The Lebanese Dinner in Saint Germaine

After visiting the Louvre yesterday, we decided to cross the Seine and explore Saint Germaine.  You can see the corner pictured below on Google Maps Street View here.  You'll notice there was no graffiti when Google took their picture.

A primary source of Paris transportation parked on the corner of Rue de Seine and Rue Jacob in the Saint Germaine area.

If a Parisian needs to get home in a hurry, they don't hail a cab -- they rent a bike.  These self-service bike rental stations are located all around the city.  We haven't tried it yet.  I assume you pay by the hour.  The convenience comes from being able to rent a bike in one part of the city and turn it in across town.

A self-service bike rental stand in Saint Germaine.

Saint Germaine is quite active.  The area is full of restaurants and bars that were packed on Friday night.  Here, Roxana pauses to observe diners in a corner bistro.

Roxana takes in the sights of Saint Germaine's active night life on a Friday evening.

Saint Germaine, like all of Paris, has wonderful bakeries.  Here's an example of some treats we saw sitting in a window.  I don't know how Parisians stay so skinny.

Confections, as seen through a bakery window in Saint Germaine.

We found a Lebanese restaurant and decided to try it out, even though there was not one customer in the establishment when we arrived.  The waiter, who was probably the proprietor, spoke almost no English.   Everything we attempted to order, was not available.  Finally, he indicated we should just order the prix fixe selection so the chef could make our selections for us.  He said we would get lamb, chicken, and a vegetarian dish.  We quickly agreed so we could end the ordering ordeal and move on to the eating part.


When we sat down, I noticed that every table had the dish below with almonds, olives, and what I guessed were marinated beets.  Our waiter brought us some water, and we enjoyed the olives and nuts while waiting for our first course.

Our waiter was quick to deliver the first course to the table.  We quickly summoned the waiter back to the table and asked him what we were to do with this dish of vegetables.  He said "salad".  There was no dressing, but there was a whole lemon on the plate, which we assumed was intended to serve as the dressing.  We looked at each other puzzled, as we had never seen a salad as deconstructed as this.  


We waited to see if perhaps, like in the fine restaurants of home, the waiter was going to prepare the salad for two, table-side -- no such luck.  But we had no sharp knife to cut the vegetables ourselves, only a butter knife.  What were we to do?

"Salad" for two!

Eventually the next course arrived, just as other customers began to wander in from the street.  As each table was seated, we watched the same ritual unfold.  There would be a discussion over the menu selections, the waiter would serve the drinks, and then each time he would bring the plate of vegetables and set it on the table.  Each time the diners would look at each other with a puzzled look, then slyly look at the other diners seated nearby to see what they were doing with the plate of vegetables.  


By the end of the evening, the restaurant was nearly at capacity, filled with what appeared to be tourists, all with untouched plates of vegetables on their tables.  We surmised that these salads were probably washed and reused until the freshness was gone -- a good lesson in saving food costs for someone in the restaurant business.


As the dinner progressed, we were brought hummus and baba ganoush.  Next came a plate of pastries stuffed with a lamb mixture, cheese and what may have been grape leaves.  The main course was chicken wings and falafel (vegetarian).  It was all good, but to our amusement, being the first diners in the restaurant, we watched as each new table of diners proceeded through exactly the same courses, without a single deviation.  Apparently, this Lebanese restaurant serves one fixed menu.  If you try to order anything else, you are steered to the chef's selection.  


Oh well, the food was good, and satisfied our desire for Middle Eastern cuisine.  But next time, I think we will find a restaurant where we're not the only customers brave enough to enter.


We left the restaurant and started for home -- in exactly the wrong direction.  We saw even more of Saint Germaine as we wandered around lost for about half an hour.  After finally regaining our bearings,  we crossed the Seine at Pont Neuf.   I shot the picture below of a tourist boat passing by at night -- a beautiful and romantic ending to an eventful evening.

Looking east on the south branch of the Seine as it parts at Pont Neuf.

It wasn't just eventful because of the dinner experience and getting lost.  We also stumbled upon something unexpected at Pont Neuf.  Roxana had a telephoto lens on her camera and was able to get some good photos.  The unexpected event will be the subject of the next installment.

Louvre Pyramid

We used our passes for the Louvre for the first time today.  We managed to see one floor of one wing.  There are three wings, each with about four floors.  We saw 17th and 18th century French paintings -- lots of them, all masterfully done.

Since I'm a photographer, not a writer, I think this will be more of a phlog than a blog.  In this post I'm just going to show you some shots from the exterior and one from the interior of the Louvre glass pyramid, designed by Pei.

The entrance to the Louvre is through this glass pyramid.  You descend into the underground central atrium from which you can access the three wings, two of which you see in this photo.  The photo was taken from the third.

This is what it looks like from inside.

Lunch

Can't beat a chicken sandwich made with fresh pesto sauce on a fresh baguette with a glass of French pinot noire rose'.  Bon appetite!

Good Morning from Paris.

Morning sun coming through our window, capturing our beautiful dead plants.

Yesterday we bought one year passes to the Louvre.  Today we start to use them.  For now, it's coffee and croissants.

We're in Paris!

Looking West out our window in Paris at dusk

I decided that the best way to keep everyone informed about our four weeks in Paris is to post a blog.  So, here it goes!

We left Miami on Monday at 6 p.m. and arrived in Paris on Tuesday at 9 a.m.  This is the evening of our third day here, so I have some catching up to do already.

We have rented a one bedroom apartment on the fourth floor at 123 Rue St. Honore.  You can go here to see us on Google Maps.

On Tuesday, our first day, we walked around to get our bearings in the neighborhood, which as you can see from the map, is just one block from the Louvre Museum.

On Wednesday we took another walk to the Eiffel Tower along the Seine, just for exercise.  We also took a stroll over to the Opera House to visit the Nespresso coffee retail store.  We didn't bring our Nespresso machine because its power requirements are incompatible.  We decided not to buy one here when we learned it only works in Europe, and we wouldn't be able to use it when we return home.  But it was good exercise and we got to see more of the city.

Today we walked to the Marche Moufetard, widely regarded as one of the best open air markets in Paris.   We bought lots of goodies and brought them back to the apartment, where we promptly started enjoying them.  We used the market outing as an opportunity to learn about the Paris subway system by returning to the apartment via subway.  I have to say it is cleaner and appears more modern than the NY subway.

We had already found a great little storefront for bread (Roxana says Paris has the best bread she's ever tasted),  and another for fruits and vegetables (they are picture perfect, but sorry I didn't take any--maybe in another post).

Speaking of picture perfect -- I thought I better have some photos to post, so I stuck the camera out the fourth floor window of the apartment and shot the three in today's post as the sun was going down this evening.

Looking East down St. Honore from our Window

Bikes, scooters and motorcycles are everywhere.  In this shot out our window, inspired by this photograph by Cartier-Bresson, two bikes whiz by beneath our window, clearly adhering to the  street marking which apparently says it's okay to go the wrong way on a one-way street if you are on a bicycle.

Well,  that's all for tonight.  It's almost midnight here.