Friday 10 August 2012

Day 2 - Montorgueil and a Proper French Meal

Friday, August 10

We've done much better at overcoming jet lag as compared to our last trip to Paris. After our first day, we slept about 10 hours straight, something neither of us has done in a long time. So we were ready to take on a full second day. We had a classic breakfast of fresh baguette with jam, but then broke Parisian protocol and a) got coffee from Starbucks and b) got it to go. Things to do, places to see!

I cannot order a tall half sweet vanilla easy room americano in French
Our main objective for the day was to visit Rue Montorgueil, a largely pedestrian-only street lined with all of the traditional Parisian stores selling baked goods, cheese, seafood, meat and flowers plus many brasseries to stop in and have lunch.

Rue Montorgueil

We strolled from end to end, then settled in at a restaurant based purely on the food that we saw their patrons eating at the tables right along the street. Not only were our seafood salads delicious, the spot was also prime for people watching.
Motorized scooter
Seafood salad, covered in Parmesan
After a second espresso of the day, we continues on to the Louvre. The mere size of the Louvre is breathtaking and we took some time to enjoy the surrounding grounds, including the beautiful Tuileries gardens, but agreed that the weather was too nice to spend that much time inside (sorry, Donna!).
A teeny, tiny section of the Louvre
A teeny, tiny section of the Louvre
An artsy shot by Dave in the Tuileries garden
 
A teeny, tiny section of the Louvre
As the afternoon turned into early evening, we returned to our new favourite arrondissement, Le Marais. We stopped for a happy hour drink at Les Etages, then wandered on to Rue des Rosiers which we have now nicknamed "Falafel Row". These falafel/schwarma shops tout are in a constant battle for Best Falafel in the World. We opted to try Chez Hanna, which actually has signs claiming they are the best. I think they might be right, but we will not be able to confirm until we try the others. Stay tuned.

Falafel, however, was not our first proper French meal. Aude recommended a number of restaurants when we spoke (sidenote: 1D's That's What Makes You Beautiful is currently blaring in the streets and we're dancing) so we decided to try the very cutely named Derrière (the "behind" or "bottom"). En route, we observed an interesting street act, looked at the lovers' locks lining a bridge and stopped by Dave's favourite book store, Shakespeare and Company.


Derrière is one of the coolest restaurant settings I have ever been to. Tables are scattered amongst a 70's style house. The atmosphere is completely different from the typical French bistro, and the servers are not hesitant to poke jabs at you (our server said to me in English: "I don't speak English, you must order in French". So now I will never forget the French word for cabbage). While a place that seems "gimmicky" like this one could try to rest on its cool feature and turn out bad food, Derrière did not disappoint. We took a "flexitarian" night and ordered beef cheeks and lamb medallions, respectively. It was one of the best meals we have had in a while.
Who says you shouldn't eat on your bed?
 
Day 2 ended with Berthillon again. This time we tried dark chocolate. Delicious!

Vivian

 

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