I Love Paris in the Springtime, Part II

With Conor

My friend Conor and I have known each other for a long time. We went to high school at Cate together, though he was in the class below me, and were in the same class at Vanderbilt. We became close and met up here and there during the years after graduation until he finally decided to follow his passion for food to Paris, where he attended culinary school and then got a job at a restaurant. He's still there, working as a chef, and I was very excited about the possibility of seeing him and meeting his French girlfriend, Charlotte. In the days leading up to our trip, I asked Conor about good areas to go running in Paris, and he said that Charlotte had offered to take me on a run around the city during our visit. So on Saturday morning, she arrived at our hotel and took Ed and me on a looping route through Paris. We put in about 6 miles and saw many of the things we'd seen the day before, as well as some new sights. I thought she was fantastic, and it was very fun to chat with her about life in Paris and learn about the history of various parts of town.

After a shower and breakfast at the hotel (in an underground room with vaulted stone ceilings, which we accessed via one of the steepest spiral staircases I have ever seen), Ed and I were off to the Louvre. We took the Metro instead of walking and were impressed by how clean it was, though my time in New York has led me to be mightily impressed by the cleanliness of every mode of transportation I have seen that is not our subway. The Louvre has an underground entrance linked to the Metro stop, and we were dismayed to see a massive, snaking line for tickets to the museum. But there was nothing for it but to find the end and settle into waiting, which we did, for 20 minutes. At last, tickets in hand, we ascended an escalator to find ourselves in the lobby area of the Louvre, where there were rows of ticket machines with lines about 4 people deep in front of each. Blast. The room was brightly lit by one of the controversial glass pyramids that has popped up in front of the Louvre's traditional facade.

It's impossible to see everything at the Louvre in under, say, two weeks, so we elected to see just two areas: sculptures and some of the paintings. I loved the hour we spent in the sculpture wing, as it wasn't terribly popular and was therefore comparatively unpopulated. We saw a variety of lovely marble and bronze statues, many missing limbs. Some of the subjects were quite intriguing, but the placards were all in French and so Ed and I had to use guess what the sculptures actually depicted. I enjoyed looking at the paintings less. They were incredibly impressive, and the Louvre is a breathtaking setting, but the crowds of people were unreal. The passages, generous, wide, and lofty though they were, were absolutely clogged with crowds. They kept taking pictures of paintings without bothering to turn their flashes off, which irked me. I caught a glimpse of the Mona Lisa, though the crowd in front of it was so thick I didn't want to go terribly close. Ed and I wandered around for a while, taking in the superb works and being jostled. We had to leave before seeing nearly enough of the museum, but I think that even if we'd devoted the entire day to the Louvre and had it just about to ourselves we hardly would have scratched the surface of the huge collection.

View from Montmartre

Art and artist!

Next on our agenda was a borderline mountainous region of Paris called Montmartre, where our first stop was another picturesque restaurant for lunch; Ed got some sort of chicken and I had a moule frites, a bowl of mussels with french fries on the side - in my opinion, just about the most perfect dish that ever was. (We learned a lesson about French taxes here: our food was subject to a 5% tax - I think it was 5 - while our alcoholic beverages were taxed at 19%!) Montmartre is the area where the famous Moulin Rouge can be found, though we didn't end up stumbling upon it. It is known for its lovely views of Paris, and for the collection of artists who peddle their work in a central square. Though I haven't always succeeded, I have tried to purchase a piece of handmade art from every country I've visited, and I was determined to get something from Paris. Ed and I shoved our way through the throngs of tourists to view the many different drawings and paintings on display. Most were landscapes featuring the Eiffel Tower. I settled on two small black and white drawings of simple street scenes augmented with water color. The artist was a squat, friendly woman with short, grey hair who spoke no English. I was quite pleased with my find, and I look forward to framing them and finding a spot to hang them. Having got my purchase out of the way, I was free to enjoy the views of Paris as we hiked up and down the steep sidewalks.

Ed and I prepare to devour a langostina

After a quick stop at the hotel, we had quite an adventure on a French public bus that decided to change routes mid-journey. Luckily, Ed's Magellan-like qualities kicked in after we exited the wandering bus, and we managed to find our way to Conor and Charlotte's apartment, where we enjoyed wine, cocktails, foie gras, and delicious cheeses. All of this was just a warm-up for dinner at Conor's restaurant, however. It's just a short walk from his apartment. We brought cups of wine along for the journey, because apparently in Paris it's legal to drink while out and about as long as one doesn't stand still while doing it. (Weird.) At the restaurant, we met an American girl, a friend of Conor's from another restaurant, and her French husband. The two of them run the only food truck in Paris, and apparently it's incredibly popular, though they've run into a lot of obstacles, as many French people feel food should be taken seriously and not served from a mobile kitchen. Conor's restaurant had very simple and casual decor, but the food was decadent. They serve small plates that are meant to be shared by everyone at the table, and the six of us plowed through mouth-watering offerings like asparagus with a poached egg and parmesan shavings, langostina (a cross between giant shrimp and tiny lobsters), a French version of sashimi, mussels and clams, beef carpaccio, a slow-roasted lamb shoulder, heavenly cheeses, a dessert made of chocolate mousse with sea salt and caramel, and lots of other delicious stuff I can't remember. This was all paired, of course, with wine, and with an unusual but thoroughly delicious local cider that was fruity but not the least bit sweet. It was great to see Conor so happy, and I enjoyed watching him conversing in fluent French, which he did not speak at all when we were in school together. After gorging ourselves, Ed and I collapsed into a cab and were treated to a spectacular view of Notre Dame illuminated against the night on the way back to the hotel.