Saturday, July 9, 2016

Paris and Food

Today begins our new adventure in France.  We'll be spending a couple of days in Paris, and what is more Parisian than the Eiffel tower?  For the last few weeks, Paris has been the center of Euro 2016, one of the biggest events in the soccer world.  In honor of that, the tower is adorned with a giant soccer ball suspended above its lower viewing level.

You may be aware that for this trip we're focusing on the Impressionist era, and we'll get into that starting tomorrow.  But for some reason, it's hard to separate Paris from the concept of special experiences involving food.  We decided this year to get that out of the way quickly.

To start with, realizing that we had never actually gone UP into the Eiffel Tower, we decided to have lunch there.  When I started reading Frcnch three years ago, the first full-length book I read was Around the World in 80 Days (okay, Le tour du monde en quatre-vingt jours) by Jules Verne.  So it seemed natural to eat at the Chef Alain Ducasse restaurant named for the author.  This had actually been on our bucket list since our first visit to Paris three years ago.





The food was, indeed, special.  After a leisurely, unhurried series of appetizers, our entree was what else but pigeon. To my taste, it seemed very much like duck, very nice indeed.  As a new learner of French, I felt safe hiding a cultural question behind a question of vocabulary.  I asked the waiter if the word "pigeon" meant the same bird that we see all over our parks and sidewalks.  Yes, he assured me, but these were not wild pigeons--these are nice, farm-raised pigeons.  Nice to know.


But like when I was a child, I was in large measure eating what was put before me so I'd qualify for dessert.  After a warmup of verbina-infused ice cream with sautéed apricots, the main dessert appeared: chocolate praline with an assortment of dessert "sides"--artisan marshmallows, chocolate cubes, and assorted miniature pastries.  And on the way out they gave us some packaged Madeleines to tide us over 'til dinner.

And, of course, a restaurant half-way up the Eiffel Tower should come with a nice view.  Here's the Champ de Mars, extending east of the tower.  In the center of the photo is a blue box.  Sunday night, about a million soccer fans will be on the other side of it watching the final match of Euro 2016 as France takes on Portugal.  I'm tempted to be there in the crowd, but it's not tomorrow yet, and I haven't exhausted myself from another full day of sightseeing.



After we rested up from our three hour lunch, we headed off to fulfill a promise to our grand-daughter, who may well be one of the great pâtissieres of the future.  Stohrer's was established in 1730 by the father-in-law of Louis XV.  The green tile work with gold inlaid crown
in the entry (see below) gives the visitor a hint that this is a special place.  Besides the incredible variety of excellent pastries, the historical connection to French royalty makes a visit to Stohrer's a wonderful experience.


And don't think we brought home only treats--we also have tomorrow's breakfast
waiting for us!

 



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