LIZ SAYS: A girlfriend from Madison just got married. They came to France for
their honeymoon and spent a almost one and half weeks in Paris.
My wedding present to them was to show them around and make sure they never had a bad meal.
Now that the happy couple are jetting their way back to Madison, I have to say, the wedding present was a success.
And it was a success for me as well as them. I really hated to see them go. It was so nice to have one of my Madison friends here. I got all excited showing them the places and things that I liked.
The Honeymooners will be called Ralph and Alice from now forward.
Ralph took us took us out to eat a couple of times at places we would never have gone, and it was fantastic.
One place was famous for their roast chicken, and it was good. As Dick put it, it was old school French. The chicken was simple and delish, roasted and resting in is buttery juice. Ralph picked a very good wine, and we had 3 kinds of potatoes, all of them good. One of he potato dishes was some sort of goose fat fried mass with, as Ralph put it, a creamy center.
He also took us to a 'foodie' place called Yam'Tcha, where we had a spectacular wine and an amazing meal. Normally it takes 3 months to get into this place. It’s a mystery why the skies opened the way they did for Ralph. The restaurant has a set, surprise menu, which was pretty daunting. I was skeptical, after all, I am a kind of a picky eater.
I did eat things I never would have picked if I had a choice, but it was all done beautifully. Petite servings of 'Chinese meets French' dishes that were paired with teas. There were 5 courses I think, each with a new tiny teapot and a new flavor of tea. I have to refer back to my photos for the exact food line up, but I couldn't eat everything. The servings were small but not tiny, and I actually drank quite a bit of the tea. But the final course before dessert was hell on a plate. Everyone else loved their duck breast on spicy eggplant. But, if there are two things I can not stand, it's 1. Duck and 2.Eggplant.
It was almost like a joke when they brought the plates. I just started laughing, and TL was poking me in the side. But it was fine because after the sea bass on buttered garlicky mushrooms, I was stuffed. We closed the little place down. It only has 22 seats, I think. It was raining furiously and we did not want to go outside, but when the staff was all lined up, looking at us, we had to relent. They were actually very nice. The chef talked to us and seemed delighted that we enjoyed our meal.
My wedding present to them was to show them around and make sure they never had a bad meal.
Now that the happy couple are jetting their way back to Madison, I have to say, the wedding present was a success.
And it was a success for me as well as them. I really hated to see them go. It was so nice to have one of my Madison friends here. I got all excited showing them the places and things that I liked.
The Honeymooners will be called Ralph and Alice from now forward.
Ralph took us took us out to eat a couple of times at places we would never have gone, and it was fantastic.
One place was famous for their roast chicken, and it was good. As Dick put it, it was old school French. The chicken was simple and delish, roasted and resting in is buttery juice. Ralph picked a very good wine, and we had 3 kinds of potatoes, all of them good. One of he potato dishes was some sort of goose fat fried mass with, as Ralph put it, a creamy center.
He also took us to a 'foodie' place called Yam'Tcha, where we had a spectacular wine and an amazing meal. Normally it takes 3 months to get into this place. It’s a mystery why the skies opened the way they did for Ralph. The restaurant has a set, surprise menu, which was pretty daunting. I was skeptical, after all, I am a kind of a picky eater.
I did eat things I never would have picked if I had a choice, but it was all done beautifully. Petite servings of 'Chinese meets French' dishes that were paired with teas. There were 5 courses I think, each with a new tiny teapot and a new flavor of tea. I have to refer back to my photos for the exact food line up, but I couldn't eat everything. The servings were small but not tiny, and I actually drank quite a bit of the tea. But the final course before dessert was hell on a plate. Everyone else loved their duck breast on spicy eggplant. But, if there are two things I can not stand, it's 1. Duck and 2.Eggplant.
It was almost like a joke when they brought the plates. I just started laughing, and TL was poking me in the side. But it was fine because after the sea bass on buttered garlicky mushrooms, I was stuffed. We closed the little place down. It only has 22 seats, I think. It was raining furiously and we did not want to go outside, but when the staff was all lined up, looking at us, we had to relent. They were actually very nice. The chef talked to us and seemed delighted that we enjoyed our meal.
They called us taxis, but there was no sign of them, so I went to the corner to investigate.
As I suspected, they were sitting out of sight of the restaurant, running up the meter. Scoundrels! But, I am pretty sure they knew the restaurant, so they knew we were having a big night out. Plus, with the rain, they had us captive.
I discovered a practice the cabbies engage in,running up the meter.
In Paris, if you call a taxi, they come with money on the meter.
Their logic is, when you call and they take the fare, they start the meter. So, pretty much every time you order a taxi to, say, the airport, it comes with 17€ already on the meter.
The driver often sits just out of sight and lets the meter run. You can see them sitting around, with their cars running and their occupied lights on, reading.
It is best to just flag one on the street or go to a taxi stand. But, if it has been raining all day, the taxi stands are usually empty. Plus we where in the Les Halles area, a part of Paris that is undergoing a huge renovation. Therefore, we had no clue where to find a stand. So, it's just a normal Paris thing. You know you are getting screwed, and there is nothing you can do about it, so you just buy a bike!
It was a lot of fun taking the honeymooners around. It was also fun calling them the honeymooners ;-).
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