Bordeaux and Palmiers

If you read my other blog, you’ll know that my decision to visit the Journée des Plantes this weekend was based more  on the fact that I was not in the mood to do my homework than on a true love for plants, but it was a welcome surprise.

The festival has place twice every year in Courson (in the spring and in the fall) since it opened in 1982 after the Association des Parcs Botaniques de France asked the château to host their annual festival, and people come from all over France to visit and to buy and sell flowers, herbs, trees, seeds and shrubbery. The day we went, it was chock full of people wandering the grounds and looking at all the beautiful things.

It takes place at a big château in the suburbs just south of Paris, which you can see in the background of this picture. The château originally belonged to Nicolas Lamoignon, and it was inhabited by a cousin of Napoleon, the Duke of Padua.

I don’t know too much about plants, so as Alex and I walked around, we mostly just pointed out the ones we liked. I liked this ivy.

And these weird, pricky-looking pink flowers.

And these fuzzy grape-ish things. (I’m very scientific with my flower identification.)

Cousin It was there too. He enjoyed the flowers as well.

I couldn’t help taking pictures of fountains…

… even though they’re not flowers. Or even really plants at all.

Once you were done looking at flowers, this activity was also an option, which amused me greatly. If you don’t speak French… it means, “climb a tree.” There was a guy with a harness and everything. I found it rather funny to see a full-grown man in a tree.

Back once again to clue you in on where to get cheap food in this city of gastronomie.

Under 5 euros
Marché de Grenelle- If you can’t force yourself out of bed before noon on a Sunday, then consider hitting this market (by the Motte Piquet-Grenelle Metro stop) on Wednesday. Regardless, until noon on both days, you can peruse the normal assortment of produce, fish, meat and clothing vendors, but don’t miss the paella. About halfway down the market is a stand selling paella by the kilo, with a chicken drumstick thrown in as well. A portion for one person is only a meager 2.50 (approximately… it’s sold by weight, remember), so go pick up some fruit to go with your meal… or get paella for two and eat it all yourself. I won’t tell anyone.

Under 10 euros

Mezzo di Pasta- If you’re getting a little tired of sandwiches, panini and kebabs as quick, cheap food, why not try this pasta place? There are several locations all over Paris: just check their website, (  HYPERLINK “http://www.mezzodipasta.fr”  www.mezzodipasta.fr ) for the one closest to you. A menu with a drink, meal and dessert is only 6.90, and there are several combinations of pasta shapes and sauces to choose from.

Under 20 euros

Chartier- At first the prices seem impossible… salads for under three euros? Steak (the most expensive menu item at time of printing) goes for just 16 euros. You can eat like a king at this traditional French restaurant, which has been around forever, and not break your wallet. The varied menu changes constantly, so you’ll have no fear of growing bored if you decide to make Chartier (7, rue du Faubourg Montmartre) one of your regular stops. The restaurant doesn’t take reservations and it’s not really a secret, so be sure to show up early and be prepared for a little wait, but the food, and the prices, are completely worth it.

Petit fer à cheval
30, rue Veille du Temple

This sweet café and restaurant in the Marais district of Paris is one of the best places for people watching in the whole city. The neighborhood of the Marais is frequented by the Jewish population of Paris, but it is also the home of the famed l’As du Fallafel, which is one of the best (often declared “the best”) falafel joint in the city, which draws both Parisians and tourists to the fourth.

“But why the Marais?” you may ask. There are so many other neighborhoods in Paris that are just as fun and lively, if not more so. However, the Marais has one thing that these other sections do not: it was completely unaffected by the Haussmannisation of Paris that occurred in the late 1800s under the rule of Napoleon the Third. The Haussmann renovations replaced the tiny, spidering streets of Paris with the huge boulevards we see now, however most of the Jewish ghetto remained untouched, and so places such as Petit fer à cheval (the little horseshoe) were unaffected.

Here, the streets are impossibly narrow and the sidewalks even tinier. Most people forego cars in favor of wandering the tiny streets, window shopping or picking up some Jewish food from one of the many restaurants here. Petit fer à cheval, with its tiny terrace, the perfect size for this neighborhood, is right along one of the larger (but by no means large) streets, a perfect location for watching the variety of people who like to spend their time here, in the old Jewish ghetto.

