I love friends who make effort to visit Paris more than once. It means this city is no mere checklist item for them; it also opens up the possibility of leading them to Parisian neighbourhoods where few visitors venture in because they still need to see the Louvre, or Notre Dame, or Montmartre, and the likes. Don’t get me wrong: these are good places to see with much to learn (art, architecture, culture, etc) but after bringing one friend after another to the same set of places, it’s a nice change to be elsewhere, you know?
After a lovely brunch near the Canal St Martin (more on that next time), I invited SL to join me on an exploratory walk towards Mouzaïa, another purported “countryside” of Paris that lies in the 19th arrondissement. I don’t often come by this part of the city either, as I normally play explorer to discover the nooks and corners near where I live instead. Our trail took us from Canal St Martin to the small hilly streets by Colonel Fabien, then towards Parc des Buttes-Chaumont to continue towards the villas branching out from rue de Mouzaïa. And voila, the photos of things and places we admired on that wonderfully sunny September afternoon.
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Still trying to keep the homebody syndrome at bay, F and I cycled across Pont de Grenelle into the 16th arrondissement over the weekend, nodded hello to the Lady Liberty in passing, and intent on exploring the petite ceinture sort of adjacent to the Jardin du Ranelagh/Bois de Boulogne. This stretch opened a good few years ago, in 2007, thus predates the one in the 15ème which we visited recently.
Passing by many elegant buildings in this affluent neighbourhood, we finally spotted an entry into the former railway belt near La Muette and slipped through the low gates that are characteristics of many entrances to Parisian parks and gardens. Had it not been for the sign we saw just a minute ago, we would not have guessed that this was where the trains used to pass. Unlike the petite ceinture in the 15ème, nary a sign of abandoned rail track could be found here. They had been dismantled.
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It could be the weather, it could be work, it could be a combination of multiple things. Whatever the underlying causes, I’m more a homebody lately than the overly perky urban explorer that I could be. Luckily, F wouldn’t let me languish about at home for more than what’s healthy, and we’d end up taking some short walks somewhere around town. A couple of weekends ago, we explored a small portion of the old railway belt of Paris, called La Petite Ceinture, in the neighbourhood.
Parts of the disused railway line, which once encircled Paris in its entirety, are now officially open to public for walks and jogs, although a large part of it remains out of bound – not that it deters the most ardent urban adventurers from accessing and actually enjoying beautifully wild paths in Paris that tempts me to follow their footsteps at some point!
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How time flies. It felt like yesterday when we went treasure hunting for the lost love of Erasme, but here we are, set for another adventure. Keen, as usual, to explore different neighbourhoods, we took up the inter-arrondissements challenge that started from the Mairie of the 13th. We even reinforced the team with two new treasure hunters!
It seems Erasme had somehow lost his true love, again. Seriously, how often can a man be so careless? Once careless, forgiveable; twice, starting to be a bit ho-hum; thrice? He’d better had a good reason for it! This time though, he’s convinced his love is trapped in the written world, and as it was “raining books” overnight, the clues are hidden in the pages scattered about town. Allons-y!
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As a newbie, I had much to learn at work. It is not unusual to see me still typing away or poring over documents at my desk when most of my colleagues leave for the day. I miss wandering the streets of Paris leisurely on my way home, since I’m cutting it pretty close nowadays to be back in time to prepare dinner. Well, a girl (and her partner) has got to eat, you know.
When I received an invitation from Imogen of Native Native a couple of weeks ago, asking if I would like to participate in a wine and cheese tasting evening that she was organising, my inner foodie wiggled a happy dance. “Oh yes, please!” (My inner busy bee did nag a little…)
Native Native aims to bring expat bloggers together for tailored events that introduce what’s new and innovative in France. For its June blogger event, it had partnered up with Les Nouveaux Fromagers and took us to the gorgeous tasting room of Ô-Chateau. F was just that bit envious when I told him about this tasting evening. I love cheeses and (certain) wines, but he’s an even bigger fan of these (proof: he’s 100% French) than me!
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Thanks to a recent-ish Easter egg hunt over at Savoir Faire Paris, I won a spot on Cook’n with Class French desserts session. I duly made my way to Montmartre one Saturday afternoon, met three other fellow bakers (of which one was a fellow countryman – talk about a small world!) and started working under the guidance of Chef Pino, a wiry Italian with a passion for food, of course.
In the gleaming kitchen, we went through the work plan for the afternoon. In a short few hours, we were going to make five different classic French desserts – moelleux au chocolat, strawberry and chocolate roulade, crème brûlée, (reconstructed) tarte au citron and choux puffs – and in the order they were listed, due to some refrigeration time needed for some of these. Most of the ingredients were already weighed out and prepared ahead of the class, so we were able to efficiently churn out one dessert after another.
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We are terrible at keeping up with exhibitions. Never mind that we have annual passes that allow us to visit on multiple occasions throughout the period of the exhibitions. Instead, we typically wait till a good portion of the periods is over, then either rushed through them or risked missing them altogether. Currently, in the Grand Palais, two exhibitions are taking place: both started in early May, with one ending in about a week and another in 3 weeks. Armed with our Carte Sésame, we headed over one evening this week.
The installation of Monumenta this year is by Ilya and Emilia Kabakov, Russian-born artists, who brought us “The Strange City”. Indeed it is a peculiar one, for even by the main entryway, a large probe-like installation beamed changing colours amidst strange music, if you can call it that. And scattered in a few other “rooms”, there are wood carvings of flying angels and weird city layouts. Neither F nor I know what to make of these.
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If there’s something I’m failing rather miserably every month, it’ll inevitably be related to my food budget. More precisely, I’m eating out more than I should and as a result, I’ve busted my eating out budget more often than I dare to count. Good thing, or not? (Pssst: I’ve been transferring my wardrobe budget towards food, so I am just a wee bit very proud that I haven’t been out shopping for months!)
Clearly, either way, I have a hard time resisting the siren call of all the wonderful eating places in the City of Light. Last weekend, after putting in some “not drowning” time in the pool for the first time since we moved, Chloé and I went for a lovely, albeit pricey, brunch at Colorova. Located just off the stretch of the street where I used to live, I’ve been there for afternoon tea break and for breakfast too, but never for lunch nor brunch, so my curiosity was piqued as to the kind of savoury fare they serve.
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Five ladies, one hot date. Thanks to Wee Ling‘s initiative, we found ourselves at the door of Auciel rather early in the evening by Parisian standard – 6.30pm – but we did not want to risk losing our table and then having to go on a long queue, such is the reputation of this small eatery in the 11th arrondissement. Their specialty – (individual) hotpot – is a favourite among the Chinese community. They also serve cooked dishes but let’s face it, why would anyone do that in a hotpot restaurant?
The concept is pretty straight forward here. You could order a specific hotpot ingredient set (e.g. with meat, with seafood, vegetarian), or à la carte (pick and mix your ingredients), or go the buffet style (as much as you could eat, any ingredient selection). There are also three broth options: the clear broth, the satay broth (slightly spicy) and the Szechuan broth (hot, hot, hot). Since everyone gets an individual pot, no worry about finding the one right broth for everyone at the table. Win!
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On our way towards Parc Montsouris and Cité U recently, F and I traversed avenue Reille into a small street just off the Réservoirs de Montsouris. We entered what could only be described as the most beautiful Parisian countryside. Don’t get me wrong; there are other charming places within Paris, including Villa Santos-Dumont and the Thermopyles, but neither rivalled the exquisite Square de Montsouris. (We’ll explore the few other luscious streets nearby another time.)
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