Paris, July 18, 2014

Very hot day...in the 90’s.  I went to Paul to get a ficelle ( narrow baguette) for breakfast.  It was already well into the 80’s.  Our apartment, fortunately, is beautifully cool because it is in the shady side of a courtyard.  I had not planned anything.  Ken had planned to go to the Musée d'Orsay, but he changed his mind after two very tiring days of non-stop walking and one sleepless night.  We went to lunch at Les Bouquinistes, a restaurant under the tutelage of Serge Roy, whose main restaurant is hors prix!  We had an exquisite lunch and have booked for Monday dinner!  I had been here in 2000 with family: Jonathan, my parents, my Auntie Alex and my cousins Derek and Dale from South Africa. The decor has changed, but not the quality of the service or the food!

Then.

Now.

We both had the salmon and tuna rillettes to start.  Then I had guinea fowl with quinoa in a very light sauce topped with foam!  Ken had cod with a cabbage mixture.  Dessert was for me a "saveur" of peaches and apricots....sorbet, tiny slices of tiny peaches, apricot purée, little knobs of cream, all arranged on a fruit jelly.  For Ken, a trio of ice creams...coconut, raspberry and oatmeal.  The latter was just divine.  Never encountered it before.

A relaxing afternoon of email work or me and laundry for Ken.  Then off to an evening concert in the church St.Julien Le Pauvre, one of the oldest in Paris...13th century.   "Les Plus Belles Pages Pour Piano"....the most beautiful piano pieces.  Philippe Alegre played Bach, Mozart, Chopin. Liszt, Ravel, Chabrier and Beethoven's "Pathétique" and "Moonlight" sonatas .  His technique was extraordinary...on an exquisite Steinway whose sound was so rich.  The Beethoven pieces were the stars!  But also, Ravel's "Pavane for a dead infanta" was hauntingly beautiful.  He played three encores, only one of which we recognized...Mozart's "Rondo alla turca."  A brilliant concert...made all the more so by the ambiance of this old, mainly Romanesque church.

Then home through the hustle and bustle of the Boul' Mich onto the quieter Bd. St. Germain.....and a late snack of baguette, butter, cheese, macaroons and the juicest tastiest, white peaches ever....le tout washed down with a nice Morgon.