Lunch and Louvre

I met Mona, Venus and Victory today and had my first Nutella crepe to boot!

My three travel companions and I haven’t been getting very early starts to our days in Paris. (I know that comes as no surprise to those of you who know me and my aversion to early rising.) By the time we have a few cups of coffee from our hosts’ swank espresso automaton and get ourselves presentable for the outside world, it is usually near 11 o’clock.

None of us mind this leisurely start to our days; after all, we’re on vacation. Even so, we’re in PARIS, and there’s no excuse for not seeing all we can see. We’ve typically hit it hard from 11:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. and today was no exception.

Thursday’s sightseeing and culinary adventures included:

• A superb lunch at a quaint boulangerie (bakery), more details below

• A couple hours on a sight-seeing bus (open air, top deck, chilly) that took us by many major Paris sights

• Two hours at the Louvre, details to follow.

• Dessert and drinks at a very quaint corner café, table on the patio (heaters)

The Boulangerie

Rusty and Stacy have now moved to a hotel because our hosts are returning home and their space will not comfortably accommodate six adults. Understandable and no issue. In fact, them moving to a hotel has given us reason to explore a new neighborhood, though the hotel is not too far from where we’re staying.

We helped them transfer their luggage to the hotel and by then it was time for lunch. We happened upon a boulangerie – or bakery – very near their hotel and decided it looked perfect. Turns out we were right. This bakery not only offered sandwiches but also a daily plate lunch option, quiche and salad choices. Heaven.

As in most restaurants we’ve experienced, this one served our lunch on actual plates with real metal utensils and glass glasses. And I’m not talking just the table-clothed restaurants. These are lunch-time time restaurants where the food is prepared quickly behind the counter and handed over. What a nice change from the American standard of paper and plastic everything.

Rusty chose the daily special which was sausage and lintels, Stacy and I chose quiche and salad (hers Florentine and mine Lorraine) and Kelley had the classic Croque Monsieur, a toasted ham and cheese sandwich.

We all tried a bite of one another’s choice, as is our custom, and everything was top notch. The lintels tasted as if they’d been cooked with a ham bone and the sausage was a high-quality kielbasa type.

Kelley’s sandwich was entirely better than the version Stacy had had on Wednesday

at the Versailles café. His was built with thin, rustic, focaccia and France’s typically superior ham and cheese. The signature feature of the Croque Monsieur is the sandwich has cheese broiled to a bubbly yellow-brown on the top. Fork-tender and delicious.

Stacy noted correctly that our quiche didn’t have an overpowering “eggy” taste but was well balanced between the egg and cheese plus ham and in her case, spinach and other veggies. The side salad was a loose mound of green-leaf lettuce drizzled with simple vinaigrette. Perfect.

In France there is no Diet Coke but instead its cousin, Coca-Cola Light. There is a slight difference in their tastes but I’ve easily converted.

The Louvre

After lunch we hopped on a tour bus Rusty had arranged in advance. It’s the type of tour where you can either stay on for the duration or hop on and off. We stayed on for five or six stops – until we reached the Louvre.

I know you’ve seen pictures of the Louvre and its famous glass pyramid entrance, or perhaps you’ve even visited. I’ll tell you, I was amazed at how enormous the walled Louvre compound is!

The genius design of the pyramid entry into the underground maze (OMG – what a MAZE!) that connects all the buildings was something to admire. Kelley and I said more than once that we must get a book on the Louvre just to learn how it morphed from a military compound to a palace to the world’s most important art museum, and how it came to be accessed and organized the way it is.

We knew there was no way to see even half the exhibits. It might take eight hours a day for a month to cover it all. We did what many do: head straight for the three biggies: the Mona Lisa and two important sculptures, Venus di Milo and Winged Victory. Along the path through what my mother would call a “rabbit’s warren” of rooms and levels, we saw an overwhelming variety of other paintings, sculptures and artifacts.

The Louvre is intimidating and confusing, to be honest, and therefore frustrating. Two hours was enough for us to gawk at the big attractions, glance at some gorgeous paintings and gain an appreciation for the scope of the collection. Plus the ceiling décor of the rooms eclipses those at Versailles. If there was no art in the Louvre and all there was to see were the friezes and paintings on the ceilings, it would still be worth the 9.5 Euro admission fee.

Ah...the crepe

I had my first French crepe – filled with Nutella – while sitting on the patio at a sidewalk café on a bustling corner, sipping espresso and watching the Parisians stride quickly by. It will be an indelible memory for me, just as much as visiting the Louvre, Versailles or seeing the Eiffel Tower for the first time.

I’ll leave you with a quote from Hemmingway about Paris, shared with me by my beloved professor, Dr. Randall Wight, who along with another beloved professor, Dr. Johnny Wink, is quite enamored with the City of Light:

"If you are lucky enough to have lived in Paris as a young man, then wherever you go for the rest of your life, it stays with you, for Paris is a moveable feast.”

(VIDEO below: see the Mona Lisa for yourself!)