Paris Journal 2014 – Barbara Joy Cooley Home: barbarajoycooley.com
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For the eve of Quatorze Juillet (Bastille Day), we selected a restaurant close to the action. The center of everything in Paris tonight will be the Eiffel Tower, because the fireworks show will be right behind it, over the Seine, and the big stage for the big show is right beneath it. We avoid crowds, so we won’t be in the center of everything tonight. We like to examine the infrastructure and preparations for such an event, however, so we planned to walk there after dinner last night. It would have been wonderful to walk around for two hours or so before dinner, but the weather would not cooperate. Rain poured. We went out anyway, umbrellas in hand, during the hour before dinner. We wandered around in the Village Suisse. Even though the shops were closed, many still had the lights on inside so we could window shop to our hearts’ content. The shops were better supplied with fine antiques, paintings, oriental rugs, and decorative objects than they’ve been for years. This is either a sign that the economy is improving, or that we are for once looking at these shops in July instead of August, when more of the shopkeepers are gone on vacation (and so perhaps they reduce the inventory held in the shop during their absences). While not enclosed, the overhangs of the Village Suisse kept us relatively protected during the rain shower. We were the only window shoppers there, and only one or two shopkeepers were around to finish up final bits of business. A tall maintenance man was going around lowering the security cage doors on the windows. But we could still see plenty. When we were saturated with sights of all these beautiful things, we left the Village Suisse to cross the avenue Suffren. Our dinner reservations were there, at Vin & Marée. This seafood resto is part of a small chain, with four locations: this one on Suffren, one in the 14th, a new one in the 16th, and one in the 11th arrondissement. The one on the avenue Suffren is run by Eric Sanson. He’s doing a good job, we’d say, except for the fact that the resto’s credit card machine would not take our card (yes, it has a chip in it) is an indication that the resto has some trouble with its bank. (The problem is not our card; it has been working fine, and I checked online when we returned to the apartment.) In our experience, when the machine spits out a piece of paper that says “Abandon,” the problem is the restaurant’s or the restaurant’s bank, not ours or our bank’s. No matter. We always have enough cash to pay for dinner. We were a little entertained by two very elderly ladies who were seated at the table right next to ours. The head waiter did not treat them very well, and we don’t understand what his problem was. But the ladies persevered, and seemed to really enjoy their dinners. The young woman who also waited on all of us was much nicer. The ladies each ordered a marmite of scallops. I thought a marmite was a little covered pot; what the ladies received, however, looked more like a soufflé in the classic white ceramic soufflé dish. Anyway, it looked great. Tom will perhaps try it next time; I, however, am allergic to scallops. Poor me. After a terrific starter of croustillant de gambas (shrimp), Tom and I each ordered the filets of sea bass. We could have ordered the sea bass whole, but after the previous night’s unbeatable sole, we decided filets would be better. The vegetables that came with the bass were really good, but the puréed potatoes were divine: so super smooth! And the fish was excellent. A small side of persillade was excellent on both the fish and the purée. We suddenly remembered how good the baba au rhum is at this resto. We recalled that it is enormous, too, so we ordered it for one person, not two, and we shared. This baba is even better than the one at Le Café du Commerce, because the cake is better: fluffier, richer. I admired the beautiful gold-and-black label on the bottle of rum from Martinique. Even though Martinique is a department of France and we were sitting in a French restaurant in Paris, the label on this bottle of Clément rum was entirely in English. I didn’t take any photos in the restaurant because I felt self-conscious about it, with the ladies sitting so close to us that we might as well have been at the same table. But I do like the understated elegance of the décor there. Due to the rain, all these photos are taken with the Samsung Galaxy smartphone, not the Nikon camera, which stayed at home where it was warm and dry. After dinner, the rain had stopped. We walked up to the end of the Champ de Mars but we did so via the side street; the paths of the Champ itself were too muddy and riddled with puddles. We kept to the pavement. Sure enough, the little green men (municipal maintenance workers) have everything ready for the big show tonight. Soon, I’ll be watching the Bastille Day military parade on TV, and running over to the kitchen window periodically to see the fighter jets from the parade’s air show. What fun! |
Monday, July 14, 2014
The
stage beneath the Eiffel Tower is all ready for tonight’s show.
Using
a special effect on my ACDSee photo software.
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