Tir Bouchon: our food pick for Paris

We don't have enough good things to say about this place. We first went there in 2007, and during that week we went back for more.

Paris has thousands of places too eat. France may be the foodie capital of the world. The French invented restaurants. Should be simple to find a charming place devoid of tourists that serves great food and doesn't break the bank - right? Well, in our experience, surprisingly no. However, this is the exception.

In the meantime we recommended it to Virginia & Derek, our neighbours in Hobart. They visited it late in 2008, and then again in 2009. Evdently there's an affinity between Liverpool St and Rue Tiquetonne!

This time around Le Tir Bouchon was the first place in our sights once we'd picked up our keys and dumped our bags. Jetlag bedamned: we wanted lunch. Subsequently, we returned twice before leaving Paris.

Every time we visit the experience is fulfilling. Local atmosphere, a generous welcome that isn't at all stuffy, great food....and a terrific price. Two courses plus wine for under 40 Euros. Hard to beat, especially given the quality of the food.

Some fine examples of the food:

• Rognons d'agneau a l'ancienne (lambs kidneys)
• Parmentier de canard avec foie gras (shredded duck confit with luscious foie gras)
• Coquilles St Jacques avec etrouffe (scallops with truffles)

So go there and tell us what you had that's delicious!

The bells....

There are 422 steps to ascend to reach the top of the belltowers of Notre Dame cathedral and the steps were a welcome warming after standing outside in the cool Paris air in Spring while we await opening.
We finally got to get a closer look at the gargoyles and chimerae. The view is spectacular and you can see across all of Paris, disappointing not to be able to do this at sunrise or sunset, thought the dark spiral stairs would be somewhat hazardous without the daylight streaming through the small windows as you climb. We would say this experience is an essential for anyone visiting Paris.

The Mayenne River

If Paris needed an antidote, this was the spot. Long stretched of smooth river. On either side a varying scene of pasture, chateaux, trees, beautiful old towns and villages....and critters. We had perfect weather the entire week, though the nights were cold the days were nothing but sunshine.

We learned (somtimes the hard way) how to navigate the locks (ecluses). We moored by delightful countryside, cooked fine food (recipe for epaule d'agneau a la Mayenne soon coming), ate marvellous cheeeses, and took a collective deep breath to counterbalance Paris' pace.

It was mostly a week of relaxation. Some of it forced when we had no power other than lights and sometimes heating. This did mean no computer on which to blog, no recharging of camera batteries and no hairdryer...

Each night as we moored was another experience of tranquility. One night beside an old water mill (with a donkey), another beside an enchanted island that comes straight from a fairytale (with a water vole), chateaux on the the hills, bike rides along the river, Abbeys that make cheese and beer, singing lockmasters. Ducking into towns along the way for their (sometimes quite hard to find) markets, including multiple fish and cheeese vendors. Overall a great experience. (Embarkation 47°42'2.77"N 0°39'55.31"W. Most upstream navigation 48° 7'35.85"N 0°45'6.50"W).

We will remember them

We were fortunate to stay in Pozieres with Marie and Bernard Delattre at Butterworth Farm. The welcome was as warm as one could hope for: they are exceptional hosts and fine people to boot. Their gite is beautifully appointed and, obviously, smack-bang in the middle of the areas of the Western Front from the first World War that are of such significance to Australia. We arrived in the afternoon before ANZAC Day, and the following are some impressions from April 25th.

....Bernard drives us, in our bleary-eyed reverie, across the dark undulations of the Somme plain. I allow myself the fancy of imagining benign ghosts of the fallen accompanying us, equally eager to reach the memorial at Villers-Bretonneux. After all, it maybe our destination but to them it is now home.

...Standing on the small rise upon which the Australian memorial stands I so much better comprehend the strategic significance of this site. In a land so flat, with horizons wider than the Hay Plain, to stand even ten metres above the plain affords a panorama that extends scores of kilometres. Small wonder that every manouvre of the allied forces was espied, so many attacks anticipated and thwarted. Equally clear is why the allied commanders so desperately craved these high points. Less clear is how anyone could have reckoned the profligate sacrifice of life to be worth the objective.

...Notable during the ceremony is the use of "enemy" rather than "Germans". I muse to myself that deliberately objectifying rather than personifying may be a way to foster reconciliation between combatants and, perhaps even more pertinently, their successors. Given the potential outcome, why risk nurturing feuds?

...Eating lunch in Albert I think to myself: I am only here due to the sacrifice voluntarily offered up by so many. I think in particular of Uncle Frank, a man who was my age (forty) when he embarked for Europe. He was killed in Bullecourt on 2 May 1917. Whose life could he have touched had he survived? Those known and loved by him who survived him? Others unknown - cousins of mine for whom that uncle might have been loved, influential, or a further strengthening block in the supporting construction that is family? And yet, I continue to ponder, his tale is a case of the great tale writ small. One cannot look upon casualty figures without considering each loss as another Uncle Frank.

...At Bullecourt the small town conducts its own rememberance ceremony, following which Tracey and I join the assembly in marching down the road to the nearby Digger memorial. As has been the case all day I'm struck by the dignity with which the French host the occasion. Respect on all sides is obvious.

