Day 2 got better quickly.
The bus dropped us at the customs entry, under construction,
with all the charm of LaGuardia at its worst.
However, the line moved quickly. Entry into France has never
been difficult for me, and this was routine. Baggage arrived promptly and off I
went.
Well, eventually. I had to change terminals to find my
public transit to the city, which meant taking the “OrlyVal” shuttle train to
the South Terminal. That was fine, except the station was all glass, the
temperature hotter than I thought, and I felt I was baking for 10 minutes until
the train arrived – not what I needed at that point.
To the South terminal, and a walk to the 7 tramline. In a
bit of a daze, I didn’t find an ATM or coffee stop, just headed for the stop.
That meant I was counting on my credit card working at the machines at the stop
– never a sure thing overseas, where machines sometimes take U.S. cards and
sometimes they don’t and there’s no telling when they will and when they won’t.
(In Germany in 2007, it was nein across the board.)
I had a “Navigo Decouvrte” card from 2011 – the French
transit card, which requires a photo – so all I needed to do was refill it. And
voila! The credit card worked, which considering I had no cash, was a very real blessing.
I bought a monthly pass and was all set. Very handy card, just wave it at
turnstiles, no inserting, swiping, etc.
The 7 tram runs to the 7 metro at Villejuif Louis Aragon …
eventually. Nice, modern trams and a
pleasant ride.
Metro ride to the Sully-Morland stop, about 20 minutes, and
come out to a beautiful day on the banks of the Seine. Cross the Pont de Sully
onto the Ile St. Louis and arrive at the flat where my friends and I were
staying.
Gorgeous place, all modern conveniences in an historic
building—the shower is to die for. Just lovely.
So, off to lunch, where we wind up at the Vins de Pyreenes (photo above),
an atmospheric old bistro in the 4th just off the Rue Saint-Antoine.
A pleasant welcome, a neat table – old, painted-over wood –
the effect of the place was old-time Paris, a lovely jumble of furniture and décor.
I opted for the lunch “menu” at 16 euros, which brought me a
hearty bowl of green lentils topped with ham “chips” (fried, more or less) for
a first and a main of perfectly-cooked and seasoned tuna with a quinoa pilaf of
currants and mangoes. I added a café gourmand, coffee with three small desserts:
chocolate cake; white chocolate mousse with berries and a fresh mango salad.
Wine was a glass (I was jet-lagged tired, just a glass) of
red, IGP du Pont du Gard (Languedoc) 'Little Garance' Rouge, a tangy, lighter Beaujolais-esque
wine despite being 90 percent syrah, not heavy or intense, a fine choice with
tuna but maybe even better with chicken or guinea hen or the like. The tuna may
have been better with a fine rose, but that wasn’t available by the glass and I
would have been asleep with a whole bottle.
After lunch, a pleasant stroll around the neighborhood just
north of the Seine, seeing some medieval buildings such as the Hotel de Sens
and some lovely gardens, and back to the Ile St. Louis via the Pont Louis
Phillipe and to the flat, where I managed to stay awake for a couple of more hours
(to try and get on a quasi-normal schedule) thanks to some lovely Darjeeling
tea from Mariage Freres – the world’s best tea shop, by general consensus – and
then slept for 10 hours.
Vins de Pyrenees
25, rue Beautreillis
75004 Paris
http://www.vinsdespyrenees.com
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