smell of paris; l'ebauchoir

this morning we had a very expensive coffee and croissants in marais - need to remember not to do that. avoid cafes in the upscale neighborhoods.

the smell of paris in the cool morning = coffee + cigarette smoke + car exhaust mixed with a slight whiff of stale human urine - but emotes the feeling of freedom and adventure.

we went with the parents back to “paris plage”. j and i snuck in some shopping in the middle. the rue francs bourgeios is a great shopping street in the marais. the street runs out of the place des vosges and is narrow and lined with old buildings. what used to be my favorite bus, the #29, runs along this road. it was an older style bus with an open balcony in the back. it would run the length of rue francs bourgeois through this ancient part of paris and you could stand in the back, outside, with the wind and swirling exhaust and look in the eyes of the drivers of cars and motorbikes following. the feeling was a cross between being on a sightseeing bus and being in an old french film. sadly they have replaced the buses with modern ones that do not have the balcony. we also walked down the rue des rosiers – which is a sort of jewish section, with orthodox jews hanging out on the street next to the famous felafel shops and cool fashion stores. in addition to having the old jewish section, the marais is the gay/hip area, with the feeling of greenwich village, (though with many fewer people from new jersey).

it was p’s parents last evening and we went to an old favorite bistrot – “l’ebauchoir” in the 12th arrondissement – our old haunting grounds. it was still there and doing well, for good reasons. we were hoping they would have kidneys or something like that on the menu since the parents like that sort of thing. they didn’t, but we did have a wonderfully, delicious meal. i had lamb cooked with lavender goat cheese though i didn’t taste lavender or see goat cheese. j and parents had pork with honey sauce, which strangely DID have a subtle lavender flavor... both dishes were balanced, interesting and melt in the mouth tender. (when p and i were married, we went to the town hall in the 12th arrondissement and were married by the “mayor lady”. we had a few friends present but were mostly pretty informal about the event. when we were done, we came out onto the street, looked around and said, “ok, now what?” well, it was a little before noon, so we thought, “how about lunch?” and the 12 of us wandered over to “l’ebauchoir”. we arrived just before the lunch rush and so were able to get a table for all of us. “l’ebauchoir” is an authentic feeling bistrot and having our wedding lunch there, unplanned, was the equivalent to heading to a diner in the US. it was perfect. )

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