The Ultimate Parisian Lunch

The Ultimate Parisian Lunch - UPL

You may be asking 'With all the good food in Paris, what is the Ultimate Parisian Lunch? How can there be one ultimate lunch?' Well, it's quite simple really; the Ultimate Parisian Lunch is whatever you want it to be. Allow me to explain: Since spring is here and nearly gone, and summer is knocking on the door it's time for Parisians to flock out side, and try and find a little refuge in a city with little green space. Unlike London which has about 25% green space I feel like Paris has 2.5% green space in the center core. Sure there are 2 big forests on the East and West sides, but that is too far. Parisians don't usually like to go very far, and when they do it's for their famously long vacations, like in August when the city basically shuts down, except for the tourists, but I digress. So, what to do in a densely populated city to find a quiet bit of refuge and enjoy the UPL? The first thing to do is to find the closest market that is open. Most markets are only open a few days a week, so do your research ahead of time. If there isn't one within walking distance you can use the metro or rent one of the city bikes for 1euro per half hour - a fantastic way to get around. The best thing about the UPL is that it is completely up to you, you get to make it up exactly as you see fit, what you feel like eating and what is available at which ever market. We have done this the past 2 weekends and have had a great time. The first weekend we went to the Marché Port Royal and this past weekend we hit up Marché Edgar-Quinet with Mack and Petra who just moved here from San Francisco. We bought a random assortment of bread, cheese, cured meats, olives, fruits and vegs and of course a bottle of wine. Another tip when visiting Paris: bring a few bottle openers (and cups) from home and keep them in your bag, or jacket. But even if you find yourself without one, chances are someone near you will have one. Then the real work begins: if you aren't near on of the main jardin in the city (Luxembourg, Parc Monceau, Les Tuilleries or Jardin des Plantes) finding a bit of greenspace can be tricky. So the next best solution is to find a bench (sometimes easier said than done) on a wide street with some trees, or a bench in a little square or plaza where a few streets intersect. The fist weekend we had to settle for the bench under a tree but last weekend we went to Jardin du Luxembourg and shared a postage size piece of grass with the rest of Paris! It wasn't really that bad - but definitely not like the wide open spaces in Canada.

Mack, Petra and Kim

Since most of you reading this aren't in Paris right now that's ok. You can still accomplish the same thing in your local city. For those of you in Vancouver head to your local farmers market on Saturday or Sunday, if you can walk or take your bike there then all the better, as that is also part of the journey and you'll want to get to your picnic spot quickly to enjoy all the good food you just bought. You can also head to Granville Island, pick up the things you need at Oyama, Duso's and the bakeries and either head towards Kits of the other direction along False Creek. Find a nice quiet grassy spot in the sun or under a tree in the shade, spread out your food, crack open the bottle of wine (who cares if it's illegal in Vancouver), sit back and just enjoy.

Monaco SuperCar Show

Since a picture is worth a thousand words, I will let all the pictures do the talking. Monaco SuperCar show pictures posted here:

http://picasaweb.google.com/dkspence76

Nice, Monaco and the Cote D'Azur

Our apologies to our loyal followers for the slow postings of our travel and Paris blog. April has been a busy month that started with an Easter weekend trip to southern England via the Eurostar for my uncle and aunt's 50th wedding anniversary. The following weekend we flew to Nice on the Mediterranean to spend 4 days in the area with my mum and Erik. Then my mum and Erik were in Paris for 10 days, two of Kim's cousins from Ontario: Laura and Amanda were also in Paris for 2 days during their 1 month European tour. Mack's fiancee Petra was here for an interview, Adam's sister Megan and her boyfriend Jason were here on holiday, and last but not least, my friend Luke from Queen's was here for a few days from Rotterdam, Holland so we spent some time together after 10 years!

Day One: Nice. After landing on a beautiful sunny morning, at the seaside airport, we walked through the town of Nice. The colour of the buildings is amazing, and Kim took some beautiful pictures. As with most towns in europe, the 'old' areas are the most interesting, but they tend to get runover by tourists. Damn tourists! In the afternoon we spent a bit of time driving the coastal roads and ended up in Monaco for a short time, as we planned to spend another day there later in the weekend. We stayed in a fantastic Chambre d'Hote (Bed and Breakfast) in the hills above Nice in the small village of Aspremont.

