Vélib'-ing, Poilâne, Le Marais, & Paris by Night

If the airplane deprives me of my quality time with the Sandman, then the first night’s sleep once I’ve crossed the pond is always blessedly deep.  And so it was the morning of the 27th, our first full day in Paris.  We eventually forced our eyes open and tried to make a little plan for the day.  

In 17 years of marriage, Dean and I have learned some things about our relational dynamics where travel is concerned:  a.)  we don’t insist on spending every waking moment together and b.) sightseeing isn’t our strong suit.  If we make the sacrifice of planning, preparations for childcare, time away from home and work and expect to have any profit on our investment which results in a sense of feeling refueled prior to our return, sightseeing is not the way to arrive there.  It results in constant mapping, researching, arguing, feeling emptied instead of energized and both of us resenting the other for basically doing what we each naturally default to based on who God made us to be:  planner and plan-ee.  But the bottom line is museums and crossing off the 20 “you really should see the ______”s just don’t really do it for us.  Which is why when we do get the chance to get away together, we normally pick something very low-key and relaxing—nothing to map or strategize or figure out.  

So, naturally, I had a few reservations about us doing Paris together.  Many of these stemmed from the fact that for several months leading up to the trip, I repeatedly asked Dean for ideas on what he would like to do while in Paris…and all in vain as he just continued to (gasp) be exactly who he’s always been:  quite happy to just go along.  I would even leave guide books in strategic places to try to lure him into planning mode.  He was never tempted.  

I began asking what he did *not* want to do.  Better tactic.  No museums, no wait-in-this-line tourist attractions.  We settled on experience-type activities—where we both just showed up and someone else was in charge.  We planned one or two per day, allowed time for resting and made reservations for some long, leisurely dinners.  Best decision.  

The first of those activities was the previously mentioned car tour with Antoine.  Antoine was a hard act to follow, but we had to try.  We booked a walking tour in the Marais, which is the neighborhood where my apartment would be once we checked in the next day.  We thought it would be a great way to learn more about the area and its history.  The tour was led by a local Parisian lady through an organization called Paris Greeters.  Completely volunteer-based group of locals who love Paris and want to share it with visitors (the friendly word for tourists).  And complimentary!  

So we knew we had the walking tour in the afternoon but nothing beforehand.  We decided to conquer the Vélib' bikes, which is the amazing public bikes system in Paris.  There are banks of these bikes all over Paris, usually within a 5-minute walk from wherever you happen to be standing at any given point in the city.  There is an 8€ charge for a week’s pass and as long as your bike journey is completed within 30 minutes, no extra charges are filed.  If you go over 30 minutes, it’s like 1€ for every half-hour.  But honestly, I used the Vélib' bikes for two weeks and I don’t think I went over the 30 minutes one time.  Wonderful, exhilarating way to see the city and get around.  Heavy on the fresh air and visuals when compared to taking the Metro.

Once we checked out our bikes, we realized we were hungry--so what better time to start chipping away at Lesli’s mammoth wish list of Paris food joints?  Very near the top of the list was Cuisine de Bar, the cafe arm of Poilâne, home of the best bread in Paris.  Seemed like an ideal field trip.

We mapped our route to Poilâne and took off on our bikes, probably breaking all kinds of cycling-in-traffic protocol, but whatever.  Deal, Frenchies.  We were biking in freaking Paris, y’all!!   

We arrived at Cuisine de Bar and I approached it with the reverence that some probably reserve for the Van Goghs in the Musée d’Orsay.  It was a very simple but modern cafe with seating for around 30 people.  We were seated and began to examine the menu, although I knew what I wanted before I even sat down.  The open-faced tartines are what they are known for and Dean and I both chose the Tartine For’bon.  Poilane bread toasted with Bayonne ham, whole ripe Saint Marcellin cheese, olive oil and marjoram.  Very simple but poised to redefine all prior perceptions about ham and cheese in my food memory.  Essentially, mouth-watering.  

Fresh greens with a tangy mustard vinaigrette dressing to start.

 Tartine For'bon.

  
Oh, good heavens.

Two people worked at Cuisine de Bar:  the cook and the server.  One cook, one server.  And the server was a very busy lady I would later come to know as "Isabelle."  Isabelle seated customers, took orders, delivered food, cashed out checks, bussed tables, cleaned up messes, everything that needed doing except for the cooking.  Even though she was working away, she presented as joyful.  She beautifully displayed a sense of purpose that was inspiring to watch.  More on Isabelle later in the blog….

Spotted around Poilâne....

I am told by my baker enthusiast friend, Tricia, that the scoring of the bread in this way takes great skill.

Edible utensils!

