Emily and Linda’s Travel Blog

Monday we intended to start by visiting the Le Village Saint-Paul, a little mews sort of community in the 3rd arrondissement with quiet courtyards, shops, and cafes. It was supposed to look like this

But instead this is what we found

However, as is so often the case when traveling, we found ourselves somewhere unplanned, but fascinating . We realized we were right near the Old Jewish quarter of the Marais. We spent the next few hours meandering around. I found this trio of shops particularly interesting - from the venerable traditional bakery to the more modern idea of a Diasporama (carrying a variety of Judaica from many areas). 

You can also get souvenir yamulkes here - something I've never seen before. 

On a more serious note, there is a memorial garden, Les Jardins des Rosiers - the top of the plaque reads “Arrested by the police of the Vichy government, accomplice of the Nazi occupation forces, more than 11,000 children were deported from France and murdered  in Auschwitz because they were born Jewish. More than 500 of these children used to live in the fourth arrondissement. Among them, 101 were so young that they didn’t have a chance to go to school.” there is a list of names and the admonition, "Passerby, read their names. Your memory is their only tombstone. We must never forget them."

Continuing on our way, we were enticed by a free sample into Sum Sum, a store where they sell artisanal fruit teas and halvah of an amazing variety of types. My two favorites were zaatar and black sesame. We chatted with the very friendly and charming proprietor, Yair who has lived in Paris, Crown Heights, and Amarillo - yes the one in Texas. He said that in Amarillo "they don’t like a lot of people, but they love Jews".  We were skeptical, but he told us that every Passover for the 4 years he lived there, he would organize a huge seder and get 300-400 people to attend, many not Jewish.  He's a delightful guy We could imagine him being able to get people to move past prejudices.  

The Marais is also known as a quirky area. Here are a few more shots from our walk. The sign in the bottom panel of the bookstore front says something like, "open to the extent possible " (it wasn’t when we passed by)

Sunday we took the light rail RER train out to see my old college friend John Schweizer. He and his partner Julien live out in Luzarches, a small town north of Paris. 

The Gare  du Nord was a mix of old and new with the imposing edifice on the street, but much more modern inside. The trains seemed very new. 

On French trains you have to push a button to open the doors. So this sign seemed a bit concerning 

It says "Don’t let our children play with the doors. It’s dangerous for them”. We hope it’s not possible to open the doors when the train's moving (but didn’t test the question). 

John picked us up at the station and suggested a stop at the local mushroom cave on the way home. He had just had a sinus surgery so I ended up driving - an adventure in a big car on narrow roads, but easier than UK or Ireland driving. 

The mushroom cave was fascinating. The mushroom farmer put on a head lamp and guided us to see the mushrooms growing in the dark cave (he also grows potatoes and endive in there). He sold us a kilo for 5 euros (about $5.50). Doesn’t get any fresher than that. 

We also made a stop at Chantilly, famous for its château and its stables which raise and train horses  

Final stop was John and Julien's beautiful new home, comprised of an old tower and attached house with a lovely garden  

 Here’s the chef (with a bandage from his surgery) and his kitchen

John made us what he called a simple lunch of fresh mushroom salad (from the just harvested mushrooms), fresh tomatoes, roasted white asparagus, brandade (a mixture of (salt cod blended with potatoes, garlic, and olive oil and baked). And then a cheese plate. A feast - delicious and fresh  

We had a really lovely day. So grateful to have the opportunity to catch up and share a meal so lovingly prepared 

It used to be that many of the Parisian churches had free concerts given by local or visiting groups - you could find them in weekly listings in the paper or tacked up outside the church. I was looking for some of those, but like so many things, many of the larger churches now cater to the performances that get the biggest draw and they charge a hefty sum for the concerts. But really, how many times do you need to hear Vivaldi's Four Seasons or Pachelbel's Canon? I know amateur groups still sing & play in Parisian churches, but how to find them?

I looked for a while and finally found a concert this evening of the Chorale Inter-Scouts at Saint Sulpice. They seem to be Parisian Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts and the choir draws from multiple troops. They also seemed very Catholic, so different from most of our Scout troops. I listened to a few youtube clips and decided they were worth a try.

