Our around-the-world trip culminated in Paris. Even though it was hardly our first visit (Vik spent several months there as an expatriate many moons ago, and Kaberi had made numerous trips to the City of Lights over the years), we still found a number of new experiences to share.
Having timed our stay to start on a Saturday morning in order to frequent the weekend markets, we started our day at the antique fair of St-Ouen in the northern outskirts of the city. We walked through the narrow alleyways crammed with bric-a-brac displays and past larger streetside buildings housing more upscale stalls. We soon found two shops specializing in antique prints where Kaberi picked out an unusual orchid print dating from the 1850s as well as a set of 1901 collectors’ cards depicting several cities we just happened to have visited in recent months. After first stopping off at the hotel to safely stow our new-found treasures, we then proceeded to continue into central Paris.
We next made our way to the 8th arrondisement to have lunch at Lauderee, a fancy tea shop specializing in French macaroons (which Kaberi would describe as light as air and nothing like the dense American version). Between us, we split a towering salmon club sandwich and an assortment of mini-macaroons while taking in the gilded molding and charmingly fussy décor. Invigorated with the sudden rush of sugar, we strolled through the Tuilleries to the L’Orangerie, an ethereal museum featuring eight wrap-around works from Monet’s Water Lillies collection. Unlike the smaller versions of the works we had seen elsewhere, these masterpieces were each easily thirty feet long. Displayed simply with one to a curved wall, each painting made us feel as if we were in the midst of a quiet pond in Giverny. The scale and subtle colors entranced us as we admired the magnitude of each creation. Seeing these paintings for the first time was easily the highlight of the day.
Exiting L’Orangerie, we soon found ourselves before the large ferris wheel on the eastern side of the Place de la Concorde. Overcome with the desire to do something completely silly, Kaberi cajoled Vik into taking a ride to the top to see Paris from the air. At the apex, we could see the glass pyramid and main courtyard of the Louvre to our east, Sacre Couer to our north, the Arc de Triomphe to our west and the majestic Eiffel Tower to our south. Our overpriced ride (roughly $28 for two for twenty minutes) took us on four revolutions with which to enjoy Paris with a beautiful blue sky backdrop.
Remaining in the first arrondisement, we revisited a restaurant that we had discovered on our last visit to Paris. We chose one of the ubiquitous corner cafes for a glass of wine and watched Parisians and fellow tourists wind their day to a close. Our dinner at Livingstone didn’t live up to our fond memories, but we still found it impossible to be disappointed with the day.
The next morning, after breakfast at our hotel, we relocated ourselves to a rental studio apartment in the 7th arrondisement located literally less than a stone’s throw from the Eiffel Tower. With a kitchen now at our disposal, we decided to explore the Sunday morning food markets, first walking to Rue Cler and then continuing on to the organic market at Sevres-Bablyon. Wandering the stalls of fresh produce, cheeses, breads and wines, we stopped to purchase figs, freshly-baked pain de mie and chevre cheese. Our subsequent excursion to the Les Puces des Vanves market proved much less fruitful than our experience from the day before. As we arrived, we found the vendors were packing away their wares and folding up their tables.
In the afternoon, Kaberi visited the gorgeous Museum d’Orsay (fashioned out of an old railway station) while Vik remained at the apartment to research health insurance options (proof that our journey was in its final stages). We met back at the apartment before heading out for a traditional and casual French dinner in the neighborhood. With most Parisian restaurants closed on Sundays, we settled on a tiny hole-in-the-wall eatery offering an authentic country meal prepared by a warm French grandmother. As we walked back, the Eiffel Tower, lit up the night sky and served as our beacon to home.
The next day, we headed to Saint Michel in the 6th arrondisement, Vik’s old haunt, and one of Kaberi’s favorite neighborhoods in the city. Here, Kaberi continued to indulge her new obsession with macaroons (which have summarily replaced cupcakes as Kaberi’s guilty sweet pleasure of choice), Vik patiently followed his wife from one establishment to another, including Gerard Mulot, Pierre Herme, Paul, and Cacao de Chocolat. We then ventured across the river to the 4th arrondisement to Place de Vosges, billed as the most romantic square in Paris. Happening upon an unoccupied park bench, we enjoyed a casual picnic of tuna baguettes and mini-macaroons.