Day Two: We drove to one of "les plus beau villages". The small town of St Paul de Vence is a 'village percher' or perched village, since many of the old french towns where built on top and on the sides of mountain and hill tops. My mum and dad were here 40 years ago on their honeymoon. Unfortunately St Paul de Vence is very close to Nice so it is more touristy than it was 40 years ago, full of art shops and the like. So off we went on our quest to find the non-touristry parts of the Cote d'Azur. Next stop: Tourettes sur Loup - another perched village further away and not nearly as touristy. We had lunch in the town square and watched the locals play boulles (bocce). Next stop was the town of Grasse. Grasse is the perfume capital of the world with dozens of parfumeries and
flower farms. We went for a 'free' tour of the Fragonard parfumerie. I only say 'free' because it is free, but the last stop on the tour is the gift shop where you smell all sorts of perfumes. I did pretty well in our group of 10 or 12 by guessing correctly 3 of 5 samples we were given to guess the primary ingredient. Maybe I have a new calling! Did you know that it takes 1000kg (2200lbs) of Jasmin flowers to make a litre of Jasmin essence? Luckily they grow quickly. The other very interesting part of the tour was the room where the "nose" works. The "nose" is the person in charge of creating the next recipe. They have at least 7 years of schooling, and work in the room for 3 hours a day, and developed only 1-2 new formulas all year. I don't think I would have the patience for that. Other than that, making perfume is much like making whiskey or moonshine.


Day Three: Day three was the 3 meals in 3 countries day. Breakfast in Nice, France, lunch in Monaco and dinner in northern Itally. Why? Why the hell not? No more borders!
Luckily when we drove into Monaco on the first day, a large poster caught my eye. Something about a exotic car show. That night I googled it and found out that we had inadvertently decided to visit Monaco on the weekend of the Top Marques SuperCar Show. I bought a ticket online (50euros - but worth every centime). So off I went into SuperCar heaven and drained the battery on Kim's camera - luckily right at the end. The pictures are all posted in a separate album on our Picasa site. Meanwhile my mum, Erik and Kim went to the famous Oceanographic Museum and Aquarium. We then met up and walked around Monaco a bit. Unfortunately other than the Casino, a few nice buildings and some exotic cars and yachts, it isn't really a great place to visit. The harbour is quite plain, with no attractive waterfront like in Nice or Cannes. But then again, if you want that, you can go to countless other seaside towns and villages. Monaco is just pure 'over the top'; the Vegas of Europe in some ways, just without all of the 'trash'. After Monaco we went to another perched village. This time is was St Agnes in between Monaco and the Italian border. St Agnes is the highest village with a direct line of sight to the ocean. It is perched over 800 metres above the Med. There are even castle ruins from the 15th century and it was even a Roman outpost. After St Agnes we drove 30 minutes to northern Italy and had a nice walk and dinner by the beach. What a day!

Day Four: Off to another small town, this time Biot - one of the glass making centres of France. We had a nice lunch in the town square, but no locals playing boulles this time. Then off to the seaside town of Antibes for a walk around and a cafe. The final stop before heading to the airport was teh famous town of Cannes - where the film festival is held every year. Plenty of good people watching along the beachside - including a lady in a fur coat in 20 degree weather, and another lady in a leopard print jacket, a huge diamond ring and carrying her 'clinging-to-life' rat dog with it's tongue hanging out. Ah yes, and a trip to a Mediterranean port wouldn't be complete without pictures of yachts.


So that was it, our first 'real vacation', and since then it has been a world wind with lots of visitors and the start of apartment hunting. More on that later.

More pictures are posted in the 2009-04-Nice, Monaco and Cote d'Azur album: http://picasaweb.google.com/dkspence76

Centre Georges Pompidou

The once controversial Centre Georges Pompidou is the home of the modern art museum in Paris. The building is basically built inside out with all the typical 'innards' of the building put on the outside.

Centre George Pompidou

The temporary exhibit we saw today was Alexander Calder . We had never heard of him, (not surprising since we are not fully tapped into the art scene). So off we went to see what it was all about. Unfortunately we were not allowed to take pictures inside the Calder exhibit, and maybe that was a good idea as I don't think that photos can to justice to some of his work. Calder basically pioneered the use of wire as a medium to make art in addition to many other abstract and experimental art. Seems trivial today, but I guess that is the point of being a famous artist. No one did it until you came along! He also used in engineering background in his moving art pieces.

Many of his pieces of work are found on the foundations web site www.calder.org/home and on Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Calder

They were also setting up for the Kadansky exhibition starting on April 8, so we will have to return to see that.


The rest of the museum is the permanent collection or painting and art. A few selected pictures are here.

Glass blocks, circa 1920's!

Jean Prouve, bicycle frame, 1941

More pictures on our photo page: picasaweb.google.com/dkspence76

Marche de la Bastille

Just a short post today!

Off we went on Sunday morning to the largest open air marche in Paris at la Bastille. Some guide books comment on the decline of the market activity in Paris, due to the prevalence of more ready made food, however today Marche de la Bastille was full of people, young and old, and it was a cold and cloudy day.

You can find all types of fresh produce, meats, cheeses and seafood. It's pretty self explanatory really. In addition there are other stands selling clothes, scarfs and kitchen wares but the food is the main attraction.

