This is my final set of post cards from Paris, “The City Of Light”. The lights of New York are bright and the neon is harsh, night becomes day and it is always a little frenetic. Paris is the antithesis. Driving around Paris at night is somewhat of a fantasy. It seems candle lit, with chandeliers and beautiful street lamps everywhere. You almost expect “La Vie En Rose” to be playing in the air…..it’s very romantic. The restaurants are equally romantic whether they are beautifully decorated or look some what rundown where you know history took place. Allard, is such a place. Le tour Eiffel suggested we try this bistro type restaurant, which was on a very quiet street in a very quiet neighborhood of Paris. It is very small and quite old. You can imagine characters from “Les Mis”, plotting the revolution. The photo of the interior is right above Jac and I. When we arrived only one table was taken….by the time our bottle of wine arrived the place was full. You always know a restaurant is good when the patrons are all French……and it was delicious! Another restaurant we loved was “George V”….photo in the upper right. We were pretty much early birds due to jet lag and full itineraries for the next day……so the restaurant wasn’t full when we arrived………again, by the time we had our first sip of wine, the room was filled to capacity. Jac’s little Linea shrug came in very handy. She brought it in the black and violet and wore it over little dresses. One of the things that left me speechless was our trip to the opera house of Paris….”L’Opera”……you know “Phantom of the Opera”. We both had passed it a zillion times on our trips to Paris, but neither of us had ever been in! It is extraordinary!! It is very dark inside so it really felt like night…..every chandelier and lamp was lit and you can see Jac descending one of the many staircases in the photo at the left bottom. The theater itself is a wonder. The gilt and the painted ceiling are amazing. You can imagine the men and women dressed in their best with all of their jewels…..sitting in the red damask boxes……….one more fantasy of Paris. At the end of each wonderful evening we returned to our lovely room, and as we entered we would always see the fresh rose in the bud vase…..attached to the wall next to our door……..photo in the upper right……which was a quick reminder of just how special Paris is……………Bon Soir, Paris!
TourEiffel, I lived in Paris for over three years, and I can tell you that the car scenes from Midnight in Paris where he gets in the car at night were shot over in the 5th arrondissement near the Pantheon, right across the street from a British style pub called The Bombardier.
I’ll be back in Paris for 8 nights in July, after 18 days in Provence, the Midi-Pyrennes and the Loire. Can’t wait to get back there, I love it so.
I’ll add my thanks to those that the others have expressed for sharing your and Jac’s magical days in this enchanting city. The grand opera houses of the world are something to behold and not like anything that we see here in the US. On your next trip you MUST attend a performance! Don’t know if you and Jac are opera buffs or not, but most of the houses now have translations that appear on a little screen right at your seat. The story line is always so simple, though, that I just throw myself into the music, costumes, and sets and let myself just be carried away :-). I also wonder who in its history has sat where I sat and saw the opera that I am seeing. And how they might have been decked out, of course! Don’t most French 19th Century novels contain intrigues that take place at the opera? Oh, the stories that the walls could tell :-).
Merci beaucoup for taking us on your lovely adventure.
crdbl
Louis & Jacque: How wonderful to enjoy your photos and read about your experiences in Paris. I totally agree with your description – it is a city lit from within and beautifully lamplit at night. Just love it! We just returned from a 17 day trip to Europe which this time did not include Paris but did include Versailles, Chartres, Fontainebleau, Troyes, Nancy and Strasbourg. Well plus Holland (tulips, windmills and the glorious Dutch Masters of the golden age), Black Forest, up the Rhine and castles, Cologne, Venlo Netherlands for Floriade and then a week in Belgium trying every chocolate and fingering every bit of lace that came our way 🙂 We drive ourselves everywhere and take LOTS of detours and there are never enough hours in the day. So much to see, learn and enjoy and taste and everywhere – sidewalk cafes from which you can watch it all parade by and not a single soul makes you hurry to leave your table ever. Thanks for sharing your wonderful trip! And Louis, thanks as always for your beautiful fashions to enjoy it all in. I’m so loving those floral maxi skirts which I got in all 3 colors. It’s the completer “set” for my summer Linea wardrobe 🙂 – well until your new July boho’s come out of course 😉 Nancy – AKA “The Owl”
WOW……that’s a fabulous trip and you drive evey where…..you have great courage!
All day I have resisted sending yet another note your way, but I can’t help myself. This last multi-imaged postcard from you is like a glass of mellow wine. You fully conveyed that sense of subtle lights and dark, rich woods — plus style — that you and Jac experienced in Paris. As “TourEiffel” wrote, you captured some of the beauty that suffused “Midnight in Paris.” You and Jac look nothing less than splendid! You are such an attractive couple. When you wrote about the special flair the French have (rose in bud vase), I could not help but think of my Tante Yvonne, a lovely French woman who married my Greek-born Great-Uncle Bill. She had style to the end, I tell you. My mother and I went to visit her when she was a 92-year-old widow living in a retirement community. I hadn’t seen her in years. Well, there she was in all her glory — she was wearing great earrings, a belt and scarf around her neck! I will never get over how she maintained her stylish ways to the end. This is a 20-year-old memory, so you know observing her fully accessorizing into old age really impressed me. BIG NEWS. The “Lana” dress arrived today and it is divine. My review, when it is posted, will let you know how much I love it.
Very nice photo of you two together.Thanks for sharing the pictures and memories.
Thanks again, for recommending Allard. Next time we are ordering the whole roasted chicken for two….smothered in roasted olives….ummmm!
Sounds delicious! Delighted that you liked Allard enough to return. Is the George V restaurant you loved in the George V Hotel? My husband and I stayed there years ago. I vividly remember the impressive long-stem flowers artfully arranged in glass vases in the lobby. What a floral budget they must have!
No, it was a restaurant recommended by the concierge at the hotel.
Bonjour! Delighted that you enjoyed a quintessentially French dinner at Allard! My husband (the primary cook in our family) still makes Allard’s cucumber salad that we first enjoyed there many years ago. Doesn’t that area of Paris remind you of scenes from “Midnight in Paris”? Indeed your “Paris, the City of Light” photo installment reminds me of “Midnight in Paris.” Such a great movie! Agree with your description of the lovely soft lights of Paris. So romantic. And, you’ve prompted me to visit L’Opera on our next trip. Can’t stop looking at the gorgeous ceiling with soft lights surrounding a Marc Chagall painting. Merci!
TourEiffel, I lived in Paris for over three years, and I can tell you that the car scenes from Midnight in Paris where he gets in the car at night were shot over in the 5th arrondissement near the Pantheon, right across the street from a British style pub called The Bombardier.
I’ll be back in Paris for 8 nights in July, after 18 days in Provence, the Midi-Pyrennes and the Loire. Can’t wait to get back there, I love it so.