Paris December 2024

liamsaunt · Sunday at 09:58 PM

I am in Paris for a little pre-holiday visit. The main purpose of the trip is to visit the museums and Christmas markets. We didn’t make any dining reservations before coming over. We are coming back in April and will plan more tightly for that visit, this one is more improvised. We arrived Thursday on the overnight Jet Blue from Boston, and spent a few nights at the Soiftel Faubourg before moving to an apartment for a week starting on Saturday. Here’s the plane menu from Mint class. I did not eat or drink anything because we took off during a bomb cyclone and it was a tad bumpy. Plus, I slept most of the way.

Complimentary macarons and a bottle of red wine were in the room on arrival. I don’t drink alcohol, but my husband enjoyed part of it.

After crashing for a few (ok, four) hours, we went out to the Christmas market in the Tuileries. We were going out to dinner later, so just walked through to see some of what was on offer. We did not get through the whole thing, but will be back.

many dried sausages

more sausages and potatoes

I loved this rotating windmill with the Three Wise Men inside

chocolate

“Potato tornado”

Many kinds of cheese. They said they could vacuum wrap anything to bring home, but I am not going to risk smuggling anything back. We did buy some to eat while here once we moved to the apartment.

We had dinner at L’Ardoise near the hotel. It’s a three course prix fixe at forty euros. We ate here about ten years ago and not much has changed. Menu

I had the goat cheese salad to start

husband had chestnut soup

I had the cod dish

and husband had duck

We chose the apple fianancier and Paris Brest for desserts. Unfortunately we had to leave most of these behind after finishing the prior two courses.

Holiday lights on the way back to the hotel

liamsaunt · Sunday at 10:27 PM

Friday got a bit messed up because we way overslept and did not wake up until noon. This is why we flew in early! We got outside and went for a long walk, which helped to get us back on schedule, I think. Some scenic views

We popped back into the Christmas market for a cheesy pretzel to share. I think it was only around 3 pm but already getting dark.

This sign on one of the festival rides cracked me up. Of course everyone was screaming on the ride. It went upside down.

Then we had pre-dinner drinks at the hotel bar (which was always completely jammed for some reason). Husband had Sancerre, and I had a mocktail made from jasmine tea syrup and na sparkling wine

We went around the corner to Chez Flottes for a late dinner. Here’s the menu

husband wanted foie gras to start

I ordered the goat cheese and spinach toast. It was much larger than I was expecting or wanting it to be. I only ate a little and the waiter thought I disliked it. It was actually quite good but I only wanted a bit of it.

Husband had the coquilles St Jacques for his main course.

I had the sole meuniere, which they offered to filet table side. I am actually pretty good at doing this myself, but let them have at it.

We shared a coffee ice cream with coffee syrup and chantilly cream for dessert

**Smithy** · 2024-12-16T01:31:05Z

Oh, what fun!

I love the colors and the food photos, and I love being able to admire the food and menus.

Did you try any of this cheese, or do you plan to?

What does "Tomme" mean? I'd love to know whether that green pesto (basil, I assume) flavors it as intensely as it colors it.

weinoo · 2024-12-16T01:58:06Z

3 hours ago, liamsaunt said:

We didn’t make any dining reservations before coming over.

Boy, you really like to take your chances! We'll be back in February. If you're there on Sunday, the organic market on Blvd. Raspail is awesome...https://parisjetaime.com/eng/shopping/marche-raspail-p2262

liuzhou · 2024-12-16T02:01:02Z

30 minutes ago, Smithy said:

What does "Tomme" mean?

It doesn't really mean anything other than being the name of a cheese. It is one of the oldest cheeses in Europe, originally from the Savoie (Savoy) area but now made all over France and Switzerland, especially in the Alpine region.

Usually it will have the origin appended to it's name - e.g. Tomme de Savoie. It isn't usually green.

