Side note: I've never been able to spell Napoleon until I began playing Mahjong with friends. One of the favorite tile goals is "Napoleon Babe". I've tried it many times, now I can spell it! Mom would be so proud.
My niece texted me to say she was in town by the Eiffel Tower and would I like to meet up for a glass of wine. Well honey, I'm in jammies in the 12th. I love you, but not putting on a bra (and the rest of an outfit) to travel to the Tower. She was at the end of her holiday and left for the US this morning at 7:30. So bummed because I adore this child and would have loved to hang with her for even a few minutes, but please, during the day when I'm at least human, not at the end of a very crappy day. So it was not to be. "Please, dear, next time!" So my disappointment filled day finished with yet another disappointment. Fly safe, sweet girl!
This morning I awoke clear headed, happy and full of excitement for a very fun day. We started on Cite, the island on the Seine, we wanted to see the current condition of Notre Dame. It's no longer completely covered in scaffolding, but it is completely surrounded by closed fencing, I mean completely, including the huge area in front of it and the entire back end - I couldn't even discern the flying buttresses through the foliage and fencing.
Close as I could get to a view of the front
You can see the parts of the roof under reconstruction
The iconic Rose Window being repaired
Lots of repair work being done on the rooftop in the rear.
So sad until you consider the the amount of love, respect and engineering being poured into the restoration.
I thought that they were having services now, I didn't witness any clues to that. But I'm hoping that it will be repaired and refurbished during my lifetime.
And then we walked on.
On to Les Halles for another Christmas Market. This one was small but sweet. Les Halles is an enormous canopied shopping mall which was not on our list of places to visit, so after checking out the various booths, we left in search of falafalles in the Jewish Quarter.
As we remembered from past visits, they were YUMMO!
And then we separated. Sharon was not remotely interested in fabric and I've been to Musee La Orange, where she wanted to be. We met up in our room several hours later, both pleased with our afternoon. (I found some beautiful Asian fabric, printed in Japan and sold in Paris (yes ladies, there will be fabric in your future.)
We napped for 30 minutes and then dawned our silks, sweater and warm coat for our meal in Vincennes. We discovered Les Table du la Troy several trips ago and we have returned at least once each trip since then. This time was especially nice. Our server couldn't have been cuter or more fun. This one spoke reasonable English and chuckled as I (as usual) butchered her beautiful language.
I dearly love Steak au Poivre. She didn't know "steak". After a bit of giggling and pantomime we came up with boufe and I showed her the pepper shaker. AU, she exclaims and points to the top item on the menu. Sure! We order for two, a bottle of my favorite wine to split and we sit back to people watch. People walking their dogs, one or two or occasionally four; lovers hand in hand, the trashmen dealing with the trash in the night as the streets are so very busy during the day; the diners as they interact with the wait staff, our cutie coming to check on us and giggle some more. Then she approaches with our meat to see if it is to our satisfaction:
Seriously? That could feed a small army!
She asked if it would be okay and then the chef would plate it individually and beautifully with the sides, would it be acceptable? Hah! Hold that thought ... as I dug for my camera. She held up the plate and was horrified when I wanted her face in the picture. Isn't she a cutie?
She took the platter away and I wondered how it would be presented. Turns out the chef put it under the broiler, "thank you sir!" to add some color and crunch. Turns out it was the PERFECT medium and cut in chunks.
Voila!
Seriously, could this be more beautiful?
It came with two sauces, one a pepper sauce, the other blue cheese. The beans were devine and I had no intention of filling any spare space with bread or potatoes. The meat simply melted into my mouth, it was beyond my expectations (and I had high expectations!). Are we done? No.
I saved room for dessert because, well because I wanted it! "Two scoops of chocolate galleto, please!" Well, that was beyond cutie. So I pantomimed: Unh scoop (hand jesture), duex scoop (hand jesture) chocolat (the french don't add an E on the end). She brightened up and babbled something in a language I've always been sorry I didn't study or learn, we smiled and nodded our heads. And then she delivered this:
YUMMO!
The crisp was formed over a HOT cylinder and was almost sweet and very crisp and a lovely compliment to the chocolate glace (ice cream or galato, I wasn't certain). We polished off all of it!
We were just before getting the bill when Sharon pointed behind me and said "grab your camera, and get a shot of this!"
Who knew?
Such a fun day to make up for the disappointment of yesterday. I am well satisfied and happy once again! Good night all, S&S
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