Attempting to walk off some of the caloric damage, we focused our attention on searching for the hard-to-find Passages in the 2nd arrondisement. Triangulating the locations from our multiple tourist city maps, we soon found the discreet, unmarked entrances. Our efforts were rewarded with supreme examples of vintage Parisian architecture; recently renovations of the arcades celebrated the detailed enclaves of wrought iron, gleaming wood, intricate mosaics and old-fashioned lights. As Kaberi continued on to walk rue St-Honore, Vik begged off from yet another afternoon of girlfriend duty.
On our last day, we started off with fresh baked goods from be, Alain Ducasse’ boulangerie in the 17th arrondisement. Grabbing a pain au chocolate for breakfast and a baguette to go, we continued to the Rodin Museum located just east of the Invalides dome in the 7th arrondisement. Situated in a gorgeous garden, we admired exquisite statues of The Thinker and the Gates of Hell before venturing inside to see The Kiss. After Vik teased Kaberi about her obsessive picture taking (marked by endless snapping away from every possible angle), we finally moved on to enjoy a quick lunch nearby.
In the afternoon, after simply strolling the streets of the 6th and 7th arrondisements, we headed to Mariage Freres for tea. Entering into a corner store, we were greeted by floor to ceiling displays of tea tins from around the world. After sipping green and black varietals in the tea room, Kaberi agonized over which tea to purchase before the journey home. Kaberi justified her decision to buy tea in France at exorbitant prices (rather than at the source in the more affordable tea hubs of India and China) on the basis of the superior aesthetics of the French packaging.
With our last night, we ventured to the Eiffel Tower (where else?) where we closed our evening by laying out on the grass of the Champs de Mar to watch the nightly light show. Despite the overall exhaustion we had accumulated with eight months of travel under our belts, we had managed to realize an excellent conclusion to our trip. Even Vik, who wears his distaste of Parisians as a badge of honor, had to admit that he had thoroughly enjoyed himself.
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
French Connection
Our around-the-world trip culminated in Paris. Even though it was hardly our first visit (Vik spent several months there as an expatriate many moons ago, and Kaberi had made numerous trips to the City of Lights over the years), we still found a number of new experiences to share.
Having timed our stay to start on a Saturday morning in order to frequent the weekend markets, we started our day at the antique fair of St-Ouen in the northern outskirts of the city. We walked through the narrow alleyways crammed with bric-a-brac displays and past larger streetside buildings housing more upscale stalls. We soon found two shops specializing in antique prints where Kaberi picked out an unusual orchid print dating from the 1850s as well as a set of 1901 collectors’ cards depicting several cities we just happened to have visited in recent months. After first stopping off at the hotel to safely stow our new-found treasures, we then proceeded to continue into central Paris.
We next made our way to the 8th arrondisement to have lunch at Lauderee, a fancy tea shop specializing in French macaroons (which Kaberi would describe as light as air and nothing like the dense American version). Between us, we split a towering salmon club sandwich and an assortment of mini-macaroons while taking in the gilded molding and charmingly fussy décor. Invigorated with the sudden rush of sugar, we strolled through the Tuilleries to the L’Orangerie, an ethereal museum featuring eight wrap-around works from Monet’s Water Lillies collection. Unlike the smaller versions of the works we had seen elsewhere, these masterpieces were each easily thirty feet long. Displayed simply with one to a curved wall, each painting made us feel as if we were in the midst of a quiet pond in Giverny. The scale and subtle colors entranced us as we admired the magnitude of each creation. Seeing these paintings for the first time was easily the highlight of the day.
Exiting L’Orangerie, we soon found ourselves before the large ferris wheel on the eastern side of the Place de la Concorde. Overcome with the desire to do something completely silly, Kaberi cajoled Vik into taking a ride to the top to see Paris from the air. At the apex, we could see the glass pyramid and main courtyard of the Louvre to our east, Sacre Couer to our north, the Arc de Triomphe to our west and the majestic Eiffel Tower to our south. Our overpriced ride (roughly $28 for two for twenty minutes) took us on four revolutions with which to enjoy Paris with a beautiful blue sky backdrop.
