It can be cheaper eating in Paris than Grand Rapids, Michigan

At one point early on in our latest trip to Paris I had a revelation.  When I received the dinner bill at Iovines on rue de Bretagne I figured it came to about $72. Since the meal consisted of fairly basic components that we had eaten many times in the USA I thought it would be interesting to do a cost comparison with a place that served similar food. I chose Licari’s, a pizza place in Grand Rapids where we have eaten from time to time. This is not a scientific study and I urge you to try this for yourself.

Here’s what I learned.

• Licari: 2 cocktails, medium pizza, bottle of pinot noir = $74
• Iovine: 2 cocktails, similar size pizza and a bottle of Valpolicella = $72

While both meals appear to be comparable the US version doesn’t take into account the tip. And at 20% that adds another $14 to the Licari bill.

Therefore, eating a similar meal in Grand Rapids costs $88 to the Paris version of $72.

This comparison doesn’t take into account those attributes that can’t be quantified:

• location (Paris vs Grand Rapids), eating in a bistro-like setting versus a large, loud room with TV monitors everywhere;
• the quality of the service; the wait staff at Iovines spoke Italian and were clearly professional while the manager at Licari’s didn’t even know what a digestivo was.

Of course there are many places in Paris where it would cost several body parts to eat a meal. And there are many other restaurants where the service is lousy and the food mediocre.

But it is has been our great, good fortune over the years to have successfully steered away from such dens of culinary iniquity. In fact, we have found many other places like Iovines which simply reaffirms our belief that American food is no cheaper than eating in Paris and often more so since you’re often getting a lower quality of service.

Letter from Paris 5 May

Today was another day of relaxing, flànerie and getting ourselves ready for the next day’s road trip to Amsterdam.

After coffee and a light breakfast we walked down to Monoprix near the San Marcel Metro to pick up a ffew items for the road although I’m using one of Susie’s cheese breads to make a variant on the Parisian jambon baguette to get us through until we arrive in Amsterdam. We also made use of the ham and cheese left in the house for a sandwich at home before heading out for the day.

Leaving the apartment we made our way to the no. 5 at Campo Formio getting off at Bonsergent. From there we set off to find the pastry shop Liberté (a Clothilde Dusoulier recommendation) in the 10th arr. but it was closed.

No matter, we strolled over to Canal Saint-Martin and enjoyed a walk down in the direction of the Seine. Along the way we got an opportunity to watch one of the swing bridges at work, playing havoc with traffic but how else is an empty canal cruise ship to get home?

sitting out in the 10th arr.

We got cut our walk short and got back on the 5, getting off at Gare d’Austerlitz where we left the Metro and headed for Seine just opposite the Jardin des Plantes and the batobus, the river's hop-on-hop-off river bus. Touristy you bet, but for our last full day in the city a tour of the Seine was in order. It was a gorgeous day and what better place to enjoy Paris than from the river?

Leaving the batobus near Place Saint-Michel we made our way to Gibert Joseph bookstore on Boulevard Saint-Michel and browsed the stacks for a short while. Although we couldn’t quite put our finger on anything specific, we both thought the store had downsized its overall book holdings from when we first started going there in 2006.

les bouquinistes

Anyway we eventually found ourselves in the Odéon neighborhood where we stopped for an aperitif of Suze and to watch the flow of humanity — and in that part of the city it was a constant river of people moving every direction up and down the street.

After leaving the bar and our empty Suze glasses we walked toward the Seine passing over the well-worn cobbles of rue de l’Ancienne Comédie. Along this very old street in the city you’ll find what is touted as the oldest bar/cafe still operating in Paris: Le Procope. Our objective, however, was across the small street: Un Dimanche à Paris, one of Susie’s  favorite pastry shops.

rue de l’Ancienne Comédie

We then headed over tot he quai and upriver on the left bank eventually stopping near the Pont de la Tournelle and shifting our people watching to those who, like us, enjoy a stroll along the riverbank.

We were lucky enough to share in the moment of a newly married couple, whether local or tourist I couldn’t say, a couple who certainly wanted one of their memories of that special day to include the Seine, Notre Dame and the dying light of a lovely spring day in Paris.

