Shopping, August 28 2007

We planned to spend all day shopping. I really wanted to check out some of the gourmet food item, while May was interested in the boutique stores on the Latin Quarter. We went to Galeries Lafayette first thing in the morning cause the department store opens at 9:30. The food market was not as big as I would have hoped for. We ate our breakfast there in a coffee bar. Laurie asked for milk, and they actually serve warm milk. Megan's cocoa is most fancy, with milk and real chocolate syrup separated, and served on a tray. I bought a couple of truffle oils and some fleur del sel (sea salt). Also got a sample package of 6 different kinds of mustard.


After the food market, May and kids went shopping at the clothing sections. Lafayette has a big glass dome in the center of the building, very impressive. But other then that, I found the display and building for most of the merchandise is fairly basic, I almost feel like I was in a Sears. But of course it has a floor for the luxury brand, they all have very nice store display. While May were shopping, I went to check out their Men's building and Home store. Nothing really interesting to me.

Then we walked to Fauchon at place de la Madeleine. The first floor packed with mostly ready to eat items. Everything is very beautifully made and looks very delicious. Kids ordered something and sat there to eat, while I went upstair to check anything I can take home. Not a whole lot of stuff there, but I bought a few more fleur de sal, a sample package of jam (all very unusual flavor, such as strawberry with rose patel), a package of different pates, a can of lavender honey. Fauchon's actually available in many countries, including NYC, I later found out. But it's nice to go into a gourmet store in Paris and shop. Place del la Madeleine also has a whole bunch of other luxurious stores, but we didn't have time to check it out cause May is more interested in the small boutique tucked in small alley in Latin Quarter.





Our next stop is one of the top haute patisserie in Paris: Pierre Hermé Paris, at 72, rue Bonaparte. The store is more like a jewelry store then a pastry shop. With a nice window display almost feel like you're going into a Tiffany. Once in the store, you will be amazed at the glass counter that's full of beautiful cakes and macarons. Pierre Hermé has 2 collections each year, and they will not repeat once the season is over. The only stable is his macarons. Everything looks so pretty, I don't know if I can bite on to any of it, but they also looks so yummy. Because our prior bad experience of Ladurée's macarons, we decided to pass it on here too. That may be a very bad decision cause later I found out there were many very unique available here such as the one with white truffle and hazalnut! But we still picked out some very nice looking cakes. The clerk behind the counter carefully took the cake out from the counter as they were handling a nice piece of art work, then they package them in a nice box, then finally every boxes are put in a very pretty Pierre Hermé shopping bag. As you walked out of the store with that bag, you feel like you just come out from a LV store or something.




After Pierre Hermé, we strolled around the St. Germain, May also wanted to see if there is any store that sells soap cause people told her to buy soap in Paris. But we didn't have any luck in finding soap specialty store. Even Bon Marche only a very limited selection. We were wondering where does people get their perfume soap.


That night after we got back to the hotel, kids didn't feel like going out to eat again, so they got sandwich from the Paul. While May and I went to Aux Lyonnais. I had a very delicious bloody sausage plate. It's not what you would think that my plate has only a piece of big sausage. Instead, it's a small pot filled with shredded meat and sauce, very delicious and unique. I cleaned up my plate cleanly. It is my favorite dish in this whole trip. This restaurant is kind of unique, the host who took us to the table would ask if we wanted to have any drink before dinner, so we ordered champane, then a waitress came to take our order, after we ordered our meal, I wanted to order wine, and she said another person will take my wine order, so the sommelier, who also brought our champane earlier to the table, came later to take our wine order. And then there was another waitress who actually brought the food to the table and took our dessert order.

Notre Dame, August 27 2007

Today we are doing the historic Paris with a modern twist.
We've learned our lessons about French breakfast. We got pain au chocolates and other bread from Paul, the chain bakery, for breakfast. We also got our lunch sandwiches as well. This particular Paul was tucked in the St. Germaine des Pres area. It was early in the morning, so streets were very quiet and peaceful. Everywhere we looked were photo opportunities. The light and the sky from this day make the whole city sparkle, difficult to describe. We came out the left bank and walked on to Pont de Arts. one of the popular pedestrian only bridge. The view looking up and down river was amazing. We finished our breakfast on the bridge and well caffeinated. Walking alongside the bank, we crossed the river at pont neuf and got onto ile de la cite. There was a nice residential area on the west of the island, with virtually no one around. All the shops were still closed. The buildings basking in the morning light was simply stunning. Who is so lucky to be living in those apartments over looking the river? We circled around the conciergerie, the infamous prison during the revolution. Peeking inside the door, it looked dark and damp.




