Let’s Go to Paris!

One of the pluses of living here in Lisboa is that Sarah and I can travel to other European destinations quickly and relatively inexpensively. So, when we noticed few months ago that Gustavo Dudamel, the brilliant young(ish) Music Director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, would be conducting Mahler’s 9th Symphony in Paris, we subscribed for tickets for the performance at the Philharmonie de Paris, pictured above.

A music friend here then mentioned they thought Mozart’s Die Zauberflote—or, in its lilting translation to French, La Flute Enchantee—might also be available, so we got lucky and also grabbed a pair of tickets for the premier performance by the Opera National de Paris at the Opera Bastille venue. It turns out Dudamel is also the Music Director of the Opera–but not conducting that production. Cool!

With the musical centerpieces of our first trip to Paris in place, what else could we do to make a five day visit most memorable, knowing we planned to return again later this year and then again next spring? If the words ”eat” and ”drink” come to mind, that’s the spirit! Another friend here recommended we follow their example and try the ”Paris by Mouth” tour of the North Marais neighborhood. Why not? Another pair of traveler friends in the US had already recommended their favorite small hotel, the Little Palace, in the 3rd arrondissement, and that location was a pebble’s throw from Le Marais. Perfect! So, food tour and accommodations all set.

Okay, what else? Museums, of course! Sarah has always loved the Impressionists, so we lined up tickets for one morning’s opening of the Musee D’Orsay on the Left Bank to minimize the crowds, and we added an afternoon flanerie to the Picasso Museum in Le Marais.

Having fallen in love a couple years ago with the Cotswolds’ Coddiwomple! with it’s similarly vague sense of wandering, we loved the oh-so-French term, Flaneur, one who strolls, idling, observing, no fixed agenda, and with all of the pleasant associations of simply taking it all in. Of course, I had visions of young Marcel and of Monsieur Swan as I turned every corner, haunting the scenes from A La Recerche du Temps Perdue . . .

So, off we flew!

First up, memorable dining: simple is usually best! On our first afternoon, after checking in at the Little Palace, we simply wandered, saw an unexpected arch in the middle of an intersection, and, passing around it and the famous Renaissance Theater, we liked the look of a narrow, cafe lined alleyway, and settled on the inviting Bistrot Renaissance. It was that awkward 16h/4pm hour when most places weren’t even open, but the young staff recommended sharing a couple traditions: Steak Tartare with frites and simple salad, and a Duck Magret with snap peas, mushrooms and a delightful bernaise-like sauce. Okay, we’ve arrived! Oh, and a bottle of Sancerre, of course. What a marvelous start to our first visit to Paris!

The next morning, our first, we couldn’t resist a stroll to The French Bastards on Rue Saint-Denis where we found our favorite croissants and cafe au lait. We noticed something with them that Marie, our Paris by Mouth guide, confirmed for us later that day: the freshest, most perfectly done croissants and baguettes will “sing” with a delicate crackle when you tear off a chunk–and of course, the only way to eat either of them is by tearing off an inviting chunk! As usual, when we find a place that clicks, we return as often as possible, so we became morning regulars at the Bastards and deemed their croissants our very favorites.

But a highlight and great learning experience was our Paris by Mouth tour. Marie, our guide, shared secrets of the bakers’ art–do you know what to look for that shows a baguette is hand made? Do you know how many hours a fresh baguette will last? Right, only a very few! We experienced Jacques Genin, an amazing chocolatier whose imagination and creativity took us to new heights, as with his dark chocolate with spearmint ganache! We discovered and savored charcuterie at Maison Verot including duck pâté en croute and goose rillettes. And we learned that stinky cheese tastes much much better than it smells, with an array of fromage from Jouannault. Marie coordinated our tasting during the stroll and we finished sampling some boxed wine . . . yes, boxed wine in Paris! Bibovino, in the Marché des Enfants Rouge covered market, served as our finale where she pulled everything together and convinced us of the merits of a 3L box of, say, a Le Clos Rouge Terrasses du Larzac blend of the Rhone’s iconic GSC trio, with a bladder to keep out the dread oxygen and enhance the vintner’s intentions. Quite nice, actually, although I think we both would have preferred a more traditional wine shop/cafe experience.

