That's where we are going today. So it'll be an April day in Paris. We'll drive up this morning, see friends (Chris and Tony from California are there right now), do some shopping for food and kitchen items we can't get here in Saint-Aignan, have a couple of good meals, and drive back Saturday evening. I'm sure we'll find time to take a nice walk around the Marais, along the Seine, or in some other interesting neighborhood.
We plan to make a stop in the suburbs at Ikea to buy a light fixture we want for our kitchen. Then we'll go to a spice shop in the Marais called Izraël to see if we can find some smoked paprika from Spain and some ground hot chili peppers from Ivory Coast. We'll also go to a big Asian supermarket in Paris to see if we can get a stone mortar and pestle we saw there last year but didn't buy at the time.
One Paris meal this time will be couscous at Le Vent de Sable in the 15th arrondissement (not far from the Eiffel Tower). We had a lunch there last August and it was really good. Another meal will be Thai food in a restaurant in Belleville, in the far northeast corner of Paris. It's a place that Walt read about on a blog and that sounded good.
After we get the new puppy in early May, we won't be free to make one of these "lightning trips" (voyages éclair) to Paris for quite a while. After Callie gets trained and calms down (if she indeed turns out to be a rambunctious puppy), we'll be able to take her with us to Paris, because restaurants and hotels in France have no problem admitting dogs, if they are well behaved. Collette went to restaurants and hotels with us in Paris on many occasions.
The weather in northern France is fantastic right now. It's not hot — around 70ºF, 20ºC — but it's very warm in the sun and the sky is a crystal blue. I'm hoping we'll have this kind of weather for many weeks and even months to come, but you can't ask the impossible.
Back on Sunday...
I am currently in Normandy and yes, the weather is just wonderful. Too bad I won't be around to meet you, I am zipping to Paris on Sunday to vote, but will get back here in the evening.
ReplyDeleteBut hopefully, I'll manage to visit Saint Aignan, some time in May and will meet the new addition to your househole, Callie :) Enjoy your trip. And if you don't find what you need at Izraël's, you won't find it anywhere...
Bon voyage, Ken and Walt
ReplyDeleteLe Vent de Sable looks good- I'm putting it on my list for August. I want to try couscous in Paris. If our friends don't like couscous, paella is also offered.
If you don't mind, here is a bit more puppy advice. My dog trainer explained how he gets his new puppies to behave at restaurants (of course, only outside here stateside. But I digress...) He will train them at the table by putting them on a leash, and ignoring them the entire time he is sitting at the table. Whether they whine, bark, whatever, he ignores them. Then, when he has decided that it is time to leave the table, he gets up and then acknowledges the dog. This may take a few times. The dog will associate, fairly quickly, that when people are sitting at a table, they need to lay down and tune out. All of his dogs just immediately make themselves comfortable when they get to a table to eat. I tell you this, so that you can get back to "living the life", instead of waiting for the dog to grow up. Especially at the age that you are getting Callie, ash she will be more than trainable, at that time. As you can tell, I have NOT mastered the art of a quick comment, yet
ReplyDelete