We decided to stick with the sun, and headed toward Notre Dame. People everywhere as soon as we reached the front square. It was a magnificent structures with all the carvings and stained glass windows. The flying buttresses along the side were all heavily decorated. We could even see the gargoyles from the ground. We took a quick tour inside the church. Looking up toward the ceiling, I marveled at the sheer engineering of it. How did they build it? To get all the carving up on the pillar? We exited the church and walked toward the back. There was nice garden with small water fountain. Everyone was hungry already, so we ate in the park, admiring the back of Notre Dame with river Seine in our back. What we really wanted to do was climbed up the bell tower to see the gargoyles, but the line was just too long to wait.






We moved on to Pompidou. Along the way, we passed very busy Parisian neighborhood north of Notre Dame, The beautiful Hotel de Ville on our right. Pompidou was bigger than we thought, with a huge collection. Ranging from paintings to sculptures of all kinds of materials, manipulating spaces with odd and surprising arrangements.. It has an excellent collection of paintings by kadinsky and chagall. Also several Matisse collages. But I think the best part of Pompidou was the terrace on the top floor. It has a great view of the city looking north. On the terrace, there was also a permanent water/statue exhibit with the sound of water swirling. A very nice place to get a break. And of course we have to visit the shop. The stuff it had was quite unique, with modern art in mind. Laurie and Megan both got little phone bijoux. We left Pompidou and got gelato for snack. There were several street performers, one guy has this clear ball that he can almost look like it's suspending in air, quite a visual tricks with his arms and hands. As we left Pompidou to go to the Marais neighborhood, it's like we were stepping back in time.

We already knew where we want to eat today. The restaurant was recommended by our friend. Au petit a fer Cheval was tiny,even in Paris standard; we almost missed it. But everything in this neighborhood was small. I like the way the buildings were cramped together, and how narrow and tight the streets are. Lot of interesting shops dotted the streets.




My destination was Place des Vosege. Marais was where the nobility used to live during the king Henry IV's reign, congregating around this huge square that's the heart of the district. Now the square was very pleasant public park. We entered the square through a narrow gate that was for the carriages. It has fountains, with mature trees shading the afternoon sun. people just hanging around. The palace buildings are still in use for office, restaurants and shops. Some of the very old looking doors, appeared to still have the original door knobs. We lingered in the square to soak up the history and slowly returned to modern day. There were many mansions and buildings that had a historic mark on the wall explaining its significance. We took our time walking the narrow streets, window shopping and admiring the area. I really enjoyed this afternoon. We got to our restaurant to find it packed with people on the outside bar. Surprisingly there was space for sit down dinner in the back of the room. I liked this dinner the most despite its very smoky air. The staff was very helpful, and everything was good. Even more interesting was it's restroom. It's all stainless, very different from the nostalgic atmosphere that's in the dinning area. We retraced our way back to Notre Dame after dinner. Crossing the bridge, Notre Dame was full of light as light of setting sun shone on it's towers. And the conciergerie didn't look as harsh as during mid day. Today was a picture perfect day.

Musse du Orsey, August 26 2007

Another long day ahead of us with the major sights to see today. We were going toward the Musse Orsey area. We made the mistake of having brunch in the Ladurée, according to guide book, another historic establishment. But maybe because we were traveling and not having the time, the services were way too slow. We spent almost two hours there, wasting our precious time on a beautiful Sunday morning. The cafe is right on Champs- Elysees, we took our time walking toward the arc de triumphe. Traffic was light on the streets, still hordes of people around the arc. we lingered around it and walked thru a underground pedestrians passage to get to the circle. We could see La Defense, another famous arc at the far end. And on the opposite side, the oblique, tuileries and louvre were in the distance. Huge French flag hang from the enter of the arc and waving in the morning breeze. Napoleon order the construction of the arc to celebrate his crowning of the new French emperor, and died before it's completion. Megan took several photos here, she has become our budding family photographer. We then started walking toward place de la concorde. That was a long walk, nothing really interesting along the way, mostly souvenirs stores or American chain stores. Finally we got to the plaza. The Obelisk was there to commemorate all the excited during the reign of terrors during French revolution. Marie Antoinette and her husband with thousands of people met their ends here. Today there were people just admiring the sheer engineer of erecting this gigantic marble. We could see Eiffel tower in the distance, and louvre and the tuillerie was a short walk. The Louvre can wait, we headed toward the tower. We talked along the north bank of the river, with tree lined boulevards, and many bridges, admiring the view of the city and tower as it got closer and closer. Unbeknown to us, we passed by the famous tunnel where princess Di was killed. We saw a huge golden flame statue with flowers and many people taking the picture on re de New York. So I ran back to find out that this was the site. We took a good hour on foot to reach Trocadero Square. We go to some drinks and sat at the park with the tower right in front of us. It was thrill to see it so up close. We had a great view from this vantage point.