For dinner that evening, our final dinner in the city, we opted to try the Rotisserie d’Argent. 19 Quai de la Tournelle in the 5th. Little sister of the legendary restaurant Tour d’Argent across the street — the Rotisserie focuses on traditional Paris bistro specialities while also being much more forgiving when it came to l’addition. Susie had a delicious fish for her plat while I naturally gravitated toward the steak frites one last time, all washed down with a house red. Both meals were wonderful.

Rotisserie d'Argent

After dinner it was back to the Metro and home, our Paris leg of this journey fast coming to en end.

Next: to Amsterdam, renewal of old friendships and a brief tour of the Netherlands.

Three art exhibitions in Paris

If anyone is going to Paris between now and early July and French Impressionist or 19th century French painting is your thing these three major art exhibitions should not be missed:

Mary Cassatt at the Jacquemart-Andre from 9 March to 23 July;
Jean-Batiste Corot at the Marmottan-Monet -- focuses on his figure work, most of which was little seen during his lifetime or since, 8 February to 8 July; and
Eugène Delacroix at the Louvre from 28 March to 23 July.

le blonde Gasconne, 1850, by Corot

Letter from Paris 2 May

Today was more cemetery work for me, this time I hoped to finish up my research in Passy in the 16th, and it was more flânerie for Susie; she was also going to get her haircut.

(Oh, that's our apartment on the top floor and in the next photo the entrance is in the building on the right with the yellow colored wall, just to the right of the red car.)

I left the apartment about 9:30 and walked down to line 6 at Nationale, which would take me right to Trocadero and the cemetery.

Spending about two hours or so in the cemetery gave me just enough time to complete my work here (unlike Père-Lachaise, where my work will probably never be "complete"). I had often wondered about the statue of a seated man locate din the small green space directly across from the cemetery entrance but had never taken the time to stop and actually investigate. This time I did.

It turns out that the green space is called "Square Yorktown," and the statue is of Benjamin Franklin; the street that separates the park from the Trocadero is Avenue Benjamin Franklin.

There is a small tablet flush to the ground near the sidewalk -- behind the iron fence -- that reads (in French and English):

“On September 3, 1983, the bicentennial of the Treaties of Paris and Versailles which secured the peace and established the independence of the United States of America this tablet was offered by the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution as a grateful tribute to the architects of these treaties, who dedicated themselves to ‘The best of all works - the work of peace.’ Benjamin Franklin.”

Walking just a few meters to the rear of the park and located beneath a small grove of trees is a plaque that one can barely see from the street. But upon closer examination one reads that it was placed there by the the Daughters of the American Revolution on October 19, 1931 in recognition of those French soldiers who lost their lives at the battle of Yorktown fighting for American independence. The list is by regiment and then name.

I left the square and walked over to the Metro line 6 at Trocadero and at La Motte Picquet switched to the 9 getting off at École Militaire. From there I walked up Avenue Bosquet to Avenue Saint Dominique to meet up with Susie for lunch at Christian Constant's Les Cocottes. We had first eaten here in September of 2008 and the food was just as good this time around. Strangely enough I had the same dessert both times: Fromage Basque with blackberry jam (Constant is from the Basque part of France).

While she out in the morning Susie returned to our old neighborhood in the 5th to get her haircut at the same place we both used back in 2006-07; different name but same stylist.

After a leisurely lunch we strolled down Saint Dominique no. 67 and Karamel, a confectionary shop specializing in . . . (drum roll please) caramel treats. This was a recommendation from the wonderfully whimsical streaming series on Amazon Prime: "Alice in Paris."

Before we left the center of the city for home we had one final mission: my brother-in-law Dick who teaches history a a high school in Massachusetts asked me to track down the very last (?) copy of a French mobilization poster from World War One that was on the wall of one of the buildings on rue Royale. Sure enough we found it to the left of building with the red awning in the picture below. But there's more.

On the front wall of the building on the left facing the Place de la Concorde, the former Hôtel Coislin and once the home of the French Ministry of Marine is a plaque dedicated to the Treaty of Friendship and Commerce that signed in 1778 when France became the first country to recognize the independence of the USA.

The mobilization poster:

Susie and I said adieu to one another - she was off to Librarie Gourmand to spend some quality time browsing pastry books and I set off for home.