Parc Monceau - 17ieme arrondissement

Sunday's adventure consisted of heading to the upscale 8th and 17th arrondissement. Located just north of the Champs Elysees and east of the Arc de Triomphe is where you will find the Parc Monceau. The park is quite small by most standards, however Parisiennes definitely don't miss an opportunity to head to the park, especially on a sunny day in March with the temperature around 15 degrees. The 17th arrondissement is split into a working class area, and an upscale area near the park. In the upper scale area, the streets are definitely quieter, larger and don't have nearly the number of store fronts as in some of the other areas of Paris. Most of the ground floor establishments are finance, doctors, lawyers offices. Needless to say a good assortment of BMW, Audi's, Benz's and the usual fare of nice cars!

Parc Monceau is like most other Parisienne parks: gravel walking areas and no walking on the grass - at least until April at Monceau. There is a circular gravel path around the park that was simply a carousel of joggers and runners. There isn't a lot of green space in Paris, so runners and joggers are exiled to the few parks there are.

As you can imagine, the apartments overlooking Monceau are incredible. I can only imagine what they are like inside. I guess the closest analogy would be the apartments surrounding Central Park in NYC.

We also had our first visitors today! John and Megan arrived and we met up with them in the afternoon. We walked from the Arc de Triomphe to Notre Dame, and couldn't resist stopping for an afternoon sugar rush: crepes au chocolat!

more pictures in the web album

Entrance to Parc Monceau

I think I could handle living here!



Mmmm - Crepes au chocolat

Chinatown / Asiatown in Paris

Today Kim and I were feeling a bit homesick so what better way to cure that, when you are from Vancouver, then to go to your local Chinatown/Asiatown in which ever city you live in.

Considering the massive supermarkets in Paris barely have any asian food (1 size and type of soy sauce for Budda's sake!), you have to venture into Chinatown for all that you need to satisfy you asian palate. Also considering the population of China is over a billion it's really not surprising that a few got out and established Chinatown's in major centres (well i guess there is the fact that at least in Vancouver they were basically stolen away to build the railroad, but i digress).

So off we went, taking the Metro to Place d'Italie in the 13ieme arrondissement and walking south on Ave de Choisy. Unlike the Chinatown's I've been to in Vancouver, San Francisco and New York, the Paris version just sort of creeps up on you. It basically starts with the restaurant Le Kok and then a few more stores and restaurants appear. No big entrance gate with lions or dragons, temples or even buildings with the Chinese architecture that you would expect. All the stores and restaurants are on the ground level of your typically French buildings, or even worse, in stark, grey and dull 1960's high rise apartment buildings. Unfortunately these buildings are more common the further out you go from the centre of Paris. To save your eyes I didn't take any pictures.


Tang Freres: The Parisian version of TNT supermarket - but a bit smaller. Once we move into the centre of Paris, this will be our Asian shopping destination for sure. They have almost everything you need!



Of course no trip to Chinatown/Asiatown would be complete without eating. Luckily we passed a nice looking restaurant on our way in and made a note of it that we could eat there on our way back. Considering that Chinatown is only about 3 by 3 city blocks, we were back at the start quite quickly. One thing we definitely noticed is the Vietnamese influence as well. Considering France's history in Vietnam this isn't surprising at all. We also noticed what appeared to be a few high end / trendy / modern restaurants, so we'll have to try those later. Basically all the other restaurants in Asiatown are what you'd expect. A good variety of Chinese, Thai, Vietnamese, Japanese restaurants, all reasonably priced and packed full on a Saturday afternoon.

So, back to the start of our little sojourn and to the Mondol Kiri Cambodian restaurant. I can honestly say that this was some of the best Asian food I've had, and I've had a lot. Hopefully this wasn't just my palate hungry to eat anything Asian kicking in! This place was great, and we will definitely return, with a larger group so that we can try more of their menu.



More picture in our Picasa web album

2009 Salon d'Agriculture - Food and Agriculture Show

We have safely arrived in Paris and are settling in to our new home. We are staying with friends ~40 mins by train/metro to the heart of Paris for now, until we find our own place in a few months.

This weekend was the last weekend of the largest trade show in France - no it's not the trade show for strikers, protesters and car burners, but the Food and Agriculture show. We didn't know what to expect but, in the end it was great: Everything to do with food and agriculture. Everything from equipment, livestock, animal competitions (i saw a nice brown rabbit that scored 95.5/100), to food (lots of sausages and cheese nonetheless), wine, banking and insurance for the food and ag industry, tourism, clothing, absolutely anything and everything you could possibly think of that had to do with animals, food and farming. Unfortunately it was the last of the 10 day show so it was absolutely packed with people. As you can imagine people living in Paris don't get to see the farm life too often! We went in the afternoon which made it even worse!

A few sample pics are here, with more posted on our photo site:

www.picasaweb.google.com/dkspence76

des Charcuteries et des saucisons secs (cured meats)

the prettiest duck i've ever seen

very ancient breed of work horse

Palais de Versailles

Looking out from the Palais de Versailles

Yes, I'm trying to save my pennies so that I can have a garden like this when I build our house!

Paris - Eiffel Tower and Notre Dame

Dave admiring the view of the Seine from the Eiffel tower