We woke up this morning after a reasonably good night's sleep in the comfy bed in the apartment, had yogurt and fruit, and some delicious Moisin bread with Echiré butter, mmmm. Made some French ham and Cantal sandwiches, filled up our water bottles, and we were off for the day ... another veer hot one, expected to be abut 85 degrees. I only brought one t-shirt and I am wearing it today. Thank goodness there is a storm coming in tonight and it will be 20 degrees cooler tomorrow.
Off on the RER to the Musee d'Orsay, one of Barney's favorite, and mine as well. Got our museum pass, no lines at all, and went straight to the 5th floor where all his favors are located. Chief among these are Manet's "Olympia" and "Dejuener sue l'Herbe" and Caillebotte's "Le Raboteurs de Parquet" or "The Floor Scrapers." It is amazing what a difference it makes to see these painting in real life, so much is lost from permits and digitized reproductions online. The entire background of "Olympia" for example, often looks all black in books or online, but in reality there is a brown patterned wallpaper, two large blue drapes, details of the black cat and more that you can see in person. We enjoyed seeing these and so many more - a bounty of Renoir's, Monets, Pissarros, and more. Simply joyful. They have a large collection of Van Gogh painting as well, and they are set to contract with the work of Gaugin at the same time. We also saw an interesting exhibit called "Beyond the Starts: Mythical Landscapes," which included late 19th - early 20th center landscapes from well-known painters like Monet and Van Gogh (A Starry Night) and Georgia O'Keefe and Arthur Dove, as well as Odilon Redon and a whole group of Canadian and Scandinavian painters who painted these robust landscapes devoid of human life. The whole exhibit was around landscape as meditation, as religion, as spirituality.
We dashed back to the 14th to meet Catherine, and it was so great to see her.Of course we spent some time talking about politics ... thank goodness the French came to their senses and elected Macron, unfortunately angry, ill-informed voters in the US elected Trump, who is now busy obstructing justice. We caught with her activities and Anne's and will see her tomorrow morning. Barney will be Mr Bricolage (hardware) and fix some things around the house for her before we go out, something he enjoys doing.
So very hot out, we came back and took a short nap to rest up for our big dinner. Quite unusual for us and quite refreshing. Then got dresses and off to the 7th for a fairly fancy dinner. Thanks to planning ahead for once, we were able to get dinner reservations at two different one-star Michelin restaurant, and lunch at a three-star toy which we are inviting Catherine as our guest. We love to cook and to eat, and I was glad that we finally got it together to make this happen.
As we wanted to try something new in Paris, and read about this as one of the newer one-star Michelin restaurants. We had a reservation on at 7:30 on a Wednesday, made before we left the US. The food was delicious (though not quite knock your socks off spectacular), wines were very nice, and service was smooth and professional. My husband started with the crispy egg with leeks vinaigrette and haddock, which was inventive and we got the waiter to tell us how they got an egg cooked inside the edible container (two hemispheres of pasta joined together). Red mullet pissaladiere was quite good as well. The roast sea bass was delicious, accompanied by a red onion pastry layered like a napoleon, with zucchini, squid, dried tomato, on a vegetable confit. The roast duck was done very well, and came with sweet potato and tin crispy carrots. Desserts were a standout: Chocolate mousse on a chocolate biscuit with hazelnut sorbet and praline sauce, and the chef's signature Breton shortbread topped with mandarins sorbet, crime Annalise, and tiny bits of meringue. The wine selection is of moderate size but well chosen, with a standout champagne I did not get the name of. All in all, a very lovely dinner at a good price.
No comments:
Post a Comment