I made my way to the line 1 switching to the 5 and then off at Campo Formio and a short walk back home. I worked on the computer for a short while before going back out to Monoprix to pick up some chicken and mushrooms for dinner. Susie came  home while I was out and we swapped stories about our various flânerie.

Letter from Paris 1 May

May Day in Paris!

I left the apartment and made my way to Père-Lachaise arriving there a little after 10am. I hoped to spend the entire day and had arranged to meet with Marie Beleyme and Carolyn Campbell at the cemetery. Carolyn is working on researching her new guide map as well as putting together information for a possible mobile phone app for the cemetery and I was looking for clarification on my guide to the artwork in the cemetery.

So,  the three of us spent the better part of the afternoon in search of specific gravesites -- such things always go faster when there's a team involved.

And of course, with Marie's help Carolyn and I were able to track down quite a few of those elusive graves.

l-r: local guide Thierry Le Roi, Carolyn, Marie and some doofus with a camera

The cemetery was packed with visitors and at one point we crossed paths we local cemetery guide Thierry Le Roi who was leading a group of about 30 people. (He and Marie and Carolyn are good friends.)

About 4pm Susie texted saying she planned to join us for an aperitif but was caught in a protest demonstration at Gare d'Austerlitz so she was unable to get on line 5. She walked over to our old neighborhood to try line 7 but Place d'Italie was also closed because of the demonstrations. She turned back to our present neighborhood and got on line 6 at Nationale to Nation and line 2 to Père-Lachaise. We learned later that the Austerlitz demonstration turned ugly with lots of stone throwing at the police and they responding in turn with tear gas.

The four of us met at Rond-Point Casimir Perier in the cemetery and headed for the exit. We soon said adieu to Carolyn. Marie, Susie and I then walked to the nearby brassiere l'Amis Justin for an aperitif. After a couple of hours of lively conversation the three of us headed toward line 2 at Philippe Auguste but Marie was going in the direction of Porte Dauphine while we were heading toward Nation.

A good day celebrating life in the city of death.

That evening we made our way back to the 13th and the Asian quartier for dinner. This time we stopped at a Laotian restaurant, Lao Thai, 128 rue de Avenue Tolbiac, where we had another in a long line of delicious meals -- the beef in the first dish was so tender it seemed to melt in our mouths and the pork brochettes with curry sauce were equally tasty. And for dessert Susie had a coconut ice cream which she polished off with no help from me while I had a concoction of green vermicelli, pieces of something red and bubble bits in a luscious coconut cream sauce.

It was short pair of Metro rides back home and a little Avèze before bed.

Letter from Paris 30 April

The last day of the month began with a raw, cold rain abetted by a fierce wind and remained unpleasant all day.

After a short stop to our nearby Monoprix store to stock up on a few more groceries to finish out our week, we headed back out onto the street and to the Campo Formio metro stop. We took the 5 to Austerlitz where we changed to line 10, getting off at Mabillon, near Saint Sulpice and Saint-German-des-Pres.

We made our way to 6 Rue de Furstenberg, 75006, home of the Musée National Eugène Delacroix and our primary objective that day. Located in the house he occupied at the end of his life and while he worked on the murals for nearby Saint Sulpice, the subject of which is the metier of the museum, it was a pleasant exploration into the world of early 19th century French art.

It should be noted, however, that much of the artwork in the museum is in fact NOT by Delacroix but by those whom he has influenced and who attempted variations of his themes or outright copies of his work. Still, it was fascinating and worth a visit for anyone interested in French Romanticism.

Since so much of the focus of the museum was on Delacroix's years spent working on the murals for Saint Sulpice that had to be our next stop. But once back into the wind and rain we walked the few short blocks to Saint-German-des-Prés, which was on the way.

Inside the church, reportedly the oldest in Paris, we found ourselves confronted by a massive series of draperies and scaffoldings in much of the older part. We made our way to the "back" of the church we we found the final resting place of René Descartes (cogito ergo sum), interred between Mabillon and Montfaucon.

Leaving the church and back into the elements we walked, or rather fought, our way down Rue Bonaparte to Saint-Sulpice (Marquis de Sade and Charles Baudelaire were both baptized here).

