A Moveable Feast--Paris 2

If I could have one wish, it would be a fabulously decorated pad on the left bank near Place Maubert where I stumbled across a market of fresh produce, large wicker baskets of inexpensive red wine and small shops stocked to the hilt with fine cheeses and pates. That to me would be heaven on earth! We had just surfaced from Paris' famous maze of metros into the sunshine when, voila! the market unfolded before my eyes. The baskets of wine were overflowing with all types of cab sauvs, merlots and bourdeaux just begging to be sampled and for the mere price of 4 euros! I started to imagine the scenario...it's a Saturday morning... you wake up and down some fresh ground, then hop on your oh so French electric byciclet bound for the Place Maubert market. You know the vendors and you exchange pleasantries as you load your eco-friendly shopping bag with pates, cheeses, wines and more wines, perhaps a fresh chunk of lamb, some haricot vert, some dark chocolate, the newspaper, the croissants...maybe you pause to purchase a new scarf or some other attractive trinket. Ahhhhh, that would be fantastique! May I wake up one day to this reality!!

So, when I was shopping for souvenirs to take back with me, I had to have some stinky brie and some chocolate. The brie spent the night outside the window of my hotel room although I was a bit worried the pigeons might try to steal it. Do french pigeons like stinky brie? The chocolate is perfuming the interior of my backpack, as it should. I love Paris.

A Moveable Feast--Paris 1

I know everybody and their Uncle Bob has been to Paris but not everyone has the same experience. This little "blague" is about some of the food I savoured in this great epicurean capital. Anyone who knows me knows that eating is one of my biggest priorities so anticipation of the delights to follow was almost fever pitch.

Shortly after tossing our baggage into our little room at the Hotel Absolute in the 11th Arrondissment, we crossed the broad boulevard towards a small cafe called "La Grisette." The idea was just to order a simple sandwich. Well, the glorious baguette stuffed with country style pate was just so enticingly delicious to look at I was hesitant to take that first bite. Crusty baguette heaven! Mon Dieux! The texture! The flavour! Now, a healthy mouthful of that bourdeaux to wash it all down and.... ahhhhhhh! This is what lunch should be all about: simple food with great flavour in a comfortable environment and at a decent price. My baguette was only 4 euros and I would have happily paid more based on the freshness and flavour alone. The tradition of wine with meals is just plain good sense, but more on that in a bit.

I've always been a huge fan of onion soup and have tried it in many places over the course of many years but this was my first one in Paris. We selected a small, traditional eatery called "Perraudin" in the Latin Quarter on rue St Jacques which hasn't changed much since the turn of the 19th century. The place is an absolute delight from the moment you enter the front door. "Bon soir, Madame!" says the friendly male waiter, as he leads you to that perfect little table by the window. The food was so wonderful, we returned the next night to try more! The onion soup was perfectly savory with the cheese broiled on top to a perfect turn, the beef bourginon was brought to the table in a cast iron pot, set down and the lid lifted with a steamy flourish to reveal the tender beef swimming in a bath of rich gravy and tiny patates. Thick slices of crusty bread served to sop up the last precious drop! Just when you think you've died and gone to heaven, the waiter brings the dessert. The chocolate profiteroles topped with toasted almonds at Perraudin are reason enough to go. You talk about what you want for the last supper before you leave this earth?? I want those profiteroles. There is no way to describe their chocolaty perfection except to say...orgasmic!!! Now, I haven't described the lamb, the silky cheesiness of the scalloped potatoes or l'escargot, but I do have to mention the pate. The picture really doesn't do the pate any justice in terms of it's flavour when combined with the fruit compote and a sip of the recommended Monbazillac. That ten minutes of eating goes down in my personal history as the best eating minutes of my life and if eating like this kills me, I will go with pleasure.