Operation Culture

It had to come to this: we finally took on some of the must-do galleries of Paris.

Last time we were here we were thwarted by Tracey's calf injury; this time it feels like we've both taken a few bullets in the the name of culture.

Frankly, it's exhausting. Eye-opening, yes. Revelatory, yes, Exhausting, you bet.



There's no point rattling off what we've seen and heard in the past few days. After all, that's why so many people come to Paris so they can see for themselves.





Better than expected

• Monet's water lilies (l'Orangerie) - Andrew. Shown in natural light, these extraordinary expanses convinced us that there was in fact water in the picture which captured beautiful reflections. Believe it or not, the hype about these paintings is genuinely worth it. (Tracey believes that after approximately 250 paintings of water lilies, Monet may have been becoming lazy, though it may be better explained by the fact that he did have cataracts at the time of these particular works. Some of his early Lilies certainly exuded more of what Andrew describes above)
  
• Lady with Unicorn (Musee National du Moyen Age) - Tracey & Andrew.
• So much sculpture. Everywhere you go there are exceptional works, from classical to contemporary eras, from the erotic to the bizarre.
  

Unexpected treats

• Sisley (Louvre & Musee d'Orsay)
• Modigliani (l'Orangerie)
• Artemis (sculpture, Louvre)
• Sharing a bottle of Sancerre at Cafe Marly, overlooking the Louvre (glass pyramid) entrance courtyard. Greatly revived us after our second delving and made a third possible.

Don't believe the hype

• La Giconde/Mona Lisa. We felt we should see it and, we suppose, it's an OK piece. But seriously people - look around you! Even in the same hall are works which surpass this one.
  
• Venus de Milo. There's just so much better sculpture...that isn't broken.
  
• Auguste Renoir. Chacun a son gout, I suppose, but this guy isn't to our taste.
  
• Some of the works found at Centre Pompidou (black canvas with a white line, comics cut out and glued in a montage, the video of the women hula hooping with barbed wire...you get the idea.

Where we'd eat again....an ongoing list

Paris
La Tour d'Argent
Le Tir Bouchon (rue Tiquetonne)
Le Bar a Huitres (33 bd Beaumarchais)

Bruges
Pro Deo

Wavre, Belgium
Brasserie Maxime

Chalons-en-Champagne
Les Ardennes

Burgundy
Le Fredeline (Dijon)

Arles
Le Rendez-Vous, Rue Baremme

The only thing worse than being talked about

Atmospherics spot-on at Pere Lachaise this morning. Meagre, warmth-lacking sunshine leaking in through early spring branches sporting the hints of summer to come. Greys of stone, greens of moss and ivy, dun brown of last autumn's leaf-fall, the decrepitude of a village memorialising the forgotten.

People expend so much effort trying to stave off the inevitable fading from memory that succeeds death. Wandering the grounds you're aware of how many stories you can never know, and that throws into relief those with which you're familiar.

Heloise and Abelard lie within earshot of Chopin, but in between lie dozens with less well-known tales. For those such as us who arrive early a respectful hush reigns. As the morning warms, so does the volume.

He may have been a grouch; may have been the greatest Irish author. Perhaps he was the founding-point for thousands of tabloid articles keen to sensationalise one's private life. No bon-mot is adequate for Oscar: he now, as ever did, speaks for himself.

Doing the pigeon

We had a mission. Tracey had a vision of pigeon cooked (without, as the observant will realise, an oven) for lunch. Off to market.

Back we staggered, laden with far more goodness than had at first seemed necessary. Seductive indeed are the French foodstores.......

So there is was: undeniably a pigeon (grisly picture with head omitted for the tender of sensibilities - which includes Andrew).

Pigeon saute avec deux choses de champignons et estragon (pigeon sauted with two mushrooms and tarragon served with blanched asparagus and baby green beans). A raging success (and with a creamy sauce that begged to be mopped-up and savoured). Recipe to be included in the next edition of Foodivore :)

As a somewhat macabre encore, the catacombs called (Tracey! Andrew!) Down into the bowels of the earth we went, where we both somberly reflected on the transience of human existence, the vast unnamed multitudes that constitute the past of the city we've been wandering around. Fortunately (and it's not clear this would happen everywhere in the world) everyone there seemed duly respectful (no souvenir-procurers).

Glam

We all know that Paris is the world capital of glam, right? And what do you think of when you think of the glammest creations in the world?

Yesterday were two of the glammest,the Garnier Opera and the gardens of Versailles.

The Opera building (images right) was a decadent gold and marble extravagance where THE phantom originated. Though we were informed the lakes are still under the Opera building, unfortunately that wasn't included on our tour.

In the afternoon we head to Versailles. Because we'll be back in July, we were there only for the fountains: every Saturday they put on appropriately classical music for folks to enjoy as they promenade the gardens. And boy....what a lot of folks turn up! We thought the fountains and classical music may be synchronized but, unless you call them both being turned on at the same time, then the weren't. Still very pleasant.


