These messages are from a series of e-mails written after our vacation to Paris and Italy, in the summer of 2002. The events recounted in this internet diary occurred on Sunday, June 23.
--Jim McQueen
Sunday was our last full day together in Paris. Susan hadn't been to the top of the Eiffel Tower yet, so we headed off that way.
We arrived separately at the Trocadero metro station, and walked to towards the tower, stopping to take pictures on the way. (None of my pictures from that morning turned out, it feels as if it didn't even happen.)
We walked under the tower, and gawked (again) at how huge it is. The place was full of tourists (again), the lines were long (again), and it was hot (again.) Susan decided she really didn't need to go to the top, so we left.
We wandered through the park we'd eaten in the first day, out the other side and into the neighborhood at random. It was much more quietly residential than the area around our apartments. After a couple of blocks, we found a pleasant café and had lunch, while we considered where to go next.
Nancy and Susan had enjoyed their previous day's visit to the Musée d'Orsay, so that's where we headed. Earlier in the week, at the Arc de Triomphe, we had bought museum passes that theoretically allowed us to jump the entrance queues. At Orsay, it took us a minute to locate the place to do that (without just barging on in), but soon we were inside.
At first we just enjoyed the building itself. The Musée d'Orsay was originally built as a train station, at about the same time as the Eiffel Tower. It was converted to a museum in the 1970's, and has captured much attention as the public rediscovers it's architecture.
When we turned our attention to the displays, we found a large section on industrial design and architecture from the 19th century. We enjoyed looking at large models of the interior structure of famous buildings. They also had a faithful reproduction in miniature of a large section of a Paris neighborhood, not too far from our apartment -- in the second photo, Sean is standing over the Paris Opera, tracing part of the early morning walk he and I had taken on our arrival.
Love,
Jim
OK, where was I? Oh yeah, Musée d'Orsay.
From the architectural models, we rode up to the top floor to see the collection they're famous for -- the Impressionists. It was fun seeing art work in person that we'd seen before, in pictures or on TV. We looked at Renoir, Cézanne, Toulouse-Lautrec -- we saw Van Gogh's self portrait that had been the centerpiece of his big show in L.A. a few years ago. Scott impressed Nancy by pointing to one of Monet's "Haystacks", naming it, and telling what he'd learned about it in school.
(Sean and I knew Whistler's Mother, but I think that's because it was used in Rocky and Bullwinkle...)
The Musée d'Orsay has a big clock, high on the outside. Inside the clock is a small snack bar, with light coming through the translucent clock face. Next to the snack bar is an outdoor patio with a fabulous view over Paris, to the Sacre Coeur Basilica atop Montmartre. (I don't have photos of any of this, but Scott did get a snapshot of us resting on the patio, admiring the view...)
We exited the museum through the gift shop, then took the metro back for one last visit at Notre Dame. The square in front of the cathedral has a round brass marker set into the pavement. This marks the center of the world, from the French perspective -- all the distances in France are measured from this starting point. We took turns standing on it and taking our pictures (none of which turned out).
Our last stop that afternoon was across a pedestrian bridge to the Ile Ste. Louis. All the tour books mention the ice cream served at Berthillon, so we stopped for a taste. We waited for a few hot minutes in a line of tourists, then chose ice cream cones from a large assortment of flavors.
They were DELICIOUS, every bit as good as the books promised. We found a shady spot, and ate our ice cream sitting on a wall overlooking the Seine. When we'd licked the last molten drops and eaten the cones, we headed home to nap and get cleaned up for our last dinner in Paris.
Love,
Jim
The owners of the apartment that Mom and Susan were staying in had thoughtfully provided a neighborhood map. On the map, they had located a few restaurants, stores, and other essentials. One of them was the Ambassade Auvergne, labeled "good restaurant". It was just around the corner from the apartment, and during the week we had walked past it, read the menu, and made reservations for our last dinner in Paris.
We had a very nice dinner that evening, but I only remember two items from the menu. My favorite was Mom's first course, green lentils with bacon. The other looked very fun, but nobody at our table ordered it. A specialty of the house was sausage and l'Aligot -- we didn't know what l'Aligot was, and we happened to try other dishes (that we didn't know what they were).
But other people in the restaurant knew, and when they ordered l'Aligot it came with a show. The waiter would bring a trolley out and heat a sauce pan, then repeatedly stretch the l'Aligot high into the air. It was a little like pulling taffy. I just found a good description from a web site: garlicky and good, halfway between mashed potato and fondue.
Next time I'm in Paris, I'm going to order the l'Aligot.
Love,
Jim
P.S. I didn't take the photo of the l'Aligot. I lifted it from the restaurant's web site:
http://www.ambassade-auvergne.com/internet/c_inetpub/files/ecrans/ecran_bienvenue.asp?lang=uk
I also found a fun web site with descriptions of l'Aligot:
http://www.visit-midi-pyrenees.com/restaurants/gastronomie3.html#7
And also Cassoulet -- the dish with the giant beans:
http://www.visit-midi-pyrenees.com/restaurants/gastronomie1.html#1