My Other House is in France: A Holiday in a Holiday

As we wake on a cool and cloudy Saturday morning, we reflect back on our recently concluded quick get away to Paris. It was a great visit as we got a chance to see some of our favourite sites and discover some new ones. We stayed in a new neighbourhood, Place d'Italie. The Hôtel de la Place des Alpes was chosen due to its proximity to the train station, metro and bus connections, lots of good restaurants and a great price, 76.98€ or about $114.58 a night with all taxes and breakfast included. It turned out to be a new favourite hotel, especially at the price.

Steve in our hotel room.

But the price might have been due to the construction all around. Thanks to the new double glazed windows, it would have gone un-noticed but opening the windows let in the new sounds of Paris. All over the city, streets are torn up and work is going on. Whether it is just to keep up with the aging infrastructure, or getting ready for the 2024 Olympics, it is a sign of the times in Paris.

The Petit Palais was a nice surprise, as in all of our trips, we have never been there. It is the art gallery of the collection of the the City of Paris. Not only was it a very varied collection of painting, sculpture and decorative arts, it is a beautiful building and a welcome shelter from the rain. The weather this past while has been very unsettled.

Lobby of the Petit Palais

Unlike the weather south and east of us, ours has been cool and damp. While the clouds may make look stunning in our holiday snaps, they have their way with the plans of holidayers. The showers forced us into a small Japanese restaurant for a delicious lunch before they parted just as we arrived at a hidden gem in the Marais. The sky cleared as we found Jardin de Ann Frank. Just a block away from the bustle of the Centre Pompidou, it is peaceful oasis. Located in the rear courtyard of several traditional Parisian apartment buildings, we were all but alone in the sunshine. One of the chestnut trees growing in the garden is from a graft of a tree Anne could see from her window. Our garden tour continued with the Jardin du Luxembourg. We were followed by a patch of blue sky as the rest of Paris seemed to be shrouded in black, ominous clouds. We found two of the laid back chairs and enjoyed a snack as we soaked up some of the brief sunshine that the day had to offer along with the peace and quiet that the gardens have to offer.

Jardin Luxembourg

In an example of the fact that you can never go home, we went back to a favourite restaurant we had enjoyed back in 2006. We enjoyed several great dinners there over a week's stay in Paris with the mousse au chocolat being the pièce de résistance. Now there is no menu and dinner is only à la carte. Our waiter was not of the traditional French waiter that we had appreciated so many years ago. He was young and had an attitude. On arriving, he said to sit at any table that was set for dinner, but at the same time a regular diner was heading for his table which we had our eyes on and we were hijacked to a table which we were told we would enjoy more, that it was their best table. In retrospect it really was a great table, and it had more space than most diners in Paris are entitled to.

Le Pierrot Restaurant

It is hard to describe his manner, but in watching him interact with others, it was not reserved for the tourists. It culminated with the arrival of the bill. I pointed out that our first two glasses of wine should have been at Happy Hour prices and not the regular price of the next two. He left our table in a huff and crumpled up the original bill as he headed back to the bar. The waiter returned with the correct bill and a lukewarm apology for the mistake.

Tour Eiffel

We followed the meal with a wander down to the Tour de Eiffel to watch the light show that it is now so famous for. It reminded us that some of the best things in Paris never change.

Our culinary tour of Paris included quiche, croque monsieur, pizza, pasta, saucisse de Lyon, Japonaise, traditional French sandwiches and even KFC. It came after enjoying our first Happy few Hours at a sidewalk cafe near our hotel. Like they say, same same but different. Even KFC tastes different in Paris.....

Home now and we returned to see the framing of our new deck finished. We were even visited by the contractor on Friday evening shortly after we arrived to see if the few little changes he had to make met our approval. We had talked about an extra step down as we raced towards home on the train and found out it was such a good idea, Alan had the same great idea and we arrived finding the extra set of steps. He will finish the job when he arrives back from Switzerland doing a job for Apple as he is one of their contractors for new stores. Also, the lumber yard which specializes in long boards of douglas fir will be open by then.

We have a dinner this evening with Steve's friend, Laure and her daughter. Tonight it is her turn to cook. Next week we have booked a rental car for some local days out. With only 3 weeks left for me before I fly home, we still have a lot of French living to stuff in. Steve will be here for the month of September on his own. It will give him a chance to get started on painting the kitchen and maybe even on some canvas for his own enjoyment.