I absolutely love cultural festivals, as you can probably tell from the way I described all of the ones we went to this summer in Paziols. I love to learn things about other cultures, but I especially love the way that cultural festivals are laid out, with booths devoted to different aspects of the culture. There’s something so satisfying about even an attempt at categorizing an entire part of some group’s culture and values small subsects that can be displayed at booths so that everyone can come and see and learn. I’ve always wondered what it would be like to attend a cultural festival about my own New Yorker-Catholic school upbringing… but I can’t see how that would be nearly as interesting to anyone else as the sorts of festivals I’ve seen, like the Fête des Abricots or the Fête du Vin in Tuchan.

My favorite one of all, though, is the fête des vendanges de Montmarte, which happens every year in October. I went last year, and I absolutely loved it. Last year, I only went one day, and I wandered around the “village” that was set up, where vendors from different parts of France could sell wine and products from their region. That part of the festival is still happening, but it’s this weekend. However, this year the festival is lasting a whole week, and Alex and I attended the opening ceremonies on Monday.

Last year’s theme was Georges Brassens. It was fine, but this year’s theme appealed to me even more: Montmarte fête son cinéma… Montmartre celebrates its cinema. Monday we went to a sort of variety show near Pigalle that headlined the cult film Fantômas as its main attraction, but actually consisted of more than three hours of performers including a juggler, bands such as the Fatal Picards and Pigalle and even a group that lipsynched and danced to an assortment of songs. The entire show was meant to be a tribute to the Gaumont Palace, and they also screened several films that took place around this area from the early 1900s and the very first days of cinema.

My parents are coming this weekend, and I don’t know how keen they are on checking out some of the other bits of this festival, but I know that if I had more time on my hands (i.e., if I hadn’t had to work at 8 this morning or stay in class until 9:30 tonight), I would definitely be going to everything offered. I hope I at least get a chance to see some of the things that are going on this weekend!

If you’re in Paris this week, you should definitely check out this festival… it’s an amazing experience to not only soak up French and Parisian culture, but the culture that is so specific to one of my favorite areas of Paris: Montmartre.

The Official Program:

http://www.fetedesvendangesdemontmartre.com/programme.html 

Paris is a city that is still alive with history: every street has ten million stories, most of which remain hidden. However, there are several places in Paris whose stories are a bit less well-known, and it can be fun to stop by and see them.

1. Les Deux Magots
6, Place Saint Germain des Pres
6th arrondissement

Travel guides publish the fact that this is the café where Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir met to drink coffee and write. However, what is often not included in this information is that it is also the place where Sartre helped to plan the infamous students’ revolution of May 1968.

2. The Ritz Bar
15, Place Vendome
1st arrondissement

Rumor has it that Ernest Hemingway stormed this bar at the Ritz Hotel armed with a handgun at the end of the Second World War and personally liberated the bar and its patrons from the Nazis. After the liberation, he apparently ordered a round for all present.

3. Harry’s Bar
5, rue Daunou
2nd arrondissement

Although Harry’s is famously the birthplace of the celebrated morning cocktail, the Bloody Mary, the bar also claims to get the US election results right every year by means of a straw poll.

4. Shakespeare and Company
37, rue Bucherie
5th arrondissement

This bookshop in the Latin Quarter has been home to many a wandering writer throughout the years: the owner and founder, George Whitman, used to live in the attic and allow such writers as Allen Ginsberg (and, legend has it, any American traveler with nowhere to sleep) to come stay a few nights.

I’m back with more secrets for where to spend the fewest centimes for the most bouffe.

Under 5 euros

Ed- Did you know you can have a full French picnic for under five euro? Baguettes at the supermarket Ed run at less than a euro, a two-pack of pâté (either one de campagne and one forestière or two foie de canard) runs at about ninety centimes. All you need now is a Camembert, which is usually about two euros, but often sales will let them go for even cheaper, and a bottle of wine: there’s a 2006 Bordeaux that runs for 1.35 that’s pretty good. Now you just need a buddy to share with and a nice place to sit.

Under 10 euros

Bar à Soupes- Bar à Soupes (33, rue de Charonne) serves more than just soup… but for €7 a bowl (with wine), why would you venture elsewhere? Plus there’s no room for boredom, each of the six soups is a daily special, the choices rotated with the availability of fresh seasonal ingredients. You can even pay 6.50 for a sampler platter of three soups of your choice, plus a small roll.