Just like the Arc de Triomphe, we knew going up the tower was out of the questions with these many people. So we left to catch a RER to go to Musee d'Orsay. We had a lot of expectation with this museum because over the years everyone all said this was their favorite museum in Paris. We spent the rest of the afternoon there browsing in a fairly fast way trying to digest all that's there. Lee's favorite painting by Dennis was Not in the display, so that was disappointing to him. I personally like the van Gogh gallery. There were so many well known paintings there it was almost too overwhelming to see them all at once. I wished we have more time. We got some books at the shop to remember our trip here.







And thanks to our Jim, we knew where we were eating today. It's on our way home anyway. We went back to Saint-Germain-des-Prés cause the restaurant is near there. The time was still early, so we stopped by at the famous Café de Flore to have some drink. The outside tables are full so we had to sit inside. After that, we went to check out the old church of Saint-Germain-des-Prés. There was a service going on, so we didn't stay long.



Our restaurant is a tiny place tucked behind the Odeon metro. Took us a while to find it even with the map. It's called Cremerie Restaurant Polidor, supposed to be a popular place with the locals. the interior is stuck in the late 1800's. Big wooden commune tables that the dinners have to share. The staff was friendly and patient, knowing we were foreigners. We all had excellent meals there that night. Lee had something very French. A grilled sausage stuffed with intestines. My steak with shallots was very good and the girls like their chicken and beef stew. Here are a couple reviews about the places, one in NYT and another from paris-bistros.com. It was a good way to summed up the day.

Travel To Paris, August 25 2007

Today we left London to go to Paris. We arrived at the Waterloo Train Station to take the Eurostar. The terminal was very crowded with weekend travelers. We collected our tickets at the automatic ticket booth and cleared custom quickly. We were all very looking forward to better lodging at Paris after spending 3 crummy nights in London. Our train departed on time. It was very sleek looking, and inside the chairs were comfortable. It took merely two hours to get to gare du Nord,Paris. About 20 min was underground, inside the tunnel underneath the English channel. I marveled at the technology of modern travel. The train was quiet, smooth and fast. And as soon as we disembark, we were in trouble. We need to get metro tickets. The lady at the ticket counter didn't speak English. So with my very broken French and hand gestures, we managed to get our carnay tkx. Then we encountered another problem. Paris metro don't have attendants to wave people in as in London. So with our luggage, we had a very difficult time going thru the turnstile. Mine was stuck between the gate because it stared to close as soon as I passed. Lee and I tried and struggled to open the gate in vain. Finally a nice gentleman used his metro pass to open the gate for us. Things were starting to look a bit better. We caught the #4 metro to go to montparnasses. It was another big train station with lots of travelers. There was no escalators, so we hauled the three luggage upwards on the stairs. We encountered another surprise. A very nice guy offered to carry my luggage. I thought since he was so nice to offer his help, I might as well ask him direction to the street I want to go. We started talking, he spoke tolerable English, enough for us to communicate. He came from Corsica to Paris to work as a policeman. He doesn't like Paris because it's dirty and people are rude. So he doesn't know why people keep coming here to visit. After a few minutes of chit chat, we found our street and hotel. What a relief! Thank to these timely help, we finally made it to the hotel. Who said the French were rude?
We were very happy with our lodging. We were on the 19th floor, our window looked directly north to Notre Dame, the Louvre, Pompidou and sacre coeur. It was a magnificent view. the sky was clear and blue, and sun light everywhere. And if we crank our head, we have a side view of the Eiffel Tower.




After a short rest, we decided to explore the area. We headed toward Luxembourg Garden. We got some gelato on the way. It was rather warm after our walk. We found a park bench and enjoyed our gelato. Lots of people were in the park, just hanging around. Families in the playground, people out walking their dogs. Megan started to count the number of dogs she saw. I think she really missed Moch. As we arrived at the pond, we founds many people just sitting, hanging around, and sun bathing. Simply enjoying the warm afternoon. It was a very relaxing place. We sat by the pond and enjoyed our first afternoon in Pairs. And when the kids reminded us that they were hungry, we started our walk again. Now we headed toward the left bank. Going north on Blvd st. Michel. It was very busy, cars everywhere, all kinds of stores and lots of people. We decided to go all the way to the bridge, and find Notre Dame within our sights. It was a near sunset, the sunlight reflecting off the river and stone makes the whole structure almost glaring. When we got our bearing, we decided to go the rue st. André de arts area. This was the place where the literary people used to hang out.

