On Foot in Paris

Paris is the land of plenty!

 

There's plenty of everything in Paris, especially good food, so deciding to walk was a good idea. We situated ourselves on the left bank of the Seine in the 7th Arrondissement at the tiny Hotel Varenne and struck out on foot with maps and eating in mind and a few sights to see. It's not possible to see Paris in a few days; it's overwhelming!

 

Plenty of Brasseries, bistros and cafes, on almost every corner:

Our first meal was one of mussels with French fries, French baguette with Dijon Mustard, some French white and French red. Bang! Let's go.

Plenty of specialty stores with tempting prepared foods in the windows:

Parisians love pâté which comes in many forms. Choose what you want from a store window then go inside, buy a slice or two and eat it in the park.



Charcuterie in Paris (Cold Meats Shop: pâté en croute, pâté en terrine and pâté de foie gras)

Escargot and other delicacies in a store window

Pâté is not my favorite, but who can ignore a store window filled with beautiful pastries? There were so many of these that perhaps one could eventually stop gawking, maybe just walk hurriedly by.


Les Pâtisseries: Pastry shop in Paris (The Royal must be the favorite, but the raspberries caught my eye, all works of art.)
 

Plenty of Fresh Markets for those who want to cook for themselves:

Markets are centered conveniently in each arrondissement where residents can select fresh and specialty ingredients for home-cooked meals. It was fun wandering through a couple of these just to see what the locals are eating and how much they have to pay to cook at home.


Les Champignons: Mushroom varieties in a fresh market



Les Poissons: Fish ready to cook

Les Langoustines (Larger than shrimp, smaller than lobster)



Les Huitres: Oysters for shucking

Plenty of specialized eateries:

 

 

Browsing through food markets looking at seafood made us hungry. With the help of a smart phone we discovered a tiny storefront famous for oysters: Huitrerie Regis. We chose a sidewalk table since the weather was ideal and the recommended Sancerre. This place is all about the oysters, with lemons and a mignonette of vinegar, shallots and pepper.

Scrumptious oysters from Normandy at Huitrerie Regis in Saint-Germain-Des-Prés, 6ème

DONE! Sancerre, a French Sauvignon Blanc is the wine pairing, hot French baguette with butter, mignonette

Sipping the Sancerre on a beautiful afternoon

Ordinary things are the most sublime. Like cheese. Did you know that France produces 450+ cheeses? We only began to taste them all. See: Guide to French Cheese. I never knew that a cheese course should come before dessert. Goat's milk, sheep's milk, cow's milk.

Plenty of Street Markets like the Marché du Boulevard Raspail open on different days:

On Sunday, Rue de Rennes is filled with several long blocks of booths with food vendors, crafters, and artists offering all kinds of products. Restaurants and shops tend to close on Sundays.


Street market vendors of rotisserie chicken

 

Street market food to go: Paella-like dish made from lentils.

Street Market: Live farm animal expo for teaching children (and pets) something about where their food comes from.



Plenty of Small shops (Tabacs) that sell fresh food right there with the cards and stamps, cigarettes, liquor, over-the-counter meds, phone cards and lottery tickets:

 





Good place to pick up fruit and cheese for the hotel patio.



Plenty of architectural sights to amaze visitors:

In order to eat everything we are compelled to taste, we need to put in some serious walking: a long walk by lots of monuments. Here, the days are lived within touching distance of history, architectural reminders of those who came before and shaped the world.



 Did you know that the Eiffel Tower attracts more visitors than any other paid tourist attraction in the world? Created by Gustave Eiffel for the 1889 World's Fair celebrating 100 years since the French Revolution.

The best way to get a work-out (a long and increasingly steep walk) is to cross the Seine, walk past the Louvre and the Moulin Rouge all the way up to Montmartre, where on a Saturday lots of people gather.


Throngs of tourists near Monmartre

Basilica De Sacré-Coeur (Sacred Heart Cathedral)
on Monmartre the mountain named for
the Christian martyrs who died in France
including St. Denis who was a Parisian Bishop

Montmartre was once a bohemian village on a hill outside Paris, a gathering place for painters (Picasso, Matisse, Van Gogh, Utrillo, Ernst) and writers (Toulouse-Lautrec, Apollinaire.) The hill has now been engulfed and digested by the city.

Today's artists draw caricatures and sell their own renderings of the sights in the tiny Place du Tertre, a square near Basilica Sacre Coeur, the Cathedral at the top. Turn around from the cathedral and all of Paris is in view.






View of Paris from Montmartre. The tall building on the right horizon is near our hotel on the Left Bank (Rive Gauche) with the Seine flowing through the valley in between. The stage in the forefront is a Christian puppet show.

French Carousel below the Basilica 



Au Lapin Agile: Longest working cabaret in Paris on Montmartre (The Agile Rabbit)

And back down again to the Left Bank of the Seine to stroll the Avenue des Champs-Élysées



Arc de Triomphe de l'Etoile (Triumphal Arch) created in honor of those lost in battle

Elaborate Iron Gate

Elaborate Architectural Adornment

Military Museum Complex, Napoleon's final resting place

Plenty of Tourists, places to stay, ways to get around and ways to spend money:

Life in Paris seems a bit unreal as a tourist. We had a coffee (only coffee) at 3 in afternoon at one of the thousands of brasseries on corners in the city and paid 15 Euros ($20.00.) It's expensive here!

If I were to go again, I would rent an apartment for a month, shop at the street markets and cook a lot of meals. I would walk or ride a bicycle. It's easy enough to rent one by the hour. I saw many a young woman wearing flats and a dress pedaling to work in thick traffic.

For longer distances, I would learn the Metro and rent an electric car right on the street if I really needed one. (Forget about taking a taxi. A taxi ride from Charles De Gaulle Airport to the center city cost the equivalent of $90.

 

 I would put up lace curtains and watch the newer tourists go by, just wondering when they'll fall into the next tourist trap. If I were there a whole month, there might even be time to take a nap.