Under 20 euros

Le Serpent Qui Danse- Le Serpent Qui Danse (51, rue de Montreuil) in the eleventh is famous for their raclette… and for good reason. Order the raclette à deux with a friend, and for 18 euros each, you’ll get unlimited potatoes, green salad and pickles, meat of your choice (ham, “oriental” which includes pork-free sausages and cold cuts, or vegetarian, with just veggies), and a huge wedge of raclette cheese on a melting contraption between the two of you. Melt the cheese onto your plate full of other goodies, and enjoy. And don’t take “unlimited” as a challenge… the cheese definitely defeated me.

One of the best hints I can possibly give you about Paris is to take one day (or a few, if you have the time) to just wander around, with no agenda at all. For me, that’s when some of the best experiences have happened.

Of course, there are better wandering neighborhoods than others. If you wander in the first, you may, like I did, encounter a political rally you didn’t have any idea about. One sunny spring afternoon, I was walking down the rue de Rivoli, only to find myself confronted with Jean-Marie LePen and a group of Front Nationale supporters waving French flags and singing the Marseillaise.

The fourth, also known as the Marais, is a very good wandering neighborhood. This is the Jewish quarter, so if you come on a Friday or Saturday, you probably won’t see anything at all, but on Sundays, when the rest of Paris is closed, the Marais is great for window shopping and testing and trying new foods from all of the Jewish specialty stores.

The fifth, known sometimes as the Latin Quarter (or Quartier Latin) is always bustling, especially in the small streets behind the St. Michel Métro stop. There are always people in front of restaurants, calling to invite you in, as well as tourists and locals stopping by for a famous kebab sandwich. The hustle bustle environment of this neighborhood is a good enough reason for a wander, even if you don’t have a particular sight (like Notre-Dame Cathedral, which is right next door) to see.

The eighteenth is usually known as Montmartre, and it’s probably one of the best neighborhoods for pure wandering. The tiny streets were never destroyed and replaced with huge boulevards, like in much of the rest of Paris. Here, you can wander for days and never get bored. You may also run into a random festival, like the Montmartre Wine Festival, which happens every fall.

If you have the time to really get to know Paris instead of darting from one tourist attraction to another, you will truly understand how so many people have fallen in love with the city, and that will be incentive enough to come back time and time again.

This is for all the students out there in Pris who are keeping every cent as close to their wallets as possible. Everyone has to eat, which is why I am prepared to share some of my little secrets with you. Check back here every once in awhile for some cheap eats, so you can save the rest of your money for Kronenbourg. I mean textbooks.

Under 5 euros

Café Tribal- Gulp. I can’t believe I’m telling you this. At Café Tribal… you can eat for free. I swear! I’m not lying to you. Go to Café Tribal (3, Cours des Petites-Ecuries) on Wednesday or Thursday evenings, and when you buy a five euro drink, you get free moules frites (mussels and fries). Apparently on Fridays and Saturdays, you can get chicken couscous, but I have yet to sample this particular meal. Just arrive early; there’s already a crowd of regulars who know this, and they’re all going to be clambering for a seat. The last time I was there, some people stole chairs from the restaurant across the street so that they could sit at Tribal.

Under 10 euros

Latin Quarter- If you haven’t been to the Latin Quarter yet… where have you been? In the fifth (Metro: St. Michel), not only can you find great bars and a lot of fun people our age, but you can get some of the cheapest food in the whole city. For less than ten euros, you can get a huge kebab (usually lamb or chicken) in a pita with tomatoes, lettuce, fries (yes, fries in your sandwich), and sauce blanche, which is a creamy yogurt and garlic sauce. Ask for sauce chile if you like it hot, and get a can of soda to make it a meal. You could also hit Maoz, the falafel chain, and get three crispy falafel balls in a pita with as much salad and condiments you can pile on.

Under 20 euros

Sorrentino- For a little bit more, you can have a sit-down meal at Sorrentino (4, rue Monttessuy). This is real, classic Italian with Italian waiters and Italian wine (if you’re willing to spring a bit more). Mains are all less than twenty euro, and the food is all to die for. You can’t go wrong with the daily specials. Just know that it’s closed on Sundays.