We landed at CDG at 12:30 and took a taxi to our hotel, Fertel Etoile at 4 Acacias in the 17th, about four blocks from the Arc de Triumphe.
We called Kathryn and we agreed to meet at the Grand Palais at 3:30 to visit the Biennelle, which is an Antique and art show showing works from many of the finest shops in France and the world.
There were two rows of booths, all elegantly appointed and showing some of the finest art available for sale in France, the best of the best. I should have taken pictures. I particularly like a Vlaminck cityscape, a Pierre Bonnard portrait of a young woman, and there was a booth with 4 Marc Chagalls (one of wWhich Suzette had seen in an art history book). There were also impressive offerings of Pre-Colombian ceramics and Jade Masks and Chinese ceramics.
After we looked at all the art, we walked to the south end of the Grand Palais to the Mini Palais Restaurant, which is housed inside the Grand Palais, but separated from the exhibition area. Kathryn requested a table located outside under the impressive colonnade. We ordered glasses of rose wine and then Suzette ordered a tin of sardines with a cake of herbed compound butter and four or five toasted slices of dark crusty bread. I ordered a steak tartare, basically a 1 pound round of raw beef mixed together with chopped capers, and a mayonnaise sauce. The Rose was fabulous, the food was terrific and the setting could not have been more impressive with its huge three or four story tall columns and upper walls adorned with mosaics.
We made a plan to meet Kathryn on Sunday at Clingencourt Flea Market and said goodbye at 6:00 and returned to the Hotel.
After a nap until 8:00 we dressed and walked to the Arc de Triumphe and found a small simple Asiatique restaurant named a Royal something a couple blocks from Etoile. We ate a simple dinner of a roasted duck breast served with a light sauce and a baked pot of what appeared to be steamed ichiban eggplant chunks sauced with a ground pork rich dark brown sauce and garnished with a few sliced Green onions that was really delicious. Did I mention that it is hard to find a bad restaurant in Paris, if you avoid the awful chains, like McDonald’s and the tourist traps, like the cafes on Blvd, Grand Armee that we walked past on our way to the Arc.
After dinner at around 9:30 we walked back to the Arc and refreshed by a light delicious dinner, we assaulted the 284 steps of the Arc to reach its observation deck on top.
The view of Paris at night was spectacular. The Eiffel Tower was lit and shooting rays of light and on the top of the distance summit of Montmartre was Sacre Couer bathed in light like the jewel of Paris that it is.
At 10:30 we walked back to the hotel and went to sleep after a pleasant day in Paris, in which we both knocked another item off the bucket list, climbing the Arc, proven by the above photos.
Bon Appetit
No comments:
Post a Comment