Paris and food - the one is synonymous with the other. Nearly everywhere you go in the city you see a seemingly endless parade of businesses connected to the world of food. It's not just the many open air markets scattered around Paris but a long, very long list of Michelin-starred restaurants down to the small mom-and-pop bistros that still cling to so many corners of this city.
Take our neighborhood for example.
from our apartment you can see rue de Cotte (left) and rue d'Aligre (right)
Running alongside our apartment building is rue de Cotte, which covers barely three blocks from rue Charenton to rue Faubourg de Saint-Antoine. It might not look impressive, but just along one of those blocks you can find Lebanese, Thai, Vietnamese, Argentinian, Italian and a Michel-starred restaurant all cheek-by-jowl with one another.
looking up rue de Cotte from Place d'Aligre
okay not food joints but still
Thai
Cape Verdean and Portuguese
Vietnamese
casual French
Argentinian
traditional something or other
one Michelin star nouvelle French
Dô and Coco, Vietnamese
Vietnamese
But wait there's more!
Running parallel with rue de Cotte is rue d'Aligre, home to the eponymous market in the mornings and a plethora of food businesses:
butcher shop
fishmonger
spices etc.
wines
French casual
another fishmonger
Algerian food
bakery and pastry
Algerian pastry shop
health food and then some
another cheese shop
and another wine shop
and of course a shop that sells chocolates and ice cream
traditional French food
the name says it all
Abd lastly is the indoor Marche Beauvau, which sits between rue de Cotte and rue d'Aligre. Open six days a week like the outdoor market, unlike the outdoor market it is open all day long until 8:00pm.
Although our alarm was set for 0700 we were both up and out of bed by 0600. We cleaned up, dressed and after coffee and breakfast Susie finished packing us up for our departure. Dishes done and put away, garbage and recycles taken out we grabbed our coats, left the apartment keys on the counter and headed out the door.
It was a short walk to the tram station and we no sooner got there than the no. 9 tram pulled up. We got aboard and in less than 10 minutes (per our dry run) we were at the central station. A short walk through a park and were inside heading for the lounge. The tram system is the way to go in Prague!
To enter the lounge we had to show our Eurail pass tickets for 1st class. I opened my phone and right away noticed that my Eurail pass was missing from my phone. The attendant kindley allowed us inside the lounge -- Susie’s pass worked just fine -- and I spent the next ten minutes in an agitated state of frustration trying to grasp what had gone wrong. (I never did.) Restarting the app and rebooting the phone, nothing seemed to work.
So, the next thing I tried was to add the pass again to my app. I had to go online on my computer to find my pass number, added it to create a “new” pass and voila! that worked! In fact, it still had all my original tickets. This made me wonder where all the Eurail data for each pass is in fact stored — on a server somewhere or somewhere on the phone. Who knows. What I do know is that if it happens again, we’ll know what to do.
We relaxed in the lounge until time to board. We found the platform with minimal confusion and our car number.
Once aboard we found our reserved seats and settled in for the next 6-plus hours. The journey would take us through Dresden and Berlin before terminating in Hamburg.
Passing through Elbe River valley we were impressed by the striking landscape of high rocky cliffs covered in black and nicknamed the dirty rocks by my traveling companion. In fact, we would track along the Elbe off and on during ,most of the trip.
A little after noon we crossed into Germany and were told to wear masks (the Czech Republic had no such restriction). Around noon the two of us had a lunch of sandwiches, which I had made the night before, accompanied by crisps (from Scotland) and a dessert of Ritter Bar chocolate.
It came as no surprise that once in Germany our tickets were checked three times and we passed three times.
The train arrived in Hamburg about 2 minutes behind schedule. As we exited the platform we were struck by the enormous crowds of people moving every which way.
But we found our exit and walked five minutes to our stop for the evening, the Reischshof Hotel.
After checking in we found the elevator and were immediately flummoxed by the fact we couldn’t get it to do anything. Recalling something the reception clerk said about waving our room card over the control panel I gave that a try and we could then access our floor number. Once on our floor we walked about half a mile to our room, dropped off our bags and then returned to the lobby bar for a glass of prosecco.
Relaxing over our drinks we watched the people come and go observing that a great many of the clientele seemed to be in our age range (geezer). But it was a quiet place to just sit and sip pondering our next move (where to go for supper). At first we thought we’d eat at the hotel but were informed they were fully booked. Then I pointed out that maybe we should try the Chinese restaurant we passed on the way to the hotel (just a couple of doors away).
Susie was skeptical. She looked across the street and saw a sign that said Mutterland and from the outside she thought it might be a coffee/pastry shop and kitchen store. After finishing our aperitif we walked across the street into the “shop” and realized that the shop was on the first (US: second) floor while there was a restaurant on the ground floor. My companion who has a nose for such things said she felt the place had a good vibe and so we stayed for supper.
