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Thursday |
4/25 |
Chateau de Vincennes
(daily 10a-5p) Brasserie de l’Isle
Saint-Louis Or 1pm
Astrance Lunch (him the fork) Montparnasse
Cemetery, Musee de la Poste, Musee Boudelle, Notre Dame du Travail Dinner: La Causerie
(rue vital, 16e) or snacks -Today’s boozy lunch was at Astrance. We took our
time getting up and out. We finally decided to visit the Musee des Arts
Moderne because it was just a few minutes’ walk from there to the restaurant.
And MAM is free :) It was a spectacularly beautiful day! And this area of the
16th is beyond gorgeous! -MAM was fresher and prettier that our last visit (to
our eyes). The free collection was outstanding, again. I liked that they tied
it into the Olympics a bit. The views over the Seine to the ET were gorgeous.
The section with the history of the museum’s build were very interesting. As
someone who doesn’t really like modern art, I really like this museum.
Especially, of course, the gorgeous, magnificent, massive Spirit of
Electricity by Duffy. -The new Astrance (1 star, was 3 then 2 then it moved
to the new digs and is now just 1 star) is a really pretty space. Bright, fresh,
with some Asian influences. Very comfortable. The servers are in the still
stylish blue suits. The maître is looking a little older and maybe less
healthy but chef Pascal Bardot looked good. He stopped by our table 2xs as he
did his vuelta around the restaurant. -Food was really fish-centric and they served husband a
second fish, like they did for me, instead of a meat course. If/when we go
back, we’ll have to ensure that doesn’t happen bc he missed his meat courses.
We started with champagne. The restaurant was pretty full. -We chose the 125E menu saisson and wine pairing 50E
(although there was some confusion on our part about the cost of the wine, lol).
Menu dejuneur is a bargain at 85E. *=loved -Amuse: chick peas galette; brioche with butter and a
vegetable?. Starters: oyster; welk; ?scallops in a nice bright sauce; and
halibut; *lobster and carrots soup with Japanese rice; *biscuit with shrimps
jam; palate cleanser mint and cilantro. Mains: *turbot with soy sauce butter,
cabbage bok choi and pickled veggies (I had 2 bones); mackerel marinated in
ouzo, peas, artichoke, carrots, lentils on the side. Desserts: palate
cleanser strawberries and rhubarb sorbet; peanut butter ice cream, caramel
around the light galette, pistachio and lots of sorrel lettuce like stuff on
top. Aside from the sorrel, the dish was delish. Eggnog and chocolates for
bill paying. No cheese and no fruit to end the meal :( Overall, very good and
enjoyable and would return. -We grabbed the Metro to Montparnasse-Bienvenue to
visit the Bourdelle Museum (free). The Montparnasse building is uglier up
close. -Antoine Bourdelle was a sculptor who became famous
for Heracles. But his oeuvre is much deeper than that. The museum is where he
lived and worked. It has many rooms and gardens. There was a special exhibit
in the basement about objects he collected. Very cool museum. Glad we went! -We took the Metro to Notre Dame du Travail. It’s a
really cool industrial looking church, with art deco style decorations in the
chapels, while outside it looks as traditional as possible. I liked it a lot. -We stopped not far from it at a Choubidou cafe for
drinks; pretty good people watching. Then walked down picturesque and
definitely not touristy Blvd Pasteur to catch the metro back to the
apartment. But as it was around 7pm, we decided to stop at a café (and chose
well in Le Pasteur, attentive service, bustling place). We had drinks then
husband got a truffle croque madame with fries and salad which I helped him eat.
It was tasty and just enough food after our nice lunch. -It was an early night, we were home by 9pm! |
Paris |
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