Needless to say, each day, we wandered and dined our way mostly around Le Marais and west toward Les Halles and the Palais-Royal where we discovered a few of the marvelous historic passages or covered shopping galleries. Of course, Sarah scored with multiple trips to Lil Weasel, a charming knit shop in the Passage du Grand Cerf. Oui!

Of course, our two concerts were mind boggling, as each of the two venues, with their fluid, flowing, contemporary designs, especially within the performing halls, were inspiring visually and awesomely transparent in their acoustics. Dudamel’s Mahler 9, conducted lovingly without a score, demonstrated, as Sarah put it, that he truly owned the piece, and it granted us a touching, lavish performance from his Opera National de Paris Orchestra, with his exquisitely prolonged ending silence taking us beyond mere rapture. Mountain top, for sure!

The next night, the opera company’s premier of The Magic Flute, nearly went off without us, a I had confused the start time for the performance. At a bit before 19h/7pm, sitting in our Little Palace hotel room, I told Sarah we needed to leave in 10 minutes so that we would have plenty of time for the 20h/8pm performance . . . OOPS! Uh, oh, the opera’s curtain was actually at 19h30/7:30pm and the Opera Bastille was a lengthy Uber ride . . . even before we noticed the stopped traffic throughout the city!! (Note, this virtually never happens in Lisboa so it isn’t much of a consideration for us!) Our driver spoke no English but we were able to let him know our timing problem so he tried a few side streets looking for a faster way; but alas, we came to a standstill almost 1km away with zero chance of moving! Sarah and I looked at each other, said merci, and hopped out! “Bon courage, mes amis!” our driver shouted after us! Courage it was, and we made it to the Bastille just in time, escorted to our end of the row seats at the edge of a precipitous balcony just before the lights dimmed. Wow! Another marvelous performance with the venue showing its pride with one of the deepest, longest stages we’ve ever seen, with water dumped into a “hole” at ground level and cascading down from an opening far above for some marvelous visual trickery! All in all, some simple, brilliant stagecraft that showcased the engaging, powerful voices. Papageno, as usual, stole the show.

At any rate, we continued our daily palate explorations homing in along the Rue de Montorgueil area of the 2nd, where we had escargot at L’escargot de Montorgueil; brilliant steak and potatoes at the tiny downstairs bar in Robert & Louise, Restaurant de Feu, where the meats are indeed grilled in the fireplace; and a magnificent, unique tasting luncheon at Aux Lyonnaise. Oh, and of course many more French Bastards croissants!

So, our musical and artwork and other feasts completed, what else might make our first trip to Paris special. Okay, how about we connect serendipitously with not one but two other old friends we haven’t seen in years . . . who just happened to also be vacationing in Paris while we were there? Well, yeah! What a delight to reconnect over a meal (what else, right?) and share some of the joys of our Paris experiences. Great to enjoy a cafe au lait with Betsy, one of our DC days’ young friends who shared some of her Paris tips; and a hearty thanks again to our old friends Robert and Sue for treating us to that Aux Lyonnais experience in honor of our 50th! Our turn when you visit Lisboa!

So, an exquisite first trip to Paris, as Sarah and I were overwhelmed with the city’s grand charm and scale, its intense flavors and aromas, and, yes, even the singing of its baguettes and croissants! Overall, it seemed much like our beloved Lisboa but on a high dose of steroids, or, as Swan’s father might say in paraphrase from A La Recherche de Temps Perdue: something one might want to do fairly often . . . but only a little at a time! So, a memorable trip filled with croissants and concerts and chocolates and COVID . . . yes, COVID! Sacrebleu! After having avoided the virus for more than two years, in India and England and the US and Spain and here in Portugal, having vaccinated and boosted and masked pretty much all of that time, we finally collected two cases on our travels to Paris. We tested positive a few days after we returned to Lisboa, but, thankfully, we were able to ride it out as comfortably as possible and are now well on the mend, getting back to our normal routine. We realized we had gotten a bit lazy and careless, so it pays to still be safe out there, especially in crowded situations. At any rate, this will NOT be another story, right? Right! So, we will enjoy our simpler lives in Lisboa as the fall season begins with our first symphony concert at the Gulbenkian coming up. No Uber, no taxi, no crowds, just a 15 minute stroll . . .