A rainy Thursday...

Allo! Allo!

Well, we’re starting to clean the flat in earnest now, a sure sign that our lovely time in Paris is coming to an end! Woke up to a gray and rainy day; the forecast is light rain in the morning … certainly looks like an all-day kind of thing!

Did some housecleaning first, and ironed everything that had been washed yesterday – and, for the last time! – put away the drying rack! That is one thing I won’t miss, that’s for sure! I really am tired of laundry all over the place.

Not sure what we wanted to do today – neither of us having anything specific, I started looking through one of the Paris books in the flat. Found an entry about Avenue du Paradis, a supposedly interesting block of china shops – so, excursion! Changed buses at Palais Royal and found ourselves at Square de Montholon. A new area for us; interesting! The article about the street was from 2000, and it said there was something like 20 different stores along the street. Well, there certainly weren’t 20, but we did find a few – lots and lots of beautiful Limoges and Baccarat, as well as the Maison de la Porcelaine, which has LOTS of lovely things! (Too bad we couldn’t carry home yet another set of dishes…hmmm…) Bought a lovely bowl that I’m sure I can carry home! (Famous last words…)

From there, we bused to Montmartre to see if we could find material for a table cloth. Found the right street and stores, but didn’t find anything we really liked. Most of the fabrics had a very “winter-y” feel – which makes sense, as it is winter now! Did find a few things that were attractive, but nothing that said “take me home.”

As it was now approaching lunchtime, we decided to bus back to the Left Bank and try a restaurant that had been recommended to us, called L’Entrecote just off Blvd. St. Germain. We’d located it on Sunday, and understand that there is always a crowd for dinner – so thought we’d try lunch! Got there about 12:15, and no wait at all! Lovely big restaurant; lots of wood and framed prints; tables set right next to each other.

I sat down and R headed to the bathroom – and by the time he got back, we had green salads with walnuts and a terrific mustard vinaigrette on the table, along with a plate of bread! Whew! What was that, we wondered? The waitress came and asked what we wanted to drink – we ordered a nice red Medoc – and how we wanted “it” cooked? So, no menu?? Being the good little trained tourists that we are, we just told her – and then it occurred to us – no, they weren’t taking advantage of some dummies – the only thing they serve in L’Entrecote – is entrecote!! What a concept!

The steaks followed – perfectly cooked, with a very interesting sauce and with amazing home-made fries! YUM!!! We asked what kind of sauce and were told it was a “secret” sauce! We think it’s some kind of parsley pesto with a hint of tarragon but no garlic…hmmm…..We finished the steaks and fries, only to find that we had only eaten half our meal! Here was our waitress with the other half of our steaks and even more fries! As everything was SO good, we decided to try dessert. R had a warm tarte aux pommes (apple tart) with honey ice cream, and I had tartlettes citron; two small lemon tarts. Everything was just FANTASTIC! We absolutely ROLLED out of the restaurant and managed to catch a bus or two as we waddled home! A truly wonderful meal – we would highly recommend L’Entrecote! (It was interesting that we didn’t hear any other English being spoken, so obviously Rick Steves hasn’t discovered this place yet…hope he doesn’t, either, for a good long time!)

Such a wonderful culinary experience always calls for a nap afterwards … which is what we did this afternoon! (What was left of it, as it took us 1 ½ for lunch!) Up and finished cleaning the flat. Philippa is arriving tonight on the Eurostar from London, and we’re picking her up at Gare du Nord at 9:41 p.m. No idea what we’ll do tomorrow, other than pack (have to be out of the flat before 8 a.m. on Saturday) – we’ll leave that up to Phil!

So take care all!
Much love,
m