Friday 27 December - Meeting Veronica.

We went out to CDG in good time to meet Veronica off the overnight flight from Montreal. She has a cold and was exhausted. She slept for a short time before going to Bistrot D'Id for lunch - wild boar and scallops. It was overcast and there had been some rain but we went down to the Square des Batignolles and then did some shopping.

We came back from the airport in a refurbished train - much better than the one that had taken us out.

Thursday 26 December - Flaneurs on rue Saint Honore

The weather was so good today that we just wanted to go out and walk around.  Lots of blue sky with a few clouds, light winds and temperatures around 10C. Courcelles is a grand avenue with a row of apartments looking on to Parc Monceau. There is a flower market at Ternes which is a pleasant shopping street.

This is a common way of displaying carpets for sale in street markets.  Rue des Ternes

We then changed direction and walked into town along the Rue du Faubourg Saint Honore and eventually the Rue Saint Honore.  There are lots of high end shops selling expensive chocolate etc. and the area becomes more exclusive as we approached the Elysee Palace. There were a lot of police and military around here together with a number of news cameramen. Maybe the president was just receiving the bad news about the increase in unemployment. We learned the next day that today someone drove a car into the gates and was taken to hospital.

Eventually we came to La Madeleine and lots of tourists.

Back to the 17th where we had lunch at a creperie - galette de Coquilles St. Jacques (scallops) in an Emmenthal sauce with leeks.

A lovely day for wandering around.

Wednesday 25 December - Christmas Day

Despite dire weather predictions Christmas Day started off dry and sunny.

Not too many people in the Square des Batignolles.

This is a small Wallace fountain that we walk past every time we come to the Square des Batignolles - first time I have noticed it

 

It clouded over later but stayed warm and we enjoyed our walk down to Le Grand Colbert. The Gare Saint Lazare was not too busy and even the military seemed relaxed. The line up to get into Burger King was not as long as it has been on other days. A man was playing the piano and singing to a pretty large crowd. He received an enthusiastic ovation and a couple of soldiers were recording him on their phones. As usual, the Grand Colbert meal was first rate. One of our servers was a young student who was spending three months here as part of her restaurant management course. She said this was the first time she had had to work Christmas Day. Mary started with her traditional pickled herring and then had scallops baked in the shell.  I started with foie gras in a rich fig sauce then kidneys. Both were good. For desert Mary had tarte tatin while I had apple sorbet with a slug of Calvados.

We walked via the Palais Royale and Place Vendome to an organ concert at La Madeleine. It was terrible. The organist seemed to think that loud was the only way to go and the tunes were lost in the cacophony. I was looking forward to the overture to the Mastersingers but the themes were lost in the overall muddy roar. Sitting in this dark and dingy church being assaulted by loud noises was not was not a pleasant and we left before the end.

The Christmas lights were just beginning to show up from the steps of La Madeleine

Tuesday 24 December - Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve this year was very similar to last year except that there was rain or drizzle most of the day and the winds were heavy at times.  I went out to shop for our meal quite early before there were very many people around and I was able to get what we wanted quite quickly.

I took time out to look at the Wallace fountain in the little square on Levis at Legendre.

 

The meal was as follows.

It only took 15 minutes for the bleeding to stop

Terrine of salmon and smoked salmon

Duck terrine en croute with pistacios and duck pate de foie

Cheese - clockwise from bottom left - Emmenthal, Camembert, Langres, Livarot

Caramel buche de noel from Divas et chocolats.  The lady assured me it was for just two people.

I took a number of pictures of the shops on the rue de Levis last year.  Rather than repeat them just look at last year's blog:
http://colinchurcher2012.blogspot.fr/2012/12/monday-24-december-christmas-eve.html

Monday 23 December - Flaneurs again

I went for a quick walk down to the Square des Batignolles this morning and saw one of the new trains that are being delivered for some of the services out of Saint-Lazare.

This is the best I could do from the rue des Dames bridge.

Mary and I then went to Blanche and walked down to Les Halles along the rue du Faubourg Montmartre, the rue de Montmartre and the rue de Montorgueil.

