Paris in February 2006 - 1st vs 5th Arrond?

[therese]

Visiting Paris with my two kids, 12 and 15, February 18 through 24. Their first visit and in many ways mine as well: I've been to France several times since my first trip as a high school exchange student (to Normandy), but have spent close to zero time as a tourist in Paris.

I'm booking an apartment in the 1st, in the Palais Royal (Montpensier). It's got a full kitchen, so we'll certainly be doing breakfast in, and random other meals as well but we'll likely also eat out a lot. Both children are adventurous diners and good company, so I'm not limited in that respect, but I'm not interested in going very high end either.

Speaking French no problem whatsoever.

So, my specific queries:

1. Are there any open air markets in walking distance to the apartment? If so, when and where? And if not, what's the best option via the metro? I'll have two willing pack mules (with day packs) along to help.

2. Restaurants in the immediate area? Lunches will probably be near whatever sites we're visiting that day, but we'll likely stick closer to home for dinners unless we're going to a concert or other performance elsewhere.

[John Talbott]

I swear we went through the market search just a while back but I cannot locate it. There's really no open air market nearby; the closest are

the Marché Montorgeuil, Rue Montorgeuil in the 2nd, open Tuesday and Sunday

the Enfants-Rouge, 39 Rue de Bretagne in the 3rd, open Tuesday to Saturday

As to reasonable down to earth places nearby, tough too; except oysters at Depardieu's l'Ecaille de la Fontaine and Rouge Tomate, Le Point Bar, l'Ecume St-Honore + Au Petit Theatre in the Marche St-Honore and farther west, l'Ardoise, and a place I like but is pricier - Pinxo.

[therese]

Hmm, sounds a bit grim. I've not yet completed booking (no money's exchanged hands) so I could change my mind.

So, here's a much more open-ended query: Where would you choose if you were renting an apartment for a week in Paris, the idea being to have a wide selection of great, not way upmarket restaurants and a market nearby?

I was, by the way, considering another property in Batignolles, Rue Mariotte (near the Rome metro).

[John Talbott]

Hmm, sounds a bit grim. I've not yet completed booking (no money's exchanged hands) so I could change my mind.

So, here's a much more open-ended query: Where would you choose if you were renting an apartment for a week in Paris, the idea being to have a wide selection of great, not way upmarket restaurants and a market nearby?

I was, by the way, considering another property in Batignolles, Rue Mariotte (near the Rome metro).

←

Oh I conveyed the wrong message. I think that's a fine location, very central, quiet street at night, great stuff right nearby; don't cancel. It's just that if you only want to walk to markets and dinner in the PM you won't find them just outside your door but myself I wouldn't want to stay on the Rue de Buci or the Place Monge anyway.

The Marche St-Honore itself (I mentioned all the places I like to eat at there) but the market itself is open Wednesday afternoon and Saturday and is really only 300-400 meters away and if you shop at the Galleries Lafayette (see thread a bit down) it's maybe 500-600 meters. Plus as I keep saying, what's 4 stops on the metro, maybe 10 minutes; you've got two sherpas, you're fine.

Sorry, no grimness intended. Perfect location. Go for it.

[therese]

Sorry, no grimness intended.  Perfect location. Go for it.

←

Whew, huge relief. I may yet change my mind, as it's bigger than we need and consequently a bit pricier. The "no food nearby" possibility was enough to throw me into a panic.

[Carlsbad]

We stayed in an apartment in the Palais Royal 30 rue Montpensier for two weeks last July and positively loved it. The location is great- right next to the Louvre, and short walk to the river, and with two metro stops close at hand. I don't think you will be at all disappointed. Staying in the Palais Royal is a great experience in itself.

The market situation is also very good. It's a nice 10 minute walk to the rue Montorgueil Market, where you can buy just about everything you need. There are other food shops within easy walking distance as well, including Max Poilane for bread, chocolate at Jean-Paul Hévin, La Fontaine au Chocolat, and Debauve & Gallais, coffee at Torréfacteur Verlet, produce at Aux Beaux Fruits de France, and wine at Legrand Filles et Fils.

