Monday, touring with Diane

After wrapping up some household chores Monday morning we caught up with our friend Diane from Oregon. We first met her here in Paris last September and she's back again (for a month) and we're back again and so we decided to meet up and catch up on all the latest news. (photo l-r: Susie and Diane.)

First I must tell you a bit about Diane's travel style: she does serious research before her trip and plots out exactly what she wants to do and when she wants to do it (on index cards mind you). Lest you think she is one of those fussy types who schedule everything down to the last minute, you couldn't be more wrong. Diane focuses on the truly unique and occasionally very odd thing to see or do: whether it's eating at a restaurant designed to give the sighted person an idea of what it is like for the blind to eat out (Dans Le Noir) or actually finding a soiree to go to on a Sunday morning she has a real gift for finding the unusual and unusually fun thing to see in Paris. She leaves the tourist icons behind, and with them the tourists of course, and skips tourbook recommendations, looking instead for those gems found almost only online.

And she wanted to go to the top of the Arc so Susie and I met her Monday at 4 pm directly beneath the arch and next to the tomb of the unknown soldier.


She was all smiles and after chatting for a few minutes we bought our tickets and headed up to the top of the Arc. We spent some time enjoying the many views of the city: looking up (or down) the Champs Elysses toward the Tuileries and the Louvre:


Or turning 180 degrees toward the skyscrapers that dominate the enormous commercial and shopping complex that is La Defense (more on that later).

Or looking northeast toward Sacre Coeur:

And of course the Eiffel tower is so close you can almost reach out and touch it. Yeah, OK, I know, no photo of the Tour Eiffel. You can, however, check out the video I shot from the Arc that day, a hint at what it's like from on top and you can see the Eiffel tower from there. You can also see more photos as well. Just click here! If you need a larger version then you can certainly find it by clicking this link.

We returned to ground level in half the time (some physical law at work here) and since Diane had never been out to La Defense the three of us jumped back on the no. 1 (well jumped might be a bit strong) and several stops later arrived at the Esplanade, the second to the last stop before La Defense. (Walking up the esplanade allows you to really appreciate the architecture at work here.) We think this is an often overlooked part of the city and enjoy bringing people out here -- their faces are always a giveaway: looks of amazement and awe at the fantastic buildings, the artwork that seems to be everywhere and, if you must know, the enormous shopping complex (the largest in Paris in fact). (Check out the video online at both my apple website or the larger version at Youtube.

After strolling for a while we headed back down into the bowels of Paris and the metro, taking the no. 1 to Saint-Paul. From there we strolled up (or down) rue Saint-Antoine, stopping in at Lenotre's pastry and food-to-go shop (they actually have a cooking school located right ont he Champs Elysses) and ended up at the Place de la Bastille. This seemed like a perfect place to stop, collect our wits and have an aperitif and let the rest of the world spin by. Folks were racing every which direction, pretty much like you'd find in all large cities I suppose. But not us.

Ater paying the bill we cross the Place and headed down rue de la Roquette looking for a plae to eat. Susie and I had actually strolled up this same street earlier in the day and remarked on how many Japanese restaurants were james in just a few short blocks. Well we picked on, Fuji-San, which touted sushi, sashimi and Korean barbecue. That sounded too good to pass by so in we went.

We all had the barbecue and after a delicious cabbage salad (we couldn't quite put our finger on the dressing, very mild but still pungent at the same time) the waiter came over and pulled out the middle top section of our table to reveal voila! a small grill beneath. After lighting the grill he left and returned a few minutes later with three plates, two of beef Susie and me and one of chicken for Diane, each plate ringed by raw sliced carrots, pepers and zucchini. It was now up to us to do the cooking and we went at it with a vengeance (hunger had set in before we hit the restaurant). The meat was sliced razor thin and at first present somewhat of a challenge to get it off our plates and onto the grill -- I kept wondering how did they slice this and put the slices on the plates so neatly?

As each piece came off the grill we would dip it in the accompanying sauce, again we couldn't quite pin down the flavor, rather like peanut-suace in appearance but not as sweet. But boy was it delicious. And we washed each mouthful down with cold Korean beer. Not too bad a meal we thought.

Normally we don't spring for dessert in an Asian restaurant; the few times I have it's always been a great disappointment. But we thought this might be different so we took the plunge. Susie ordered one scoop of ice cream, I also ordered an ice cream thing and Diane also ordered dessert as well.

When the desserts arrived Susan was tempted to call the police to report the theft of her ice cream -- but after the three of us started looking we found it in the bottom of the cup. The scoop was about the size of a pea, which gives you some idea of the desserts. Anyway mine was OK, rather like an anemic sundae that had seen better days. But when Diane got her dessert she noted the absence of the cherries, which had clearly been in the photo in the menu. We called the waiter over and Diane pointed this out to him and he repliied "No, no the cherries are just in the picture. They don't really come with the dessert."

We had a good laugh on that one for sure. What a crazy idea, that the photo of a thing should actually represent what the thing would look like when it arrived. It was a bit of photographic license, a very useful marketing tool to promote the product. "No sir, the tires on the car in the brochure just gives you an idea of what it would look like. The care doesn't come with tires."

Notwithstanding this gaffe of the evening we still would go back there for the food.

Afetr paying the bill we said goodnight to Diane -- I'm giving here a tour of Montparnasse cemetery on Wednesday and we hope to get together for one mroe dinner before she leaves Paris. It's just finding our way onto those idex cards that seems to be the problem. . .

Wish you had been there,

Steve