After the Pigalle, Saint-Georges puts on an elegant face.

This patisserie/chocolaterie always provides plenty of interest although the prices are outrageous.

We wonder whether this is a chocolate toucan

We made a detour through the Passages Jouffroy etc.

The Passages are always interesting with the blend of specialty shops and restaurants as well as a hotel and museum.

Montourgueil is a street market similar to Levis although a little more upscale.  It is surprising what one will see if one looks up above the ground floor - a golden snail.

Sunday 22 December - Flaneurs

A lazy day today. It was drizzling when we first went out but the weather improved and there were patches of blue sky later on.  First order of business was to buy dinner of roast chicken, roast potatoes, fresh asparagus and fungus - oyster, chanterel and shitaki. Desert was a couple of pastries from Diva et Chocolats.

We go into Diva et Chocolats for the excellent baguettes but seem to come out with patisseries as well.

The mairie has set the free roundabouts for the kids at Batignolles. There weren't too many kids there so when the ride finished there was a mad scramble for a different place rather having to go back to the end of the line.

At the end of the ride the many parents would come on and move their kids from one vehicle to another

The parents job was to retrieve their kids and install them in a new vehicle.  With few kids around those that were there could have several rides in a row.

We walked around Batignolles and through the Square back to the apartment to sample some newly acquired cheeses, camembert, langres, emmental. All very good.

This evening marked the first time we have cooked here - fried fungus.

Saturday 21 December - Chartres

In spite of the complete shut down of metro lines 2 and 6 yesterday afternoon for about four hours they were both working well this morning and we made a quick trip to Montparnasse.  Line six comes out of the tunnel just after Trocadero and crosses the Seine with good views of the Eiffel Tower. This morning there was an added bonus of a red sky.  The train to Chartres was a new TER double deck electric multiple unit which was smooth, quiet and comfortable. It took about an hour.

The stone on the front has been cleaned

The stained glass came to life when the sun shone through it

Chartres was cold and there was a biting wind at times. It is pretty difficult to miss the cathedral and we made straight for this landmark. The front has been cleaned and it makes a fine sight.  The interior is pretty dark except the west part which has been cleaned. The cathedral boasts the largest collection of medieval stained glass - as does York. The sun shone through at times and the windows came to life. Some of the blue glass cannot be reproduced today because the formula has been lost. However, the downside is that very little light gets in making the interior very dark. The church is not doing a good job of cleaning and there were cobwebs over some of the stonework.  A vacuum cleaner with a soft brush would make a lot of sense. Maybe there should be an admission charge which would produce revenue to allow the diocese to keep up with the necessary maintenance.

There was an extremely well frequented market.  There were serious line ups for everything.  At the charcuterie there was a long queue in spite of six people working behind the counter.  One couple were selling whole rotisserie chickens. They had three banks of chickens on the go in different states of readiness.   There must have been at least 150 birds on the grill.  Following an unsuccessful attempt to obtain cell phone use through Bouygues we cut our losses and had lunch at a good bistrot. Mary started with a fish soup while I had the foie gras. We continued with cod and magret de canard, all very good. We had not planned to have desert but the cafe gourmand included macarons for which Chartres prides itself. I had apple pie flamed with Calvados. 

Cafe gourmand Chartres style

We were close to the market which was closing down for the day. We watched a fat marmelade tabby cat walk down the street and into the market presumably to help clear up bits of meat and fish. It was walking purposefully and had obviously done this before.

The painting on this building had been done earlier this year

The river Eure flows in a valley to the east of the town and we followed it using two of the three historic stone bridges.  This area has many narrow winding streets.

It was getting colder and we made our way back to the station walking around the outside of the cathedral and used the free wifi to download today's Ottawa Citizen. 

The ride back was again in one of the new comfortable trains. SNCF staff had thoughtfully locked all the toilets on the train. Saves having to clean them.
Click here to see all pictures taken at Chartres:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/colinchurcher/sets/72157638903923255/