Edited yesterday at 02:02 AM by liuzhou (log)

liamsaunt · 2024-12-16T16:35:32Z

14 hours ago, weinoo said:

Boy, you really like to take your chances! We'll be back in February. If you're there on Sunday, the organic market on Blvd. Raspail is awesome...https://parisjetaime.com/eng/shopping/marche-raspail-p2262

Well, as I said, food is not the top focus of this trip. We will be making reservations when we bring my niece and nephew back with us in April. But for now, we are in a nice part of a big city with lots of dining options. I am sure we will be fine 😀

14 hours ago, Smithy said:

Oh, what fun!

I love the colors and the food photos, and I love being able to admire the food and menus.

Did you try any of this cheese, or do you plan to?

What does "Tomme" mean? I'd love to know whether that green pesto (basil, I assume) flavors it as intensely as it colors it.

I have not tried it yet, but might at some point. If I do, I will let you know what I think!

Saturday we checked out of the hotel and went to the Orangerie Museum before heading over to the apartment, which is in St. Germaine. It is a very cute building, each floor is one apartment. There are three bedrooms (2 small ), 2.5 very small bathrooms, a living room, dining area, and kitchenette. Here is the little kitchen. It is micro but has everything you need.

It’s a very old building and has charming slanted floors and high plaster ceilings, but also modern conveniences like laundry in the apartment, an elevator, and fast WiFi. Pretty perfect other than the fact that we can hear the Metro going under the building, but it’s not bothering us. The commuter train to the Boston and Acela to NYC runs close enough behind our house at home to hear, so we are used to train noise (this is a lot louder though haha).

Saturday evening we went to a restaurant near our apartment called Shiro, which is Japanese-French fusion. They offer an omakase menu which sounded perfect for our indecisive selves. They called right after we made the reservation to ask if we had any restrictions and my husband asked if I could swap the meat course for vegetarian or fish and they said no problem. I thought that was really nice. I was just planning on skipping it (I intensely dislike most meat and won’t eat it unless I really, really have to).

This was the shared amuse bouche. I unfortunately did not write down notes later that evening, so don’t remember exactly what each was. I can say that the center was a cheesy tasting biscuit topped with smoked salmon and truffle, upper right was a fish tartare, and the left one was a yuzu cream in a crispy shell. That was the order they told us to eat them in, and the last one was my favorite.

Next was a salad with raw sea bass and radish. This was really delicious

followed by a pumpkin soup. My husband’s had foie gras on top. Mine had a sea scallop. The flavors were very nice, but the soup could have been a little hotter.

Next course was lightly cooked haddock in a bouillabaisse sauce.

Then our main courses diverged. I was given turbot with truffles, which made me very happy.

Husband’s was veal. He’s not a huge veal fan to begin with, but I also think he was jealous of my turbot.

Then dessert was a chocolate mousse with strawberry gel and brownie. I would not normally pick chocolate for dessert, but this was very good

Some festive lights in the neighborhood on the walk home

liamsaunt · 2024-12-16T17:05:31Z

Sunday we spent the day getting acquainted with our new neighborhood and taking in the sights. We stopped by the nearby Christmas market to see what foods were on offer. It was actually mostly crafts and similar.

impressive nougat display

we stopped in at a random cafe for coffee and eggs

Most of the bakeries were closed because it was Sunday, but we did eye some storefronts with tempting treats on our walk to the Eiffel Tower

In sight

Tower achieved. The last time I was in Paris you could just walk right under it, but it’s all walled off now. I guess it’s been a while since I was last here…

We went into the Christmas market at the base of the tower but it was way too crowded, and we only stayed a few moments before leaving. I did take pictures of this pretzel booth with many flavors. We will try again another day.

Less crowded scenes

We noticed restaurants in barges on the Seine, but did not go down to look closely.

This one was a combo art gallery and restaurant

Wild rose ringed parakeet hanging out in a tree on the river. Another one for the Merlin bird ID life list (like so many others, I became a bird watcher during COVID times haha)

Our walk somehow brought us back to the Plaza de la Concorde

And the holiday market for a cafe creme

Dinner was at Brasserie Lutetia. Here’s the menu

The inside of the restaurant was very bright and loud, so we asked to be seated in the outside area, which was heated and enclosed, and so pretty with lights. There were a few other parties out there too, but I snapped a photo of this empty corner to show the ambiance.