Remaining in the first arrondisement, we revisited a restaurant that we had discovered on our last visit to Paris. We chose one of the ubiquitous corner cafes for a glass of wine and watched Parisians and fellow tourists wind their day to a close. Our dinner at Livingstone didn’t live up to our fond memories, but we still found it impossible to be disappointed with the day.
The next morning, after breakfast at our hotel, we relocated ourselves to a rental studio apartment in the 7th arrondisement located literally less than a stone’s throw from the Eiffel Tower. With a kitchen now at our disposal, we decided to explore the Sunday morning food markets, first walking to Rue Cler and then continuing on to the organic market at Sevres-Bablyon. Wandering the stalls of fresh produce, cheeses, breads and wines, we stopped to purchase figs, freshly-baked pain de mie and chevre cheese. Our subsequent excursion to the Les Puces des Vanves market proved much less fruitful than our experience from the day before. As we arrived, we found the vendors were packing away their wares and folding up their tables.
In the afternoon, Kaberi visited the gorgeous Museum d’Orsay (fashioned out of an old railway station) while Vik remained at the apartment to research health insurance options (proof that our journey was in its final stages). We met back at the apartment before heading out for a traditional and casual French dinner in the neighborhood. With most Parisian restaurants closed on Sundays, we settled on a tiny hole-in-the-wall eatery offering an authentic country meal prepared by a warm French grandmother. As we walked back, the Eiffel Tower, lit up the night sky and served as our beacon to home.
The next day, we headed to Saint Michel in the 6th arrondisement, Vik’s old haunt, and one of Kaberi’s favorite neighborhoods in the city. Here, Kaberi continued to indulge her new obsession with macaroons (which have summarily replaced cupcakes as Kaberi’s guilty sweet pleasure of choice), Vik patiently followed his wife from one establishment to another, including Gerard Mulot, Pierre Herme, Paul, and Cacao de Chocolat. We then ventured across the river to the 4th arrondisement to Place de Vosges, billed as the most romantic square in Paris. Happening upon an unoccupied park bench, we enjoyed a casual picnic of tuna baguettes and mini-macaroons.
Attempting to walk off some of the caloric damage, we focused our attention on searching for the hard-to-find Passages in the 2nd arrondisement. Triangulating the locations from our multiple tourist city maps, we soon found the discreet, unmarked entrances. Our efforts were rewarded with supreme examples of vintage Parisian architecture; recently renovations of the arcades celebrated the detailed enclaves of wrought iron, gleaming wood, intricate mosaics and old-fashioned lights. As Kaberi continued on to walk rue St-Honore, Vik begged off from yet another afternoon of girlfriend duty.
On our last day, we started off with fresh baked goods from be, Alain Ducasse’ boulangerie in the 17th arrondisement. Grabbing a pain au chocolate for breakfast and a baguette to go, we continued to the Rodin Museum located just east of the Invalides dome in the 7th arrondisement. Situated in a gorgeous garden, we admired exquisite statues of The Thinker and the Gates of Hell before venturing inside to see The Kiss. After Vik teased Kaberi about her obsessive picture taking (marked by endless snapping away from every possible angle), we finally moved on to enjoy a quick lunch nearby.
In the afternoon, after simply strolling the streets of the 6th and 7th arrondisements, we headed to Mariage Freres for tea. Entering into a corner store, we were greeted by floor to ceiling displays of tea tins from around the world. After sipping green and black varietals in the tea room, Kaberi agonized over which tea to purchase before the journey home. Kaberi justified her decision to buy tea in France at exorbitant prices (rather than at the source in the more affordable tea hubs of India and China) on the basis of the superior aesthetics of the French packaging.
With our last night, we ventured to the Eiffel Tower (where else?) where we closed our evening by laying out on the grass of the Champs de Mar to watch the nightly light show. Despite the overall exhaustion we had accumulated with eight months of travel under our belts, we had managed to realize an excellent conclusion to our trip. Even Vik, who wears his distaste of Parisians as a badge of honor, had to admit that he had thoroughly enjoyed himself.
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