It appears as though I either grossly underestimated the effects of jet lag, or was vastly over ambitious in what I thought we could see in a mere 48 hours in Paris. And so it is, that here at 9pm I lay in a luxurious bed willing myself to get up and go out into the streets to experience the City of Lights, but I do not, surrendering to the comfort and the fact my legs will not go.
But it was a good day today - Julie's birthday - that I'm sure to use as a bargaining chip at some point in the future: "remember that year that we spent your birthday in Paris?
Julie's pick for lunch was "le Café Marly", ideally located on a terrace overlooking Pei's pyramid at Le Louvre. The clouds broke up, allowing the sun to pierce through and brighten the square bustling with tourists. I cannot imagine this place at high season. It's a given that the prices at a café overlooking the Louvre will be extravagant, but my word - that lunch was worth it! First the bread with butter. And some small jars of jams. C'est ordinaire, non? I'm sorry Canadian and New Zealand dairy farmers, but French butter, combined with strawberry jam runs a close second only to clotted cream as the best thing on bread. I'm pretty sure I embarrassed Julie by eating just butter and jam after finishing the bread! The simple ham and cheese omelette was easily the best I've had; melt-in-your-mouth goodness. Later on I would learn that the secret is to not fully cook the eggs.
Watching the large entry queue from our perch, we opted to walk out of the square to the underground mall to buy our tickets to the museum that would exempt us from the line. The 15 minutes was well worth it to just walk right in.
We were somewhat pressed for time, if only by our body clocks, so regrettably we did the Louvre in less than 2 hours. Having seen 100 Masters in the small crowds of Winnipeg, I couldn't be bothered to wiggle through the masses to look at any given work of art. I also find that I am more impressed by the physical effort it takes to produce the piece, rather than the emotion that the piece physically represents. Must be the engineer in me...
Happy birthday Julie - Bonne fête!
1 comment:
...as a footnote, the butter that we ate at this restaurant Cafe Marly is of notable quality. Its name, Échiré, turned up in an issue of Maclean's upon our return home.
For more, read this tidbit; http://www.nytimes.com/2001/01/17/dining/butter-with-a-pedigree-ah-the-french.html
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