Doreen will be writing some more of her stories about "stuff" here in Paris, and I will continue with the blow by blow accounts of what we have experienced.

As you all know, we did not have much luck initially finding the oeufs au cocotte when we started. This is actually a trend that we have seen with restaurants, galleries, stores, and any number of other things in Paris. It seems that we are just at the wrong place or at the wrong time for things to be perfect. But that is the way life IS here, as far as I can tell. You often want to take what you can get, because to do not know what you will be getting next.

For example, We were walking around one afternoon, looking at some galleries that Doreen had as recommendations from friends. We took the metro to the general area of interest, and started walking towards one gallery that our friend Keith said he has never found open. As we got out of the metro station, one of the restaurants had listed "Paupiettes" as their daily special (It is a stuffed veal roll. I have made them back in the US, partly because of the name, partly because I like stuff steaks). I noted this in case we could not find another place to eat, and we walked on to the gallery to see what we could see.

The gallery was closed, and it has been closed every other time that WE saw it as well. Cruising in the neighborhood, we stopped into another gallery for a short stay. I will let Doreen describe what we say, and how we were treated (Not badly, in short) and walked down the street to find some lunch.

We passed a place called "La Caliche" which is the name of a type of carriage – not a type of soil in West Texas. We looked at the menu that was on the street – and it was ON the street. There was a stand on the sidewalk with the daily specials and the prices and all that jazz. We looked, and thought about it, and since they had ANOTHER versions of eggs in buckets, we decided to walk in. As soon as we opened the door, the manager came over and said that they were closed, except for special guests! There were probably six people eating in the place. She said that we could come back at night, or later in the day. We looked at each other and left – what could you do?

So as our backup plan, we walked to the place that had the Paupiettes as a special. As we approached, they had ANOTHER sign with Lapin as the special of the day. I looked at the sign I saw as we walked out of the metro and there was still Paupiettes listed, but I was not optimistic. Sure enough, the Paupiettes were from the day before, and they had not gotten around to changing that sign (It was about 1:30 PM). Ah me. The waiter tried to talk us into the Lapin, but I just did not want to eat rabbit. So we had something else, and were talked into an expensive, mediocre wine to go with the meal. We will not go back.

We ultimately DID eat at La Caliche the following day. I will say that the food there was great, the ouefs au cocotte were wonderful with sorrel, and all the food was prepared with care and concern. And eaten with spoons.

The most amazing thing about the lunch was that we met two people from Austin, TX there who were on their honeymoon! Not only that, but Doreen and Andrew Cooper (New wife – Robbie) had several friends and acquaintances in common! Even MORE of a small world story is that he is the son of the woman whose house we tried to buy last year! The more I travel, the more I believe that there are fewer that six degrees of separation in the world.

As we wandered around Paris, we found a museum that I had read about earlier, and that brother Matt had wanted to visit on his trip here. It is call the Orfila museum, and is housed in the medical school of Rene Descartes University. It was about the strangest place I have yet been to here. It is on the eighth floor of the building, not easy to find. We walked around and around trying to find the place, finally figured out where it had to be, and asked some students. We took the tiny elevator to the place, and found it locked, with a note that said to go to the sixth floor to get permission to enter. We just looked around at the exhibits outside of the locked doors and were amazed enough as it was. There were inflated, dried horse intestines, reassembled birds, snakes, lizards, and fish, mummified people, and all sorts of parts (Parts you don’t really want to hear about) stored in jars filled with formaldehyde. It was VERY spooky. Rather than going to ask permission for access, we figured that we would do that while Matt was here, so we simply went home for a quite afternoon.

The night of April 13^th we were lucky enough to get tickets to see the Ballet – which is held in the Opera building (Those of you who are Phantom of the Opera fans will know that this Opera house is where that musical is set.) The Ballet was Cinderella, the Nureyev version. That means that although it was the original Prokofiev score, the dance was set in 1930s Hollywood. Cinderella’s evil stepmother was a stage mom for her two step sisters, who where, of course, neither as talented nor beautiful as she was. The fairy godmother was a producer, and the leading man was Prince Charming. It was a delightful performance, though some of the costumes in the first act left something to be desired.

The Opera house itself is amazing. It has all the filigree and baubles that you could expect from a Second Empire masterpiece. (It was build while Napoleon III was in power) The entranceway was grand, and the stage and auditorium take your breath away. It is the largest performing art stage in the world – you can get over 400 people on stage at one time. The auditorium holds something like 2,200 people, and while not the biggest may be the most spectacular. Chagall redid the ceiling paining in the 1960s. Doreen didn’t care for it that much, but I enjoyed the playfulness that it added to a rather detailed and fussy interior.

The next day we took off for Mont Saint Michel, but that is another story.

BACK TO THE GRAND TOUR HOMEPAGE!