As has become our habit, we rounded the day off back at the apartment with cheeses (including a lovely, subtle Camembert washed with Calvados), saucisson and a little wine. Our local boulangeries are doing a good trade from us as we try to maintain the national average of 80% of all people eating bread with every meal. Turns out that the "tradition" loaf/stick is more our style than the baguette.

Le ciel est bleu et le soleil brille

Up early to stroll in the chilly early morning. Compared with many other cities, Paris is surprisingly quiet before 0800hrs - although it certainly picks up after that.

There's no hard and fast rule that says you have to do a lot of walking to offset good eating, but it seems to work that way for us. A gentle amble up the Champs-Elysees to Etoile (absolutely mad around 0900hrs), and thence to Trocadero.

By this time things had warmed up a bit, and we were no longer getting looks from all an sundry implying that we were crazy people for not wearing jackets or jumpers (literally, every single person we saw during rush hour was - soft).

Unsurprisingly there were hordes around the Tour Eiffel. They were happy to queue. We were most definitely not. Why ascend anyway? You won't get lunch there :)


Sadly though, we encountered an indifferent lunch. Upside: Le Tir Bouchon just looks better and better!

Un dejeuner serieux (a serious lunch)

In anticipation of the first Big Meal of the trip we strolled idly through Jardin des Plantes (looking lovely as spring forces winter to one side with gorgeous displays of blooms).

Took in the Museum de l'evolution (sort of odd that such a Roman Catholic nation give so much due to evolutionary science). Full of school excursions,but you can dodge those easily enough and take it in in relative peace. Admittedly, it's a bit difficult to read the plaques and other interpretive information........

From there it was but a short amble along the left bank to Le Dejeuner Serieuse (The Serious Lunch).


La Tour d'Argent has been operating next to the Seine since 1582. While we may not be the most distinguished couple to visit, we're certainly wowed.

The food was excellent:

• Amuse-bouches
• Pike dumpling "Andre Terrail"
• Poached foie gras steamed with seaweed, emulsion of artichoke & lemon, in aromatic broth
• Fillets of sole with lobster, accompanied by broad & cannellini beans with tarragon
• Sealed heart of Black Angus fillet, slow-simmered shallots with truffles, beef marrow and celery
• Roquefort ice cream
• Shell of dark chocolate with sesame seeds and a lemon caramelised custard cream
• Poached pear "Vie Parisienne"
• Mignardises
  

The wine was possibly even better:

• Champagne Tour d'argent (light chardonnay style)
• 1992 Saint Aubin "En Remilly" (Colin)
• 2000 Saint Chinian "Les Cres" (Borie la Vitarelle)
  

And the view! Simply impeccable

It's a miracle

We have finally been spat out the other end of the international transport system and have now finally, after 60 hours of travel, arrived at our destination. The view as you can see is much more like what we had expected for our first night.


In food news :)

We lunched at Le Tir Bouchon, the bistro we enjoyed so much during our honeymoon. Tracey had the croustiffon of poissons (the plural is deliberate, because there was both salmon and sole in the dish); Andrew had the rognons d'agneau (medium-rare lambs' kidneys in a light mustard sauce). Throw in entrees and wine, for the most reasonable cost of 37 euros. We love it there.

We have also plundered the local businesses to assemble some very basic supplies. Consequently we find ourselves nibbling at Coulommiers, a light Jura blue, and saucisson de sanglier (wild boar), while sipping a simple Vouvray. Just the thing (although we're already slipping behind our ambitious "six cheeses each day" thoughts).


We're loving hearing from so many people - some by comments, email, skype and so on. Vagueone & Luke should expect more from where the 80s survived :)

Tomorrow

Another port reached....

After two and a half days of travel we are now on the home stretch. We're sitting in London waiting to finally depart to Paris...from which we will be quite happy not to step foot on another plane ever...okay at least the next 6 months.

The travel so far has been beyond ridiculous and this easily wins out on the worst flight ever in the history of flying (and believe me, that statement has only the barest hint of exaggeration). We've lost count of the endless hours spent in queues. We get out of one, turn a corner only to find another. There'll be words to be had with Qantas when we are again coherent and less sleep deprived. All things considered, we are in good spirits. Though a little disappointed that we were forced to swap a day in Paris with the International transport system...not a fair swap.

A minor compensation is this splendid sunrise over the Heathrow runways.

One (unwelcome) night in Bangkok

When the sun rose this morning, we so wanted to spy the Eiffel Tower glowing in the early light and nibble at croissant. So: where's the Eiffel Tower in this picture?

Thanks to the ever-reliable Qantas, we've spent the night (and will spend the rest of today) in Bangkok. One of the engines failed as we started the climb out of Bangkok - so we came back. Got to our hotel at 5am (after many hours of waiting in queues). We will arrive in Paris a day late. We're forced to spend a night in London as well - arriving at 1am so not a lot to be gained from that.

We're trying to be as serene as we can......which isn't very. &#$%$ Qantas!!

En avant!

The moment is finally upon us. We sit in the lounge, sip champagne, dream of France........