Day Five: Dinner

So, ten year anniversary dinner... Where should we go? Cristal Room Baccarat? Some place run by a famous chef like Guy Martin (whoever that is)? We found what was the top-rated classical Parisian bistro before super chefs started opening bistros only a few blocks from our hotel, Café Allard. It said reservations were required, but that seemed to be too big of a challenge over the phone, and what was the point of going to a bistro with reservations anyway?

We arrive at Allard about twenty minutes after they opened (like any self-respecting bistro they do not open until evening drinking has started). The place was empty, of course, as at 7:20 most French are still working on the pre-dinner bottle of wine, but we walked in anyways, hoping our lack of reservation would be okay this early. We were greeted by a tall, impeccably dressed, imperious Frenchman who obviously ran the place. He spoke initially in French then backed off to English as we obviously were clueless to what he asked. He was curious if we had reservations... Shaking our heads evoked eyes rolled upward as we were clearly totally clueless tourists. Nonetheless, he showed us a nice table for two and gave us menus. French menus, of course, this place did not cater to tourists who did not speak the native tongue. We flailed for a few minutes and finally asked for help. "Help" consisted of pointing at the menu, more exasperation, and indicating where the starters, meat and fish were located. No help as to what the entries were, other than "it's beef". Hmmm... That was helpful. We turned on the iPhone and translated some of the entries so we were not totally ordering in the dark, and ordered escargot, a filet of (French!) beef, a half order of "cepes" (mushrooms obviously!) and Coquilles Saint Jacque in a white butter sauce (translated that myself!).





The escargot were great, seems every bistro is required to get that right. The beef was amazing and came with a very tasty gravy. The scalloped potatoes were also very yummy, Bonnie was jealous of those. Bonnie's mushrooms and scallops were amazing and the snotty French waiter filled his part perfectly.

Dinner conversation was enhanced by an older woman traveling with a much younger woman who sat next to us. They related how it was impossible to find martinis in Paris and this was the first place who had offered to make one for them. The older woman was enamored of my dessert, which we shall discuss next.

Dessert was required, of course. Bonnie had Charlotte au Chocolat, the usual dense chocolate thing. I had Baba au Rhum, basically a pound cake that came with it's own bottle of rum (!). The waiter started things off by pouring a bunch of rum over the top and it became a bit of a game pouring more over the top whenever it looked "dry". It ended up being a very rum-soaked cake. Quite dangerous, luckily we only had to stumble a few blocks home to our hotel.



The story goes that the bottle was full to start with, but that is a total lie!

Day Five: Versailles

So, we land, um, arrive in Versailles. The train dumps you off downtown, with helpful "this way to the chateau" signs (go this way, or this way, or that way... Shortest path would have been helpful). Problem number one... Cobblestone streets with "cute" shoes. Shoes with heels are highly unstable on cobblestones. Walking is very difficult and the wearer is prone to falling. Ugh, not good when you are about to enter the largest palace and grounds in the world!



Notice the grimace of pain on the subject's face as she stands by herself with no support.

So we wander the chateau... Not a bad place, though I wonder if they ever had to really dust all of it.



It seems Louis XIV was a bit of a religious fanatic and attended Mass every day at 10am. Probably just after having his morning espresso and reading the papers... Having the room filled with the same bunch of people every day would get wearing after a while, I bet. At least he had a decent chapel right down the hall. And the priest was responsible for the dusting I bet!



At least the place is setup for a crowd, the stairs could hold a real party sized crowd thundering up to Mass.

Not all the castle seems to have been very appropriate for an elderly, religious monarch with no wife. Not sure what Louis' decorators were thinking...



We wandered through the king's apartments as well as the queen's (several Louis' used the place it seems). Very famous stuff happened here, Marie escaped from some unhappy subjects down a secret hallway from the queen's bedroom (why was THAT there?) and there is some lightly decorated quaint little room called the Hall of Mirrors. Definitely shows the minimalist decorating technique favored by the French monarchy.





We did also make a halfhearted attempt to do the historical museum part of Versailles, but hunger and thirst drove us to lé café. We did see statues and paintings of a number of famous Frenchmen, including brilliant mathematical minds like Laplace who continue to torture students to this day.

Beyond the castle there are the gardens, canals (in the shape of a French cross!), Marie Antoinette's house, and other interesting residences. Due to the aforementioned "cute shoe" issue, we only ventured down to the top of the waterways.



We did meet one very unhappy doggie, though, being squished by some unsavory characters!





We limped back to the chateau at that point and somehow made it back to the train. It was the big day, after all, we had to make it back to Paris for a real French meal!

Day Five: Off to Versailles

Another lazy day in Paris, breakfast/lunch at Le Danton. Some people from North Dakota sat next to us, the waitress spoke all English to them. Apparently we *look* like we might speak French, so there is always this exchange in mixed English and French. So far there has not been a major problem only having a vague idea of what food is coming. The North Dakota people weren't any better at predicting what food was going to arrive, so I think we will stick with trying French when possible.



I had a blanquette du veau, very tasty. Bonnie had the house club sandwich, from which she picked off the very good tomatoes.



Bonnie practicing her French look... Very mysterious!

After breakfast, we hopped on the Metro, popped over to the RER station, and got on a very nicely maintained train out to Versailles. A very pleasant half hour ride through the outskirts of Paris.

Speaking of shoes (aren't shoes always an appropriate topic?), we are wearing cute shoes today. As seen being shown off in the RER station...





The train is almost there, more to come!