The food was very good: we started with house-made sourdough bread accompanied by a lovely whipped herb butter in a smooth herb oil. I had fish and chips and Susie had a wonderful roasted cauliflower dish, all washed down by a glass of dry German sauvignon blanc.
But it was the service that was truly wonderful. Everyone was friendly and seemed to enjoy what they were doing. One young woman who waited on us actually ended up sitting and chatting for a while after we finished (business was slow).
She and her boyfriend were going off to NYC next week and she had never been to the US before so naturally she pumped us for questions and was terribly excited to be there. It was a wonderful evening and reminded us why we travel: the experience of seeing new things, and meeting people who help us learn we are all not so very different from each other.
normally we steer clear of foam and food but this was wonderful
Before bed I attached our next pair of tickets to our passes and experienced a second slight hiccup, this time with Susan’s pass. But after tinkering with her mobile pass for a few minutes it was solved and we were both set to go.
Tomorrow we have an early train to Copenhagen and the beginning of our Scandinavia adventure!
Susie and I were unusually leisurely this morning. We had no definite plan and it was about time we started thinking of getting ready to leave tomorrow. So, the Tarte did one last load of laundry while I worked on blog notes and photos.
We walked out of the apartment heading for the river in search of Frank Gehry's Dancing House. A block or so along out street we passed this wonderful sculpture in the side of an otherwise nondescript building. The date refers to the Velvet Revolution, the nonviolent transition of power from a one-party system dominated by the Communists to a parliamentary democracy. (Need more information?)
the date of the Velvet Revolution
There was serious construction along the street so the tram stops had been moved around and the signage unclear. As a result we ended walking the short distance down along the river to the Dancing House.
paddle boats in an inlet off the river
looking north up the river toward the Prague Castle (in the far distance)
facing the river
Thanks to Grand Haven friends Patti and Paul for the tip about this particular Gehry design.
Frank Gehry's Dancing House
you never know what you're going to see on the street
From there we headed back toward the center of town in search of Franz Kafka’s mechanical head. This was just one of the things we discovered by chance somewhere in our readings.
Franz Kafka's mechanical head
Designed and installed by David Černy, this incredible work of art consists of 42 rotating panels and each panel is timed to move independently of the others. Every hour on the hour it forms and reforms the head for some 15 minutes creating striking visual effects. If you don’t believe me, just check out my short video (about 5 minutes long):
Since Kafka’s head was quite close by our apartment we decided to stop at home for lunch and a short nap for me.
Back out on the street we walked in the direction of the old town square keeping our eye out for a trdlo shop; they specialize in a scrumptious sweet bread wrapped around a spit and grilled then filled with ice cream. As sheriff Andy would say, Ummmmm good!
special rolled grilled cakes with ice cream inside
After our post-lunch dessert we made our way back to the river and the tram no. 17 heading south. We got off at Vyton and wended our way up to Vysehrad (“high castle”). This castle, reportedly one of the oldest in the city, is pretty much all gone except for some rather imposing walls; much of the interior is a park. There is a lovely basilica, plenty of great views of the city and my objective Vysehrad Cemetery. Here among the wonderful sculpture you can find (and I did) the graves of composer Antonin Dvorak and art nouveau painter and illustrator Alphonse Mucha.
walking up to the grounds of one of the oldest castles in the city
Dvorak's tomb in Vysehrad cemetery
view up the river from the castle walls
Leaving the cemetery we strolled along the walls to take in the views and at one point were joined by a large group of bicyclists from the Netherlands (presumably since their bikes all said PraagBikeTours.nl).
Moving a bit further along the walls we found an open bench to sit relax and take in the views for at least a few moments.
part of a Dutch biking tour
original castle grounds, now a park
the old castle basilica
walking back down - and the hope that love does conquer all
Having rested enough we headed back down to the tram stop and home.
Our last supper in Prague was especially good. I had come across a wine bar in the Rough Guide called Monarch and since it was less than a five-minute walk from our apartment, off we went a little before 7pm (1900). They are known for two things apparently: wine and steaks. In fact they have a steak tasting for two and even one for four! (Who knew such a thing as a steak tasting existed?) We each chose the burger which came with their house-made bun and house-made fries. The food was, to say the least, incredible.
For wines we opted for Czech red wines. Since it was clear by looking around the room that wine was taken as seriously as their meat and the wine list was a small novella, I asked the waiter for a suggestion of a red Czech wine to have with the burgers. He said, quite matter-of-factly, that the Czech Republic doesn’t produce very good red wine but we took the plunge anyway and went with a Merlot from Craig Stapleton (not a Czech name but hey you take what you can get). Both the starter and main course wines were nice but the guy was right, far from stellar.
To round the evening we each had a glass of Hungarian Tokaj; and that was equally delicious.
burgers and Czech red wine at Monarch
After supper it was a quick stroll home and finish preparing for the next day.
Tomorrow it's time to leave Prague and move on to an overnight in Hamburg before our next apartment, in Copenhagen.
