We buzzed up to Paris for a belated anniversary weekend (#8 baby!). Love the easy peasy 3-hour train ride. This time around we scheduled a visit to the Palace of Versailles, which Kate had never been to. Our evening arrival gave us plenty of time to stroll the lovely St. Germain neighborhood, where we stayed. It was a balmy evening and all the cafes were packed with the after-work crowd and not wanting to be left out, we joined in.
Our dinner reservation tonight was at Cinq Mars, a cozy, casual and hip bistro in the 7th. The staff and ambiance were both great but aside from our foie gras starter, the food was just meh. We both ordered the evening's specials - shepherds pie for Kate and andouillette sausage for Matt. Bless our server because she kept telling Matt it was very "special" and very "French" and although he knew it was a sausage of pig intestines, he had "andouille" sausage in his head and feeling adventurous, gave it a shot. Ummm well . . . if you ever watch Andrew Zimmer's Bizarre Foods America and hear him talk about dirt, poopy flavors and band-aids, we can now relate! Matt was a trooper, but I had only one bite and could not get the taste out of my mouth all night! Now we know.
The Palace of Versailles, Europe's quintessential royal residence is an easy 40 minute train ride on the RER. We booked a guided tour for Saturday morning because we heard it gets very busy and we're happy we did as it was already packed at 9:00 a.m.. No lines for us! The palace began as Louis XIII's hunting lodge before his son Louis XIV expanded it and moved the Court/Government of France to this location in 1682. All of the Kings who lived here made improvements to make the palace the grand and splendid building it is today. The front (or is it the back?) is very gold, opulent and shimmered in the sunshine!
The 1.5 hour guided tour took us through the private living quarters, libraries, secret doors and chapel of Kings Louis XV and XVI. It was great to see some special rooms and learn the history of the kings and palace away from the crazy crowds.
We were then on our own and had to slowly shuffle along with the sea of people to get to the Hall of Mirrors (Grande Galerie or Galerie des Glaces). This spectacular passageway served as a waiting or meeting place for courtiers and/or the visiting public.
Now it was time for the Pièce de résistance, the manicured lawns, layers of flowers, sculptures, idyllic alleys and fountains of the classically landscaped French style garden, which is beyond huge (800 hectares). We were treated to music as we strolled briskly to hit the biggies (the fountains turn off at midday and we didn't want to miss it).
We stopped for lunch near the Grand Canal before continuing our exploration of the gardens and smaller residences. The Grand Trianon was built by Louis XIV as a retreat where he could escape the formality of court life at the palace, and bring his mistress. The pink marble facade was really pretty.
On the train ride back we napped a little and them got off near the Museum d'Orsay so we could cut across the Tuileries Garden on our way to rue Honoré, a swanky shopping street we fell in love with on our last visit. Not as much buying this time around (none) but it's so chic and bustling.
We also stopped by the arcaded Palais Royal, another classic shopping venue full of really high-end boutiques, galleries and fashionable restaurants as well as a nice garden in the middle.
For dinner we booked Bones, a contemporary restaurant hip with the foodie crowd. It has a loft feel to it, with stripped down exposed walls, industrial lights and a narrow staircase leading up to the restroom.
The dinner was a set 4-course tasting menu and the only choice we had was whether to have sweetbreads or pork neck. The server advised us to get one of each so we could try everything the restaurant had to offer. Ok, done! The place is quite small but there's a wine bar in the front where you can get house-cured meats, which looked really delicious. We had some amuse bouche starters, something seafood-y wrapped in a carrot shell and then a smoked oyster. The oyster was very briny and tasted like I swallowed the ocean! Then it was on to some sort of miso-like soup with foie gras cubes, followed by a salad of octopus and cuttlefish (this was really really good). Now it was time for the main course, one serving of pork neck with cockle applesauce and one serving of sweetbreads with fried garlic leaves and other greens. So, we ate some glands etc. and are are now official "offal" eaters (well, Matt had a head start with his andouillette sausage last night)! It was good, just not great, as in we couldn't eat too much of it. We opted for the cheese plate next and she just plopped it down and walked away, which was a bit of a bummer. Okay, we'll guess what the cheeses are! Then we were given a palate cleanser of very fresh strawberry gelato/ice and finished with carrot cake and lemon sorbet, which was delicious. For 50 euro per person, I wanted to like it more but we love to try buzzy new restaurants and had a fun time even if some of the dishes weren't our favorite. Cockle applesauce . . . ha ha he he.
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| sweetbreads! |
After dinner we took the Metro to the Eiffel Tower. We stopped at Trocadero so we could get a good view from across the river, and then walked across. The iconic beacon was basking in a warm, orange-y glow, it was beautiful!
And when the clock struck 11:00, the tower sparkled for five minutes with extra-white lights (looked like glittering diamonds), which was an unexpected and very pleasant surprise! The picture below doesn't do it justice, but we tried.
Sunday was our lazy day. We slept in a little bit and grabbed a quick breakfast. As we walked across the Pont Neuf bridge we caught the marathoners running down below (Sunday was the Paris Marathon). Go go go, allez allez allez!
We stopped by the Louvre to take some fun pics and see how long the wait was to visit. Hmmm, the reader board was estimating a two-hours wait time so we nix'd that idea. We continued through the Tuileries Garden where Spring was in full effect. The trees and flowers were very colorful and smelled so good. On the Champs-Élysées we made the obligatory stop at Banana Republic and of course we left with a few items in our hands, woo hoo!
Our last stop was Sacré Couer but the sky had clouded over by this point so the white basilica somewhat blended in with the clouds. The bohemian area of Montmartre is so bustling and vibrant, we enjoyed people-watching during our al fresco lunch. What a perfect place to celebrate eight wonderful and adventurous years of marriage. We've now been to Paris in *every* season!
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