There are several interesting restaurants in the immediate area, including Casaluna. You can easily walk to Aux Lyonnais. The metro makes many fine restaurants easily available. I'm happy to email you the list of shops, markets, restaurants, etc. I compiled for out trip if you want.

[OAKGLEN]

Chez Flottes, on rue Cambon, and just across from the Concorde metro station, is a good spot for reasonably priced meals. Their Croques (sandwiches) are great; we like the Croque Imperiale and Croque Provencal (no meat). Aligot, a truly superb mashed potato dish, is always available. Their duck, salads and frites are consistently good. Your family should like this spot. Check it out at www.flottes.fr.

[therese]

Thanks for all the great suggestions. Sounds like rue Montorgueil is well within reach, particularly with my little sherpas along.

Additional suggestion welcome. Once I've got an idea of specific sights I'll likely ask for info in those areas as well.

[Mayur]

I actually quite like the Enfants-Rouge, myself, and its fancy-pants Marais location means that there are lots of different pretty ways to walk to and fro and a TON of places to sit, drop your bags, grab a coffee and people-watch. You also can easily walk to the rue de Buci market and back, if you've got two people willing to carry bags of groceries.

A Casaluna is a lovely place to eat in the 1st; Chez Denise (not so cheap, but open late and mighty mighty tasty), Aux Lyonnais (also not so cheap, but again tasty) and Le Pamphlet are a short distance in the 2nd, 2nd, and 3rd, respectively. A Priori The, near the Bourse, is excellent for brunch and tea. Keep in mind that central Paris is tiny. If you're concerned about the price range of places near you (and I can understand if Le Meurice doesn't make sense as a nightly dining choice ), you really can walk (or metro if you're feeling lazy) to the 10th or 11th for several excellent bargains, or down to La Butte-aux-Cailles, etc. for others.

[therese]

Okay, so Plan B: I've found a really nice place in the 5th, on rue de la Huchette. Smaller and so a bit more reasonable (all the more money to spend on food) but still nicely suited to our party, and with a full kitchen.

Looks like lots and lots of restaurants in the neighborhood. Best market option? According to this site the markets in the 5th are Monge, Maubert, and Port Royal, with Maubert being closet to my location. The covered market at St Germain looks like like it's also a possibility.

It may well be that Paris just offers too many options. Opinions welcome.

[John Talbott]

Okay, so Plan B: I've found a really nice place in the 5th, on rue de la Huchette.

Looks like lots and lots of restaurants in the neighborhood. Best market option?

←

Personally, I would prefer the Palais Royal quietude at night vs the tourist-clogged rue de la Huchette.

But if you choose it, you do have the Maubert market and several nice restos within an easy walk: le Pre Verre, Louis Vins, Reminet, Chez Rene for coq au vin only, Atlas, Le Comptoir, La Cremerie, etc.

[therese]

Personally, I would prefer the Palais Royal quietude at night vs the tourist-clogged rue de la Huchette.

←

And it actually looks like there's a fair amount of nightlife on this street as well. Not that the idea of looking down onto tourist hell from the comfort of our 4th floor, nicely-appointed dining room isn't appealing...

Will the market at Maubert smack of tourist hell as well?

[John Talbott]

Will the market at Maubert smack of tourist hell as well?

←

Not at all. As someone elsewhere or upthread noted, most visitors aren't staying in apartments and don't buy too much food because they don't want to schlep it back. My visits to the Maubert market have been visitor-free.

[follonica2]

Personally, I would prefer the Palais Royal quietude at night vs the tourist-clogged rue de la Huchette.

←

And it actually looks like there's a fair amount of nightlife on this street as well. Not that the idea of looking down onto tourist hell from the comfort of our 4th floor, nicely-appointed dining room isn't appealing...

Will the market at Maubert smack of tourist hell as well?

←

Okay, time to de-lurk and chime in. The rue de la Huchette/rue de la Harpe section IS a tourist hell. Greasy spoons, barkers in out front of many restos trying to lure you in, noisy and crowded. I stay in the 5th and always give it a wide berth.

However, the market at Place Maubert is fine.

[bushey]

What Follonica said. Really.

I happen to love the 1st arrondisement, and I have to confess to doing a google search of apartments on rue Montpensier after reading your post......we're looking for a family vacation idea for February vacation as well (and we have 3 kids). That area looks completely wonderful and is very well situated for walking to everywhere. Unfortunately, my husband thinks we need to branch out and try someplace new .

