Daily Food Shopping in Paris

[bleudauvergne]

The canal was special to me because it was a calm and pretty area in the midst of a whole lot of traffic and activity. It was nice to stop on the bridge or stop in the park at the end from time to time. Just across the canal and a couple of blocks down, you have the Place de la Republique, which is a flurry of traffic, open space, activity and movement, and the promise of all of the boulevards that radiate from it. Living just by the canal was nice because the vegetation and the water just made it seem calm and a nice contrast to what lay beyond.

[docsconz]

I must say I am very much looking forward to this trip. All of your comments and suggestions are really whetting my appetite. I was afraid of a letdown after dining at El Bulli at the beginning of the week, but Paris is one place where this shouldn't be too much of a problem.

[Bux]

If anything, elBulli should heighten your interest in food. One of the best meals of my life was a simple lunch in Barcelona the day after dining at elBulli the first time. Real food for the first time in two days? No, not at all, but it was the perfect counterpoint as will be a meal of charcuterie, cheese and bread, or a bowl of spaghetti with garlic and olive oil followed by a ripe piece of fruit.

[bushey]

We will be bringing one of the older boys with us to El Bulli and the other to Gagnaire while the one who doesn't go gets to babysit.

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doc,

Are they going to draw lots?

A few years ago we took a ride on Canal St. Martin and it was fun to move slowly through the neighborhoods. It was fall and the scenery really looked straight from a film noir. Got a great photo of an older man fishing in the canal -- I'll see if I can scan it in and upload.

Haven't seen the Paris par Arrondisement map, but what we've foudn to be indispensible is Michael Middleditch's Paris Map Guide. It's a slim book, easy to read and easy to carry. It also has a handy reference to major sites and a metro map. On each page of the guide the Metro stations are clearly labeled, also.

[LindaK]

The canal is unique in Paris. Of course there is the Seine but this smaller body of water is very intimate, it seems so much a part of the neighborhood. The cafes and restaurants on the streets that run alongside are just across the street so you get the fun of watching people stroll besides the canal. Or stroll it yourself, there's always someone playing guitar...It has functioning locks and drawbridges too at some stops, the few times I saw them in action was a treat--made it hard to believe that you were in the middle of Paris.

I don't know if it's permitted to link here to a commercial site (forum host, edit as you see fit) but not long ago I ran across a web site of an American photographer working in Paris who had a series of photographs of the canal and the neighborhood. Long story, but I ended up purchasing a couple as mementos and really enjoy them. Here's the link: photos of Canal St. Martin by David Henry. It will give you a good idea of the beauty of the neighborhood.

In the tourism rather than food category: since I didn't have access to a gym there I took to jogging the length of the canal to the Parc de la Villette and doing a tour of the Parc. Another place I love that I might never had found if not for being in that neighborhood. It has tons of open space where your kids can play on the grass (don't try that in the Tuilleries!). The landscaping is so different from the formal gardens elsewhere in the city, you often see classes of architecture students sketching there. And the Parc houses a really interesting science museum, Cité des Sciences et de L'Industrie and the Cité de la Musique, which features lots of music festivals.

edited for typo.

Edited March 4, 2005 by LindaK (log)

[docsconz]

Linda, thank you so much for the post and especially the link to photos. They are wonderful . Therre are even some of restaurants There really is no problem posting a link to a site like that. You and the others here have really got me excited about this trip. It is too bad that it is still so far in the future. The time will pass soon enough, though.

[John Talbott]

...the thing to try at these places is a merguez or kebab sandwich.

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Well, aside from this being an interesting topic from long ago, I brought it up again rather than start a new one on merguez. It must be a slow news week because again on the FR 2 20h00 news last night there was another food item; this one about merguez made from pork contrasted with packages they filmed from a supermarket clearly stating that the meat is beef and lamb.

In a Google search, I turned up half a dozen porkfilled merguez responses, all on sites in English. But using French in Google there are also hits from Yahoo.fr, boursorama and 750 grammes not to mention what I thought was an oxymoron - "Des merguez halal au porc."

The website of the MINEFE, dated yesterday, says merguez must be beef and/or lamb but merguez de.... can be pork.

No quotes yet from the Muslim community.

[Ptipois]

There is no such thing as a pork merguez. There are such things as spiced chipolatas.

(And there is utterly no such thing as a halal pork merguez.)

Merguez is lamb, or beef and lamb, and spices, which should include niora chilli pepper.

[Dave Hatfield]

Had merguez (lamb &beef) today for lunch along with chipolatas (pork).

Can't really imagine a pork merguez. The closest I can think of is charizo, but obviously the taste is very very different.

Love them all.

[olivier]

...the thing to try at these places is a merguez or kebab sandwich.

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Well, aside from this being an interesting topic from long ago, I brought it up again rather than start a new one on merguez. It must be a slow news week because again on the FR 2 20h00 news last night there was another food item; this one about merguez made from pork contrasted with packages they filmed from a supermarket clearly stating that the meat is beef and lamb.

In a Google search, I turned up half a dozen porkfilled merguez responses, all on sites in English. But using French in Google there are also hits from Yahoo.fr, boursorama and 750 grammes not to mention what I thought was an oxymoron - "Des merguez halal au porc."

The website of the MINEFE, dated yesterday, says merguez must be beef and/or lamb but merguez de.... can be pork.

No quotes yet from the Muslim community.

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It doesn't add much to what you already reported, but there were an article about this problem in Le Monde yesterday:

Le Monde - Plus d'une merguez sur deux contient du porc (in French only, sorry). The point is, according to the DGCCRF, more than a half of merguez are, at least partially, made from pork meat.