Every once in a while, American in Paris Richard Nahem and I play Backgammon for relaxing, yet mentally stimulating recreation. It's one of the oldest board games in the history of the world, and although luck of the roll of the dice factors into the outcome, strategy plays a more important role in the long run. I have always said that it mirrors life in the same way -- 50% luck, 50% what you do with that luck. And so luck would have it that Richard strategically invited me to join in on one of his many private three-hour tours of Paris under the guise of his tour company, "Eye Prefer Paris Tours: See the Paris Tourists Never See." The tour started Sunday morning in the bright sunshine at 10 a.m. at the Bastille Market -- certainly the largest open-air market in Paris and possibly in France. Counting the stalls could be a challenge in itself, but more of a challenge, and certainly more fun would be to simply test out all the merchants to find the best among them. Travel Oyster Blogger Geraldine Kaylor chuckled when she heard that I had been to the market with Richard and his clients -- a really sweet young couple from Chicago. She wrote that her husband said he thought I "only went to the Bastille market when we dragged you [me] there with the promise of oysters." No joke, since virtually giving up cooking or keeping anything in the fridge other than champagne, wine and pickles (which never get eaten), the market gets sadly overlooked and forgotten. Richard strolled us up and down the aisles, pointing out various specialties and providing detail on some of the things one would never see Stateside (joking all the way), which is actually almost everything! Eggs unrefrigerated, for one, not to mention the offals (heads, brains, trotters, tripe, etc. of butchered cows, pigs, lamb...) and the assortment of wild mushrooms and other produce. The market is no new wonder to a veteran Parisian such as myself, but with every visit, I am amazed by the scope of it, the merchants, the shoppers, the produce, the activity...buzzing like a hive within a few blocks that comes and goes just twice a week (Thursdays and Sundays) to enhance the lives of those who take part (except me). What is most fascinating are all the independent merchants who focus on just one thing...and make that the best of the lot...but I go as an observer, trailing behind Richard and his clients while he expounds on the benefits of this and that, leaving with nothing but the sights and smells in my memory while the fridge remains empty. It is then that I wonder how it all became so "blasé." (This French word really says it all.) Meanwhile, Richard's tours are not for the blasé -- but for those who want to discover, learn and be informed, while getting to know the City of Light from a new light...the inside one. From the market, he took us to Gérard Mulot's Marais bakery where we indulged on buttery, crispy croissants and "pains au chocolat" -- just about the best in the city. Then we wandered into La Place des Vosges, took a look at the part in the northeast corner that was ravaged by fire last week and ventured into the Damman Fréres tea boutique, one of the most beautiful shops in the Place if not in all of Paris. The 17th-century beams, even with their telltale bug-eaten age, still show signs of the original designs. It was here I left Richard and the couple to complete their tour of the Marais, including the Hôtel de Sully gardens, rue Saint-Antoine, the Hôtel de Beauvais, and finishing with rue des Rosiers. His tours take you to all parts of Paris...and he can customize the tour as you like. There are others who perform similar tours of Paris, but in different ways. Canadian Karen Henrich of "Nuit Blanche Tours: Tours for Girls Who Want to Have Fun" and "Chic Walks: Leading You to a Shopping Temptation" is here in town with a group of CEO's who are using Paris as their base for both work and pleasure, thanks to her organization. Besides being one of the best guides for all things frivolous and fun in Paris with appropriate apps for iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad, she is also the author and publisher of "Practical Paris" and publisher of my "Top 100 Cheap Insider Paris Restaurants" guide. Taking a tour with a North American who speaks your language and is culturally in tune with you can give you a look at the city of Paris in a way that you can understand it. While the official city guides can perhaps provide a more in depth account of the city's history, I doubt they'll have the same 'heart' -- and understand what nuances will really 'push your buttons.' Eye Prefer Paris certainly pushed mine! So, luck has it that you've stumbled onto these entrepreneurial Americans as I have and now it's up to you to strategize and take advantage of such luck! (Play a game of Backgammon for me...)
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Monday, May 23, 2011
Eye Prefer the Lucky Tour of Paris
A la prochaine...
Monday, January 31, 2011
Marketing and Making Your Parisian Mark
An Oyster Lunch After La Marché Bastille
Marketing and Making Your Parisian Mark
Parler Paris Nouvellettre®
Your taste of life in Paris and France
ParlerParis.com
Monday, January 31, 2011 • Paris, France
           A Note from Tom Regan |
Dear Parler Paris Reader,
My daughter told me not to miss the Andrée Putman Retrospective exhibition at the Hôtel de Ville, that I would ‘freak!’...and she was right. It took too many weeks before I found the time to sneak in an hour before closing at 5:45 p.m. on Friday afternoon while the line to enter in the freezing cold was its briefest.
Until a few years ago, I didn’t have a clue who she was. Then, at an event at the City Hall, one of the many galas celebrating “Paris, Capital de la Création,” she spoke and presented awards to young designers. A French friend attending with me was impressed by her presence, but to me she meant nothing.
Why hadn't I known about Ms. Putnam’s designs when I was developing a hunger for checkerboard and harlequin patterns? She was busy marketing modern classic designs via her company, Ecart International; inventing boutique hotels in major cities such as New York, Cologne and Paris; creating movie sets for Peter Greenaway; designing china dinnerware for the Air France Concorde and jewelry for Christofle. Her interiors include the Guerlain flagship store on the Champs-Elysées and private residences in Dublin, Miami, Paris, Rome, Shanghai, Tel Aviv and Tangiers. Her recent project in Hong Kong with its 21 stories is appropriately named “The Putman” and she says of it and her most successful projects that they are “the perfect balance between discipline and revolt.”