Once inside on the right of the entrance we found Delacroix's murals (1855-61): Jacob Wrestling with the Angel and Heliodorus Driven from the Temple:

After we left Saint Sulpice we struggled against the weather to find our way back to the Mabillon Metro. Across from a shopping block that included the Apple Store (!) we decided discretion was the better part of valor and popped into a small café, La Grille, for a bowl of gratinée de l'oignon to warm up. Along with two glasses of Brouilly, of course.

Eventually we had to leave the cozy warmth of the café and plunged back into the wind and rain. Before long we were back home and opted to remain in for the rest of the day. That evening I fixed a rough potato mash with broccoli accompanied by a red Sancerre. Not a bad day at all and frankly a grand way to end my birthday month.

Tomorrow: May Day in Paris and I'll be in Père-Lachaise.

Letter from Paris 28-29 April

Another relaxing morning for the two of us and Susie's last day of bread class.

We walked over to the Metro at Campo Formio (line 5) and got off at Gare de Nord. Our objective for lunch was a Clothilde Dusoulier recommendation for (one of) the best places to get a croque Monsieur, the classic Parisian grilled ham and cheese sandwich.

A 10-minute walk down rue Maubeuge from the gare and we found our quarry: the small but warm "Madame Messieurs," where they specialize in just two things: croques and hamburgers (OK they also had a couple of salads on the menu, sue me). But we came for the croque and that's what we had:  two variants on this wonderful sandwich, both with egg which turned them into croque Madames. (The egg, yolk only, was fantastic!)

The food was delicious, the atmosphere inviting and the hostess ("Madame?") friendly and congenial.  Oh and their frites, a combination regular of and sweet potatoes, were made to order, firm and crisp on the outside and creamy smooth inside.

The food was so good and we enjoyed ourselves so much we lost track of time and had to scramble to get to the Metro so Susie wouldn't be late for class. But before leaving we made reservations to return Friday for dinner; think hamburger, which is really another version of steak frites, non? Once I saw one of the hamburgers come out of the kitchen (that small glass area in the first photo) I knew I had to come back for one of those. Note the French eat their hamburgers with a knife and fork - civilized, eh?

Oh, and they are only open for dinner on Fridays and Saturday, otherwise its lunch only. 80 rue Maubeuge 75009.

With Susie off to her last day of class I headed for a full afternoon at Passy Cemetery to research my fourth and final Guide to the Art in Paris Cemeteries: Passy. With about 90% of my shot list complete, I left the cemetery just before closing. Although there was plenty of activity across the street from the cemetery at the Trocadero -- a protest of some sort it sounded like -- I walked (underground) to the Metro (line 6) to head home. That evening just before Susie got home I fixed yet another vegetable medley for dinner. Not bad.

The following morning, 29 April promised lousy weather and did disappoint. We stayed close to home for much of the day although midmorning Susie walked over to Maison Landemaine pastry shop in the 5th to pick up an apricot-pistachio tart to take to Val & Hubert's later in the day.

About midday we made our way to the line 6 at Nationale. The rain persisted so taking the Metro was a big plus -- dry and warm underground.

We exited the Metro at Pasteur and five minutes later were inside their apartment shed of our wet coats and welcome by Val and they kids -- Hubert was visiting his father to help out at his parents home but he soon arrived in time for le gôuter, what the British refer to as teatime.

We all set around the table and enjoyed good food and even better camaraderie. At one point we recalled my 60th birthday at Gracie's in Providence, RI, when Val had come to visit and how much our lives have change din the intervening ten years. But, aside from the occasional flashes to the past most of the afternoon conversation revolved around food, especially potatoes and pastries.

Time slipped away faster than we anticipated and it was soon time to go -- and we made our way through the rain and wind back to Pasteur an line 6. Since the day had gotten away from us and we were fast slipping into evening we decided to go in search of dinner. So, once we arrived at Place d'Italie we switched to the line 7 and went one stop to Tolbiac. From there we walked down to a Vietnamese restaurant we had eaten at in 2010, Lao Lane Xang, 102 Avenue d'Ivry.

We had another wonderful meal there: Susie had brochettes of pork and I had beef sautéed in onions all washed down with a half bottle of Brouilly. Delicious!

After dinner it was back into the rain and wind thanking the gods for providing the nearby Metro stop. We were soon back home where we had a little Avèze (gentian) for digestif. Then bed.

Another day in Paris. Life is short.