Paris Journal 2011 – Barbara Joy Cooley Home: barbarajoycooley.com
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After watching Monday’s stage of the Tour de France on France 2 national television, we went out for a pleasant stroll combined with errands. Yesterday’s errands and tasks involved getting things working and making sure things are working. The wireless internet connection was first, but I managed to get that going without a huge amount of fuss. The cell phone was another matter. I thought I should be able to recharge the Orange sim card via the cell phone or internet, but I cannot. It seems that if you let the credit and expiration date both slip away, you must visit one of the Orange boutiques to recharge the phone. By the time we went out, the boutique, which is just around the corner, had closed. We went up a bit farther and whipped out the Bank of America ATM card to be sure it was working in the BNP Parisbas ATM (no ATM fee, per agreement between these two banks). Alas, the card would not go into the machine. We tried another, machine, then another. Then Tom discovered that his prescription insurance card had stuck itself perfectly to the back of his ATM card, making it unacceptably fat for the slot in the machine. Once he separated the two cards, everything worked just fine. We went on up the avenue de la Motte Picquet, checking out the menus of our favorite places all the way up to the far end of the École Militaire. Strangely, there were no International Herald Tribune newspapers in the newsstands. Tom had to be satisfied with buying simply the current issue of lowly Le Parisien. We tried the American Express at the Nicolas wine shop. It worked just fine. The shopkeeper was as nice as ever, and although I spoke French, he insisted on telling me the total amount for my purchase in English. The effort it took seemed significant, and then he was looking at me for approval. So I said, “Very good! Excellent!” and he was pleased with himself. We decided on dinner at our old standby favorite, La Gauloise. (See video here.) The staff greeted us and seated us as if we were old friends returning from a long vacation. I started with the gazpacho, which is smooth-textured, deeply red, and light in body. Delicious and refreshing. Then we each had beef bourgignon, served in a rich, dark reduction sauce that takes so much patience and skill to make so well. Tom finished with chocolate mousse, which is much darker and richer than it used to be. My only disappointment is that La Gauloise no longer serves Mariage Frères tea. In the old days a few years ago, if you ordered this tea after dinner, the server would bring it with a dish of round, dark chocolates. In paying the check, we used the gold Capital One Venture Mastercard (no international transaction fees), and it worked just fine. After the delicious dinner served by a friendly and informative waiter, we strolled home and sat out on the balcony until after 10PM. It was still light enough to read outside. This morning I went out wandering and window shopping all the way down the rue du Commerce to the Place Étienne Pernet, in front of the old Grenelle village church named for St. John the Baptist. Then I walked down the rue des Entrepreneurs to the Monop for breakfast food. I was delighted to find that this store now carries Poilane bread. After breakfast (coffee, poached egg, juice, and Poilane bread & butter), Tom and I went out together to the Orange boutique, and waited patiently in line for our turn. Waiting was interesting, because we were able to watch and listen to all the other customers have their phone problems solved. When it was my turn, I said bonjour and apologized for my simple French because I knew I was going to use a lot of sentences, all in present tense. The sales tech surprised me, though, by saying he speaks English. (This has never happened for me in an Orange boutique before.) There was no stopping him – he spoke English and he renewed & recharged my phone in no time. I was even allowed to keep my old phone number! Hooray! Then we went down Commerce to find newspapers for Tom. Another strike! No daily newspapers! Oh well. But life is good. All gadgets and cards are up and
working. Laissez les bon temps
rouler! Sign
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Tuesday, July 5, 2011
We
passed the Champ de Mars and the Eiffel Tower on yesterday evening’s walk,
but I still don’t have my camera yet!
This is an older photo of mine.
Chef Sebastien Carabeux’s beef bourguignon at La Gauloise. This photo is a year old, but nothing has changed – except that perhaps the sauce was a little darker and richer last night.
With
this credit card from Capital One, there are no international
service fees. Also, it gives you 1.25
miles for every dollar spent. You must
have excellent credit to qualify for it.
There is no annual fee. |
