chocolate biscuits or bons bons, but chocolate eggs, rabbits,owls and chicken only.
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| Maison Georges Larnicol |
We passed by Georges on Saturday, no more eggs and chicken, just 2 waist height chocolate eggs at the counter for collection.
Our 1st Easter week, we had the company of our lovely parents who flew in from Singapore, and the Student's buddy from Holland. For the next Easter, I hope to search for chocolates in a French's garden...
Our parents' tour group had them rooted in La Défense, we thought they must be suffering from jet lag on the 1st night, so we settled for traditional french at La Scene, which is around their hotel. Decent and cosy, rather value for money too. Found the restaurant via
http://www.lafourchette.com and
http://www.lefooding.com, recommended by a friend in France. Very friendly service considering Paris' standards.
After a good night's rest for them, it was a day of walking.
Beware: we realised that Le Lourve has 2 types of audio guides. The ones we used in our previous visit was very detailed, whereby you can key in the numbers of the exhibits. This time round, we went a little later, and were given audios that have limited content on the highlights only, and there are no options for you to key in any numbers.
Aren't they cute? Check out mum's leg warmers, we can definitely find her in the crowd!
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| Mum trying to touch 2 pyramids |
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| Dad helping mum to touch the other pyramid |
I've picked Chez Clement for lunch, as Dad was craving for Fruits de mer (seafood platter), and I'm sure they have that. Since we were at Le Lourve, we settled for this one at Place St. André des Arts. Service is a "normal Parisien bad", and they forgot about our Fruits de mer, so we didn't try that after all. However, their Pot-eu-feu is pretty nice.
Next stop, we stopped by Barbès Rochechouart for some "red lights", and walked up to Sacre Coeur from here. Nice blue skies for some pretty pictures...
Sacred Coeur and Place du Tetre never fails to surprise us with new stunts.
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| Football balance on the pedestral |
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| Beautiful music |
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| He was so good, we left all our coins with him |
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| She can whistle an entire song with different pitches |
Seriously, not all the artists in the Place are good, but these 2 really caught our attention. A portrait sketch could cost about 50 Euro/pax, for about 30 mins. But beware, we saw some portraits with crooked nose and walled eyes, even though the models look beautiful. For the 1 below, the models are already pretty, but he did an even better job.
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| Final shot before proceeding to Blanche metro |
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| No time for cabarets, but we were there! |
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| Spring is just so beautiful.... |
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| Love this shot on how happy our parents looked |
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| A rare picture of us together |
We were going over to Musée du Quoi Branly, Les Ombres for dinner, and surprises!!! A bevy of vintage cars lined the riverside for some eye candy.
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| A very cute driver in a gorgeous car. |
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| My favourite...lucky son, sitting next to his grandpa. |
We had wanted to bring our parents to 58 Tour Eiffel for a nice dinner with a view. 2 weeks in advance, and there were no tables available for 4. Not even Jules Verne. And so I learnt that if a dinner at Eiffel is a must, I'll have to do that at least 1 month before.
Lucky or not, I chose Les Ombres as a 2nd choice. It is located on the ground and 5th floor of Musée du Quoi Branly. Ground floor is a café, and the 5th offers french designer cuisine with a clear view of the Eiffel Towel. Since I can't have dinner IN Eiffel, I'll have dinner WITH Eiffel. The good thing is that every table has a view, since the canopy is made of glass. If this is not enough, you can still go out into the terrace for a clearer view (if it is not too cold). Not Michelin starred, but Michelin 1 star pricing. Service is superb too! I made a good move to book in advance, as it was full by 8:00pm. Great place to watch the hourly illumination of the Eiffel. It starts from 9pm on the day we went, last for 5 mins every time, and repeats hourly till I'm not sure when.
http://www.lesombres-restaurant.com/
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| Starters given by the house |
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| Appetizer: Foie gras with mango sauce and Brioche |
This is delicious...Dad was not aware that this is actually foie gras, he thought it's duck meat minced and presented in a cake form. It went very well with the mango sauce on top.
The tuna do pale in comparison, the student thought that the cream didn't go very well with the dish.
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| Appetizer: Tuna with herbs, wasabi and soja vinagrette |
Mains were acceptable, but would think the price is worthwhile with the view in mind.
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| Chicken stuffed with foie gras, with taglionlini |
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| Sea bass in banana leaf with Madra wild rice |
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| Cod with vegetables |
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| Eiffel sparkling like a diamond at 9.00 - 9.05pm |
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| Last snap at the tower before mum falls asleep. 9.30pm w/o illumination |
Can't see the difference? You are not NOT seeing things, the illumination can only be captured on video, probably with a good lens or in person. It involves random flickering lights on the entire tower for 5 mins, like those Christmas lights.
After bidding goodbye to our parents, we met up with Cheng Ying, Hua min and Lucas in Paris again the next day. We made a great discovery on San Fransico Bookstore along rue Monsieur Le Prince, near Luxembourg Gardens. It is a second hand bookstore with mainly English books. The shop looks like one where I can find some ancient spell books, with potion concoctions. The books are in very good condition in here, and the owner speaks very good English, so I guess he can really help if we need to.
Walk further down to Carré de l'Odéon, we found an interesting small street in commercial St. André. Looks really cool to have a cuppa and chill here on a weekend. A proclaimed oldest cafe in Paris spotted here, looks ancient with high chairs and traditional cuisine. Prices are reasonable too.
The end of this charming little rue brings you to St. André des Arts, where there are many interesting shops to explore too. Walk on to reach St. Michel. Though we've been to St Michel many times, somehow, we just miss out rue de la Harpe and St Séverin all the time. These 2 streets have lots of small restaurants with menu price 12 to 20 Euro, 3 course, many serving traditional french and Raclette. A steal in my opinion, or perhaps I've not found the real deal yet. After all, these streets were so crowded, tourists and not, so by 7.15pm, all the traditional restaurants were filled to the brim. L'Auberge Saint Séverin, and another opposite Georges' chocolatier looks really tempting to try someday.
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| Proclaimed oldest cafe in Paris since 1686 |
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| Cheng ying with family |
After a long weekend of eating out, we now learn 3 lessons to dine in Paris:
1) When asking for water. Me: "D'eau s'il vous plait?" - Waiter: "Gaz ou plate?" - me: "non, tap s'il vous plait"...Emphasize on TAP, gas or flat is an indication that it will be bottled. Otherwise, we'll somehow end up with a bottle of Evian. (Our friend in France have taught us the right way: "Carafe d'eau" is the right way to go!)
2) Searching for restaurants in the internet may not be a good idea, we found some value for money restaurants that are not listed anywhere in the net. Seems that in France, people don't use the web too much when it comes to food. Or maybe I may have better luck if I search in French.
3) Booking 1 month in advance for popular restaurants is normal, you'll need to reserve a table if you intend to dine after 6.45pm, and many small restaurants do not provide for baby chairs.
