Feasts for the eyes and stomach

Kelley is again at the keyboard to describe our fun Friday, March 12

It is difficult to explain the wonder that is La Grande Epicerie, especially for foodies. Ostensibly a grocery store, but so much more, this mammoth market is a combination of shelves and serving stations that has beckoned us three times in a week. (http://www.lagrandeepicerie.fr/#en-GB/home)

For Rusty’s and Stacy’s final Parisian lunch we chose quiche, Panini, and a baguette Rusty and I split and then overloaded with bricks of paté, likely 6-8 servings each (and more fat grams than a sumo wrestler consumes), topped with cheese and white-hot mustard. It was American gross excess at its best, but our coats sure are shiny!

Stuffed, we hopped the metro for Musee D’Orsay, where anyone’s gluttony for French impressionist art would be sated. It’s an almost unbelievable collection, a “greatest hits of art” lineup: Monet, Van Gogh, Renoir, Toulouse Lautrec, Manet, Rodin, Degas, Cezanne.

Hundreds of paintings organized in a very doable, two-story gallery framework in a converted train station. It continued our “gross excess” theme in a non-caloric, art appreciation direction. But still, it was no less an unprecedented feast.

If you spent as much time pondering each canvas and sculpture as it deserved, you could spend as much time here as you might at the Louvre, though you wouldn’t walk so far. Musee D’Orsay is an absolute must on any tourist’s trip to Paris. (http://www.musee-orsay.fr/en/home.html)

Neil, one half of our host couple, returned from New York on Friday, and we met him back at our home base in the evening. This was the first chance for Rusty, Stacy and Ashli to meet this immensely charming and interesting man who has worked hard to create such an amazing existence for his family in Paris. And although we had negotiated our way pretty well through the cafes and brasseries – I can identify enough words on the menu to make good selections – we all enjoyed kicking back and letting Neil take control as we dined at Erawan, a Michelin award winning Thai restaurant in the neighborhood. (http://erawanthairestaurant.com)

Neil ordered for us with input about our favorite Thai dishes. Every bite as we noshed our way, family style, through three appetizers and three entrees was excellent. Neil explained that the Thai restaurants in Paris have toned down the spiciness to please the French palate, but there was accompanying chili sauce to reinstall the zing, which Rusty and I definitely did.

When we emerged about 10 p.m. we realized the weather had warmed up, and we enjoyed a less bundled up stroll to the Hotel Duquesne, where we sat at café tables out front and enjoyed a drink while Rusty burned through his final cigar in Paris, this one a Cuban.

We bid adieu to our friends, whom we’ll miss during our second week here. We were fortunate to find a couple whose ideas of what was fun, how much was enough, and what the general pace of the days should be, were all right in tune with ours!

Au revoir, mes amis!

Kelley

Thanks, Kelley! For those of you who are Facebook friends with me, please look at my Paris album for many more pictures of the art at Muse D'Orsay today. Ashli