Taking advice on one of the guidebooks, we stepped into Cafe le Proscope. Supposed to be one of the oldest continuing operating restaurant in the world. Voltaire, Ben Franklin, Napoleon, Marat all dinned here before. From historic point of view, it was remarkable. Many portraits and painting adorned the walls. Food was mediocre at best. It attracted tourists like me! With a full stomach, we walked home, wanting to explore the neighborhood more. It took a good 30 min to get back to the hotel, taking many narrow back streets. At night, our view from the room was even better, with lights from all the monuments and houses and streets, truly the city of light.

British Museum, August 24 2007

Another event filled day in London. It finally stopped rainning, but still very overcast, just light in Seattle. Our sights were a little scattered acrossed the town but mostly in the north part of the city. We started at the Kings Cross Train station to pay pilgrimage to Harry Potter. The supposed 9 3/4 platform was filmed at Kings Cross Station in the first Pottr film. We emerged from the underground, and a little lost because the marked platform only stopped at #6. So I simply asked an attendant where platform 9 3/4 was. He was probably asked this questions hundreds of time as he told me where it's located. We followed his direction and there it was. It was actually not a platform, simply an old wall with brick arched over it. And on the wall it's marked simply 9 3/4 platform. It even had a half of the luggage cart stuck on the wall as if it's going into the wall. We thought that was hilarious. I think Laurie and Megan really got a kick out of this.

British Library is just down two blocks from the station. It houses many treasured manuscripts from ancient time to modern. The main attraction is the Magna Carta. Laurie's class study medieval history last year and it was nice that she saw that actual documents. There were several different ones drawn up, the displayed one were in cased in the glass, very faded ink in Latin and the original wax seal in place, stating the rights of king and nobles. The beginning of democracy. Other highlights were musci manuscripts from Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin and Liszt. Beethoven's scores with many corrections and rewrites. Mozart's was neat and clean. Felt like he just wrote down whatever was in his head, just transcribing. Chopin has very delicate penmanship. Lots of medieval manuscripts with painstakingly detailed painted by monks over years. Ancient Hindu, Musilum and Chinese books.



While in London, doing the theater was another must. We've already seen Lion King. So today we tried to get tickets Wicked. We went to the discount tkx booth. Wicked tkx are not on sale as it is still a very new show. We bought Phamton tickets instead. Laurie's been wanting to see it. The time was approaching 11. We took underground to see Buckingham Palace, hopping to see the changing of the guards. It wasn't today. Of course this is where all the tourists congregate in London. The union flag waving on top of the palace, so the quuen is out. Otherwise her standard would be up. We sat on the base of the Queen Victoria Statue just taking in the site. People talking in foreign languages that we don't understand. After the guards came out to confirm that there was not guard changing ceremony, we struck out to find lunch.



My original plan was to go to St Martin in the square and lunch in the crypt. The church is at the Trafalger square. It was a very busy square with cars coming and going during lunch time. Sir Nelson stood tall on top of the column looking down at the city that he saved and died for. The church was under renovation. ( this will be a continuing recurrence thru out trip). So quick change of plan, we found a family friendly British pub for lunch. It was the first time I've been in a pub, took us a while to figure out the legistics. So we found our own table, the watiress brought menu, we have to go up to the bar to oder food, and the watress will bring our food. It was an interesting experience.



Then we took underground to the British Museum. It was a lot older and umkept as i tought, But inside it's ancient treasure galore. It was big and sprawling. We wanted to see the Egytian and near Eastern collections the most. The rooms were crammed with objects from thousands of year ago, we were able to take many pitures inside. About two hours inside the museum, we've had enough antiquities. Before Phantom showtime, we have time for a detour. We headed to Harrods. It was simply amazing in there. The high end of everything. Part of the department store has this Egyptian motif. And despite the designer prices, lots of people walked out with Harrod shopping bag. We went to the food court in the basement. It actually got a section for fresh produce, sea foods and meat. Pastries, candies, all sorts of deli meats. We found a corner gilling bar and had dinner there. And during dinner, there was a belly dancer dancing down the ille with live music. People stopped shopping and started clapping and joined the dancer. We've never seen anything like that. Too bad we didn't have enough time to explore the rest of Harrods.



The day ended with the show of Phamton of the Opera. Lee and I had all see it many many times. It was good to see it again with our kids. Laurie's orchestra played some tunes from it last year, so she could relate to it more than Megan. Then we took the double decker city bus home. Sitting on the top level, we got a short night tour of the city from Covent Garden, thru Tragalger square, Westminster abbey, Big Ben and the parliament. This become our favoite bus at night as it driopped us off almost right in front of our hotel.