My daughter was right. Don’t miss the exhibit!...on until February 26th and open every day except Sundays and holidays at the Hôtel de Ville de Paris. For more information, visit:paris.fr/
Saturday afternoon I set out to peruse the annual winter sales before they disappear and we go back to paying full retail price on everything. Things are well picked over by now and the “nouvelle collections” are starting to take over more retail space than the mark-downs. The first shop to step into was an immediate success purchasing...guess what(?)...one pair of black slacks and one black skirt...at almost half price. (If you read lastWednesday’s nouvellettre®, then you know that these two items fit to a tee into the perfect Paris wardrobe).
A zillion stores later, winding my way down rue de Rivoli, through the “BHV” for a bit of torture (packed with people!), then on to rues Vieille du Temple, des Francs Bourgeois and Turenne, not a single other item called out from the sale racks to be taken home. The only other items to make their way to my arms were two bags of tea from Palais des Thés: Noix de Coco (coconut) and Earl Grey. If you haven't already braved the crowds, know that the sales officially end February 15th.
It seems crazy considering the city’s largest open-air market is a 10-minute walk from my apartment, but I hadn't visited the Marché Bastille in literally years. Excursions to the market ended when I no longer had anyone for which to cook except for myself and occasional dinner guests. Then, I entirely gave up cooking for myself and even guests started to suffer from lack of invitations. The refrigerator got clean and neatly organized with just the essentials (less is more in Paris): bottle of champagne, bottle of white wine, jar of pickles, jar of mustard, can of coffee, bottle of milk, carton of fruit juice, a few eggs (old, I'm sure) and butter. I'm very proud of its minimalism as I eat in a restaurant or café virtually every meal now even though in another lifetime friends who regularly came to dinner once called me the “Pasta Queen.”
There were a few reasons to go to the market Sunday morning with friends. One was just for fun and act like a tourist, another was to purchase fresh oysters for Sunday lunch and a third was to purchase artichokes for a dinner I am actually going to attempt to make Wednesday night for a small group of very close friends. It’s been a tradition for 14 years to make marinated artichokes on February 2nd. This date has personal significance and artichokes are the symbolic vegetable. (I can see you rolling your eyes. To that I say, “Don’t ask. You don't want to know.”)
The Marché Bastille is THE open-air market of France. It’s the largest in Paris if not all of France with four aisles of stands from Place de la Bastille along boulevard Richard Lenoir to the Bréguet-Sabin Métro station. Don’t go there hungry, don’t go without a big marketing cart and don’t go if you don’t cook, because it may torture you to see the fabulous fresh and prepared foods without buying everything you see.
(This week my sister living in New Orleans sent photos of a recent meal she had just to torture me: Louisiana blue crabs, crawfish and shrimp boiled in Zataran’s spice mix. That wasn't nice of her, was it?)
There is one stand at the market that offers a dozen different kinds of herring! If you think you can't choose between one “primeur” (fresh produce) or another, just seek out the ones where there is a queue, because the regulars will know it’s either better or cheaper than the others. The fresh fish and seafood stands make me swoon, since I’ll eat anything that swims in the sea and the spice stands are not only beautiful to look at for their warm colors, but heavenly to just visit for their intoxicating scent. The merchants can often be quite entertaining – each may behave like a kind of ‘showman,’ proud of his/her wares and willing to stand out in the freezing cold or sizzling heat for hours to serve up goodies and “schmooze” with the customers. Plan on striking up lots of fun conversation with the merchants, as well as fellow-purchasers.
I bought six large purple artichokes. The merchant couldn't tell us what the difference was between the green and purple ones – so I’ll guess we'll find out if they are tastier or not Wednesday night. I also came home with a bag of raw almonds, a bag of tiny black Niçoise olives, a few lemons and a kilo of green beans...no where near as much as if I were to regularly cook!
When I returned home, "by sheer coincidence in my email in-box was a note from old friend, Tom Regan, with a 'greeting card' -- "Just got back from the market and had to take a photo of the beautiful fresh fruit that helps make Paris living so very special!" How apropos was that?!
The market is open Thursday from 7 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and Sunday from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. and well worth a special trip. Just so you know, by Wednesday night, we will have eaten all that and the fridge will be perfectly clean again...until my daughter arrives Friday from New York, goes to the market and messes it all up again!A la prochaine...
A la prochaine...
Adrian Leeds
Editor, Parler Paris
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P.S. IMPORTANT NEWS: Since October of 2003, Parler Paris Après Midi has been an opportunity to meet with other Parler Paris readers, come for drinks, share information about what it takes to create a life here and to make friends. It's been fun and we've enjoyed every minute...but now we want to make Après Midi even more useful and fulfilling!
Beginning March 8, 2011 a guest speaker of note will come to talk about a topic of interest and then open the floor for questions and discussion!
There is no charge, except for what you drink or eat and La Pierre du Marais does request that at least one item is ordered (that's why we can do this at no cost!)
Our goal is to provide a forum of discussion where we can all learn a lot about living in France as well as a way to make friends! And we hope you will find this more fun than ever!
The speakers will be announced in advance, so be sure to read Parler Paris to learn who!
BUT DON'T FORGET OUR NEXT MEETING IS...FEBRUARY 8, 2011 AND EVERY SECOND TUESDAY OF THE MONTH, 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. (closed August)
For more information, visit parlerparis/apresmidi.html