Assuming you might still be looking around, have you checked apartments available in the 7th? The rue Cler area is also very well situated and there are lots of options for food shopping. Similarly, the area around Blvd Raspail is also wonderful.

[therese]

Okay, altogether convinced: I've booked the apartment in the 1st.

My initial apartment search was based on some reviews at slowtrav.com, and once I'd found a few places that looked nice I didn't look too much farther. There's a theory that one of the keys to happiness is fewer rather than more choices and in my case that's certainly the case. I hate having buyer's remorse, so once I've got a nice place I just don't spend much time worrying about what might have been.

Okay, I've got the lodging and continue to scope out restaurants that suit our party. Cozy bistros mostly what I've got in mind for meals with kids. I'm trying to set up a visit of some sort with my exhange buddy from high school, either in Paris or Deauville (where I think she still lives---it's been a year or so since we last corresponded) and am also up for some grown up dinners with any eGulleteers who happen to be in town during that period. PM me if you think you might be interested and we can set something up as the date grows closer.

[mzimbeck]

I think you made a good choice sticking with your original booking in the 1st. I agree with all previous comments. Besides, none of the markets you mentioned in the 5th are close enough to Huchette to justify staying on that street. Relatively speaking, there's a lot of great stuff near your place in the 1st, and for a first visit it's really one of the most beautiful and tonic spots in Paris. And it's beautifully served by public transportation.

Hope you have a great time.

[therese]

Planning coming along nicely. Turns out my exchange partner from high school still lives in Deauville (she'd moved to Nimes for a while, but looks like she's returned to Deauville for good at this point) and so we'll get together. I'm hoping she'll come into Paris for a night along with her youngest daughter (hmm, maybe 13?), and then we can drive up to Normandy for a night to see her farm as well as old friends and family, returning the next day on the train.

So at least one evening we'll be five for dinner. Or perhaps we'll leave the children behind in the apartment and just have a grown up dinner.

Okay, on to concrete plans...

Our flight gets in early Saturday AM, so we won't be able to do much more than drop off our bags at the apartment. So by way of first day activities we'll need to do some marketing and something very very touristy. I'm thinking the Tour Eiffel, and so we'll need someplace to eat lunch nearby. There's a restaurant there, apparently, but unless somebody tells me it's absolutely great I'm not going to bother with it.

[John Talbott]

I'm thinking the Tour Eiffel, and so we'll need someplace to eat lunch nearby. There's a restaurant there, apparently, but unless somebody tells me it's absolutely great I'm not going to bother with it.

←

It's great and there are actually two run by the same bunch:

Chez les Anges

54, Bvd de La Tour-Maubourg, 7th (Metro : La Tour-Maubourg)

T : 01 47 05 89 86

Closed Saturday lunch and Sundays

A la carte about 45-50 €.

Au Bon Accueil nearer the Tour

14, rue de Monttessuy, 7th (Metro : Ecole Militaire or RER : Alma)

T : 01 47 05 46 11

Closed Saturdays and Sunday

less expensive with lunch menu

[Carlsbad]

If you want something simple in that area, an old favorite for lunch is Sancerre, a wine bar that has great omelettes. It's at 22 ave. Rapp.

[therese]

Neither Ches les Anges nor Au Bon Accueil will work for Saturday lunch, as they're both closed. Looks like Sancerre suits, as it's open Saturday for lunch, and we'll likely want something not too elaborate for that first jet lag meal in any case.

[follonica2]

Neither Ches les Anges nor Au Bon Accueil will work for Saturday lunch, as they're both closed. Looks like Sancerre suits, as it's open Saturday for lunch, and we'll likely want something not too elaborate for that first jet lag meal in any case.

←

I agree with the choice of Le Sancerre. If memory serves, you can purchase bottles of various Loire wines to take with you back to your apartment. Might come in handy if the sherpas get restless and you need the calming influence of the grape

[therese]

We're back. Fantastic trip all around.