Here’s the church (known, among other things, as the setting for some of the drama in The DaVinci Code) and the fountain outside

So of course first we went in search of dinner. We found a sweet little Greek place around the corner from the church called Evi Evane where they told us they could seat us without a reservation if we would finish by 8:00. We said we were game if they could feed us fast enough. Turned out to be a fabulous meal. I had lamb meatballs with polenta and goat cheese. Linda also had a lamb dish that didn’t photograph so well. But the most interesting thing I saw was their version of moussaka which comes wrapped in eggplant slices. Definitely on the list if we go back. 

The concert turned out to be great. They sang music perfectly suited to the church with it huge vaulted ceiling. The large choir was good, but the chamber group was amazing.  See for yourself:

One oddness was a song where apparently they were singing a scout pledge

The Georges restaurant on the roof of the Pompidou Center seemed a little more upscale than we usually choose - especially for lunch, but the sky was so amazing we decided to go for it. Such spectacular views, made more so by low clouds. 

Here’s a video sweeping the panorama (with bird sounds!)

I had asparagus soup with creme frâiche and a bib lettuce and avocado salad. Linda had curry chicken

Saturday Linda left first to visit an Urban Photography exhibit - "Street Sans Frontières" which I'll let her tell about. Then we met up at the Centre Pompidou. I had an adventure taking the bus with the other gray heads. My route from the bus stop took me down this street - take a a right at the mural and there was the Beaubourg plaza, Stravinsky fountain, and Centre Pompidou with all its innards on the outside. 

As you go up the outside escalators, the view changes until you're at Paris roof level and then above. 

The views of Sacré Coeur and Nôtre Dame were remarkable- you can see that Nôtre Dame has covered the roof. 

We wandered some of the galleries, but the building is a lot of the fun.  Here are a few of the pieces I spent time with and the sculpture garden on the 5th floor.  The first painting is a Kandinsky  the second is by a Russian woman named Natalia Gontcharova whom I'd never encountered before.  I'm ashamed to say I forgot to note the sculptor's names  

Of course, Linda spent a lot of time playing with the light and distortions of the building

Friday evening we headed over to the Marais for dinner. The bar/resto was cute, but the food was unremarkable. So we passed on dessert there and instead picked up some intensely chocolate gelato which was the perfect thing to eat while enjoying the Place des Vosges as the sun set. 

We set off Friday AM with the plan to walk around the 7th Arrondissement and end up at a gluten free bakery (there are quite a few in Paris - GF has definitely arrived here). 

First a stop at the local Feminist book store 2 blocks from our flat and some window browsing

Then on to our first Metro ride. More bad French and a kind ticket agent who saved me from buying the wrong transit passes and we were off

Arrived right by the Tour Eiffel where a charity walk/run was ending up

Sadly, I had miscalculated the distance so what was intended as a pleasant walk turned into more of a slog, but we fortified ourselves with a bit of lunch at a sidewalk cafe (Linda had a Croques Monsieur - the fancier French cousin of a grilled ham. and cheese sandwich)

We did finally make it to No Glu which had, as promised, fabulous pastries and bread- I had Madeleines for the first time in years (and of course thought of Proust)

After all that walking, I was glad to find frozen peas at the store across the street for a quick ice pack alternative 

We have arrived and successfully negotiated getting into our Airbnb flat. A few snags, but now on track. Too sleepy to do much beside post a few lines and pics. Cute neighborhood (apparently trending ). Lots of interesting shops and cafes.

Moody skies over Mansard roofs

We will definitely not go hungry. There's a bakery good enough to have a line (it was out the door at one point), a Charcouterie, an Asian delicacies shop, and tonight's pick - a sweet little Lebanese restaurant where they were very kind about my bad French. 

Hope to see my college friend John tomorrow at his house in the countryside beyond the City. 

Bedtime now. 

The leg room was pretty great

But communication poor and sadly my leg rest didn’t work. 

Definitely better than coach, but not quite the experience that was promised