#France

{The Art of Bread}

From lunch, we headed over to the Marais in the 4th arrondissement to meet our greeter for the walking tour.  She told me in an e-mail that she would be wearing sunglasses, had red hair and looked “sporty.”  Her name was Gillian.  Here she is:

Gillian took us, along with two other couples, walking around the Marais and explained much about the history of the Marais.  We learned about George Haussmann and his restructuring of Paris in the mid-1800s under Napoleon III.
  
Many of the tight and winding streets in Paris were taken out along with many of the medieval buildings during that time.  Waste would very often get dumped in the streets and the cramped and narrow alleys and lanes contributed to disease, in addition to making homes hard to access in the event of a fire.  During the reconstruction, tens of thousands of Parisians were displaced outside the city walls…and then returned to a very different Paris—parks, various public works and the wide, grand boulevards with a very symmetrical layout, for which Paris is known today.  If you get to an intersection and look straight behind you to find the Eiffel Tower standing smack dab in the middle of your line of sight, that’s no accident.  That is a credit to Haussmann.  

The Marais has the highest concentration of medieval buildings left intact during that period and therefore, has some of the oldest residences in Paris.  Dean and I both loved learning about Paris in this way—walking around, having architecture and idiosyncrasies explained in a historical light by someone who is passionate and knowledgeable about the city.  

Some kind of fruit tree, growing in the tiny front garden of a residence.  Rarely are little sections of lawn spotted in front of these buildings!

Garden shop in the Marais.  Some of the most snap-worthy spots in Paris are garden shops.  Only most of them do not take kindly to photos inside their stores.  But they make me swooooooon.

An example of an "hôtel particulier" in the Marais.  They aren't hotels, like people know hotels today.  They were once opulent private residences and most were freestanding mansions with private courtyards in the front and gardens behind, like this one.  Most have been sold off because the upkeep and taxes on such properties makes them difficult to maintain.    

Inside the courtyard of a group of private residences/apartment buildings.  There was a gate closing this off as private but it happened to be cracked open so we stepped inside....

We had to cut out from the walking tour a little early because we had made a special nighttime activity plan for that evening:  an evening bike tour around the lights of Paris.  This was with a company called Fat Tire Bike Tours and was the first of three bike tours I ended up doing with them.  Wonderful company!  Cannot recommend them highly enough.  We felt completely safe, learned so much from our amazing guide, Theo, and again, I cannot overstate the thrill of riding a bike around the streets of Paris.

The meeting spot for the bike tour was under the Eiffel Tower.  This was as close as we'd been to it!  Pics from the night bike tour to follow.  Paris after dark is just a truly beautiful place to be....

 Our awesome guide Theo (on the right) and the rest of our group.  Yes, we had to wear reflective vests while biking and yes, that hurt.

When I look at this photo, I want to jump straight in, a la Mary Poppins & Bert.

  

Snack stop on the night bike tour:  Berthillon.  The best ice cream in Paris.  Handmade in small batches, both ice creams and sorbets, naturally-flavored and flavors change weekly.  I picked the mandarin sorbet and c'est delicieux!

This was on the bridge near Berthillon where we milled around lapping up our ice cream.  It's hard to tell exactly what this is, but there is a man dressed in black, seated just left of center.  He is seen playing a flute.  He is surrounded by various...contraptions.  Lights, little fountains in upside-down umbrellas, a bicycle with "wings" and messages and a trailer attached to the bike that carries a generator to power everything.  Apparently, he makes a habit of setting up his "office" and offering anyone within earshot a selection of flute tunes, original poetry or readings from literature.  As we left him on this night, he had finished the flute and was reading in French from "Le Petit Prince" to a small audience.  Most intriguing.  I wished we could've stayed to see him pack everything up and actually ride away on his bicycle/flying machine.

Giving my best smile on the Bateaux Mouches.  

The Fat Tire night bike tour is 3 hours of touring and finishes with a cruise on the Seine with the Bateaux Mouches.  Selling point:  they pass out red wine at the end for the boat ride.  And all of this for 30€, I think.  Such an amazing value.  Our guide, Theo, was lovely.  Raised in Paris by a French father and an American mother, he was effortlessly bilingual, gracious, conscientious and a fount of information.  Not only was this a really enjoyable tour, it was a great way to get oriented to the city in the beginning stages of knowing how the arrondissements (districts within the city) are laid out and a genius thing to do at the beginning of a trip.  It also gave us confidence on bikes and some useful hand gestures and protocol to employ when riding in traffic—which then only made us more eager to use the Vélib' system.  Have I said “highly recommend” yet?  I did.

That does it for today!  Tomorrow is moving day to the apartment!  Onward and upward....