We did rent the apartment in the 1st. Located in the Palais Royal, with the entrance on rue Montpensier and very cool enormous half moon windows along one side overlooking the street and along the other side overlooking the garden, it was really just amazingly nice. Very nicely (but comfortably) furnished, with two bedrooms and two baths, and a well-equipped kitchen: fridge and freezer large by French standards, dishwasher, convection oven, four burner gas range, washing machine, separate dryer. Not enough counter space had I actually tried to cook (and most of that taken up by a microwave), but decent knives and a separate marble-topped table that served as extra countertop.

You can see photos and description of the apartment here. The floor plan is here. Management very professional, very helpful.

We arrived Saturday late morning and were "oriented" while the housekeeper finished up in the kitchen. My son, 15, hadn't slept on the way over, and I knew he'd crash fairly early, so we headed out immediately for lunch. There are actually quite a number of restaurants on rue Montpensier. We headed around the corner to A Casaluna, 6, rue de Beaujolais, passing le Grand Vefour along the way.

We ordered from the carte. Children (and me, in the end, as it was a lot of food, and I'd foregone a starter in favor of an aperitif) shared a sampler called "A Merenda" of sausage, soft white cheese of some sort ("brocciu," I think), mousse de foie de cabri, and a sort of not-too-sweet chestnut pate. All very good.

As a main I chose Civet de Sanglier au "Patrimonio" et ses "Sturzapreti" (said sturzapreti being nothing like strozzapreti, but larger, more like dumplings), very good. Son had Caviar d'Aubergines gratiné à la Tomme de Brebis, which he noted would have been better if it had been heated all the way through. Daughter (12) had Cannelloni au Brocciu, which she'd have liked better if they'd not been covered in a thin tomato sauce.

For dessert I had sabayon with citrus (excellent), son had a chestnut cream tart, and daughter had a chocolate croustillant with candied orange peel. Restaurant about half full, service friendly and efficient. Nice view of the garden of the Palais Royal from our table, and I sent the kids out to get some daylight and run in the garden while I finished the wine.

Not the best meal in the world, but certainly quite nice.

[therese]

After lunch we went shopping for basics. I had plans to go out for dinner sans enfants that evening, and we planned on being out of town on Sunday and possibly Monday, so just dropped by the Monoprix on rue de l'Opera that's near the Pyramides Metro. Cheese, bread, tomatoes, radishes, cucumber, butter, yogurt, milk, persimmons (very ripe---I gather that persimmons are not a main stay of the local diet, but all the better for me).

No touring that day, kids simply too tired to do more than run in the garden of the Palais Royal, where I could see them from the windows.

Dinner for me that evening was with a group of people I'd never met, arranged on a travel forum. They'd chosen Le Train Bleu. Not the sort of place I'd necessarily have chosen on my own, but very cool decor and surprisingly good food. I chose the short menu, with soupe de mache (very good), blanquette de veau (unexpectedly excellent), and baba au rhum (more of a rum-soaked brioche than a baba, so a bit disappointing but otherwise good). Dinner started at 8:30 and lasted until after midnight, such that I just managed to make one of the last trains home.

[therese]

Sunday morning arrived rather earlier than optimal for me, given my late (or early, depending on your point of view) return home from dinner at Le Train Bleu. I drifted back to sleep after the 7:00 AM alarm, finally waking at 8:03 (believe me, every minute counted) and somehow managing to get myself bathed and the children fed in time to scramble via Metro to the Gare Saint-Lazare to catch the 8:49 train to Deauville.

We were met in Deauville by an old friend, my student exchange partner from high school. We spent an hour or so visiting old haunts in Deauville (including the lycee and the boardwalk) and then Trouville, dining at Les Mouettes. I started with a kir chataigne, then carrot salad, then moules frites, then tarte reine claude. Son and friend started with bulots, daughter with oeuf mayonnaise. Other desserts were creme caramel, mousse au chocolat, and tarte aux pommes. Friend and I shared a bottle of cidre sec, and the waiter poured us both shots of Calvados at the end of the meal in honor of us having traveled so far (from Canada he'd initially assumed, overhearing my French).

We spent the afternoon touring Honfleur, and then home to her farm outside Deauville (horses and a few sheep) for tea followed by an early supper (I won't describe it---she doesn't cook) with her children and husband. We caught a train home from Lisieux, snug in our beds by midnight.