Tag: Paris & Livarot

On our last day in Paris, we had need of somewhere to have lunch prior to going to Musee de l’Orangerie and I remembered a friend, Randy, recommending Le Procope.  This restaurant has been around since 1686 and is the oldest café in Paris.

It was the first restaurant in Europe to introduce coffee and to democratize it by serving it at tables in a china cup.  They offer a traditional and bourgeois French cuisine, through different specialties such as Coq au vin and Tête de veau, braised beef cheek, homemade Mille-feuille and traditional Procopio-style Tiramisù.  I made a reservation for lunch and we found our way to the place.

It is a large place with seating on two levels – the second level had at least 1 bus load of visitors while the first floor, where we sat, was singles and couples having lunch.  The restaurant has many historic objects (including furnishings, treaties and written agreements) which all tell a stunning story. The most unusual item, in a glass case, is Napoleon’s bicorn hat, left by the Emperor as a pledge to cover the cost of his meal – which apparently he never claimed or paid his bill.

While this is clearly a tourist place, it did a great job of welcoming everyone and the food was well presented and delicious.  

While it won’t replace our original favorite place it will certainly be a place we can return to without hesitation.

After lunch, we took an Uber to l’Orangerie for our 3:30 scheduled entrance.  

We have been to Paris a number of times, actually staying in Paris for 6 weeks two years in a row.  However, we have never seen The Water Lilies by Claude Monet.  We have visited Giverny and seen Monet’s home and studio and I have read Ross King’s book Mad Enchantment: Claude Monet and the Painting of the Water Lilies so have some understanding of the back ground of The Water Lilies and why they ended up being given to the Government and placed in the Musée de l’Orangerie.  

The Water Lilies cycle of paintings occupied Claude Monet for three decades, from the late 1890s until his death in 1926, at the age of 86. The series was inspired by the water garden he created at his Giverny estate in Normandy.  Water Lilies, is a series of approximately 250 oil paintings he did over the period.

Those that eventually became the property of the French Government comprised a series of paintings and are very large and requires a large room for display.  It was his intention all along that they be placed in a large building where they could be mounted on the walls so the viewer would be surrounded by all the beauty he had created.  

On the lower level there were additional painters represented – mostly those that would have been contemporary to Monet.    This collection included paintings by Picasso, Renoir, Cezanne and Modigliani among others: there are a total of 145 paintings in the collection covering the period from the impressionists to the 1930’s. 

 It was an interesting comparison to all the Water Lilies upstairs – all having been painted at about the same time.

After our visit to the l’Orangerie we went back to our apartment to finalize packing for our train trip to the Normandy region and our visit with Ryan and Chris.

We have completed the Mystery portion of our adventure and now it is off to France.  Our first stop is Paris for a few days.  From Amsterdam Central Station, via high-speed train, to Gare du Nord station in Paris.  It is really amazing to be on a train, relaxing and enjoying the view through the windows and be zipping along at almost 200 miles an hour!

Once in Paris, we took a very expensive gypsy cab to our VRBO near the Latin quarter of the city very close to Luxembourg Gardens.  Our stay in Paris was really planned just to visit a couple of our favorite eateries and museums.  Once into our apartment, a very nice ground floor 2-bedroom apartment, we strolled all of 10 yards outside the front door to a café on the corner for dinner. 

The following morning, we used our Metro passes for a bus and strolled through the Luxembourg Gardens to Angelina’s café at the Museum.  

This location of Angelina’s is small with both inside and outside seating.  We had been here before and it was nice to re-visit this lovely spot.

After having a petit-déjeuner (breakfast) we went by the Apple store to get a new power source for my laptop (with an EU plug) and then off towards our lunch spot.  Using a combination of bus and subways we found our way to The Musée Carnavalet.  

The Carnavalet Museum reflects the history of Paris from the origins of the city to the present day. This is one of Janeen’s favorite museums and we try and visit each time we are in Paris.  It doesn’t hurt that it is free and there is a lovely garden café in the middle.

Located in the Marais district it presents collections on various themes: memories of the French Revolution, historical paintings, sculptures, furniture and decorations from  and 18th and 19th centuries as well as 20th century posters and history.

The museum is made up of the former Hôtel Carnavalet and the Hôtel Le Peletier de Saint-Fargeau, linked by a gallery on the first floor. Over 3,800 works and objects are exhibited in the permanent collection, among the hundred rooms that make up museum, 34 are decorative rooms, mainly from  and 18th centuries. These rooms, sometimes called “period rooms”, are one of the particularities of the museum as they are exact recreations of actual rooms from various locations in Paris.  

In 1941, the jeweller Georges Fouquet donated the remarkable decors from his boutique to the Musée Carnavalet. Designed by the artist Mucha in 1901, this decor had been conceived as a total work of art. Inspired by jewels, the floor, ceiling, furniture and lights reflect the natural curves of flowers and plants.

After our visit to the Museum, we headed towards where we were planning on having dinner- Le Réminet. We have been to this restaurant a number of times and have always been pleased with the service and food.  However, as we walked up to the entrance (our reservation was for 7 pm), there was a pile of construction equipment being loaded into a truck.  Seems they were having some work done and it hadn’t been completed yet and said to come back in 20 minutes.  With time on our hands, we walked over to Avanti la Musica – a very special place with lots (well hundreds really) of different music boxes and nifty stuff.

Siloihie, the owner, greeted us warmly and when I mentioned we had been there a number of times and showed her a picture of Ryan, our son, she immediately remembered him and us!  From her, we learned that the owner of Le Réminet had sold the restaurant and it was no longer ‘as we remembered it’.  So, for all of you who I have recommend this to in the past, you can delete this recommendation.

Instead of going to Le Réminet, we went to Bistro 65 instead.  

This is still owned by the same person who had owned Le Réminet and Chef Eric was in the kitchen!  We have learned to follow chefs so it was an easy decision to change our dinner plans accordingly.  Siloihie called ahead for us and told Fabien, the manager on duty, who we were and our appreciation of both Chef Eric and Norbert (the primary manager) and arranged our table.  When we arrived, Fabien and Suzon (both of whom had previously worked with Norbert at Le Réminet) greeted us warmly and took excellent care of us during our dinner..

After dinner we went back to our apartment and relaxed for the rest of the day.