Muchovo Muzeum

Alfons Mucha (1860-1939)

There's a great little museum in the center of Old Town Square featuring the work of Alfons Mucha. It wasn't until I visited that I realized the extent of Mucha's work. Most people recognize his famous posters of beautiful women with flowing hair adorned with flowers, but I hadn't realized he also created designs for champagne, cigarette papers, stamps, even Czech monetary notes. I visited the museum recently and was busy taking photographs without realizing there was a "no photos" sign posted until my friend gave me a nudge. Oops! Too late, the deed was done and now I am posting the best of what I got.

Mucha was actually from Moravia although many people believe he was French. He really hit fame and fortune when he designed a poster advertising Sarah Bernhardt's Gismonda in 1895 and Paris became home for many years. He later returned to his native land and got involved in a series of important projects including the design of the stained-glass window in St. Vitus Cathedral along with his major contribution to the Municipal House which is entirely Art Nouveau. I read somewhere that he actually wanted to do more, but his fellow artists were jealous and he had to curb his enthusiasm.

Mucha apparently died a few days after a brutal interrogation by the Gestapo shortly after they occupied the city. It's a sad ending to an amazing career but how lucky we are that his work is beautifully featured in the country he loved.

St. Vitus, Mucha, Lennon and more...

It was a rainy day and perfect for a visit to the hallowed interior of Prague's greatest cathedral, St. Vitus. The spires tower high above the enclosing walls of the castle and it's one of the must sees when visiting the city. Usually the crowds are massive and snake down the laneway forever, but due to the inclement weather, we were able to get inside after a relatively short wait in the rain and wind.

So, now for the important data. It was ordered built by Charles IV back in 1353 in order to make Prague worthy of the Holy Roman Empire. A couple of the chief engineers died in the process and building was halted time and time again. It wasn't actually completed until 1929 and was reconsecrated on the anniversay of the assassination of St. Wenceslas. (Wenceslas's Crown Chamber is so opulent, we were only allowed to peek at it from a distance.) Anyway, the stained glass windows are one of the main attractions. The rose window depicts the creation of the world and is made from 27,000 pieces of glass (by Frantisek Kysela) but the window many visitors come to photograph is the Alfons Mucha design with it's clearly art nouveau lines. It's just breathtakingly gorgeous! I could stand and look at it all day.

The St. Wenceslas chapel was ordered built by Charles IV over Wenceslas's original tomb and it's the cathedral's most sacred space, decorated with paintings and semi-precious stones. Above is where the crown jewels of Bohemia are tucked away and only brought out for viewing on very special occasions.

So after the cathedral, we walked down to Charles Bridge and made our way to the John Lennon Wall. It was created following his assassination and was originally a source of conflict between the secret police and the young artists. Yoko Ono came to visit the wall and was photographed signing a section of it. It still attracts thousands of visitors to Prague and is in a really beautiful location across from the French consulate on a leafy street with no traffic.

Put Pork on your Fork!

I've well and truly arrived in the land of everything porkish. The menu is one long list of pork done every which way but loose. If you go into the old part of town there are sausage stands on every corner and a huge selection of stuffed links. The only problem is, I have no idea what the difference is in all the various sizes, colors and I don't want to think too much about it, if you know what I mean. Around the corner from the school there is a very attractive beer garden that has excellent klobasa and that's one of the TEFL students, Ian, in the picture about to take a bite. He loves it! Plus the price is right! It's always served with lots of horseradish, spicy mustard and maybe a banana pepper or two. Washed down with a cold Pilsner and you have a meal! So, as I continue to explore the offerings of this porcine obcessed culure, I'm sure I'll have an opportunity to put lots more pork on my fork.

Charles Bridge (Karluv Most)

spent a good part of yesterday above and below Europe's longest medieval bridge. This is probably the greatest tourist attraction in the city of Prague due to the stunning views offered from above, all the decorative statuary, the souvenirs, the entertainment and the fact that it connects the Castle district with the main city. After strolling across to the Castle side, we made our way down to the shoreline and boarded one of the many boats available for river cruising. This gave me the chance to get some pictures from a new perspective. I was reading about the bridge yesterday and it has an interesting history. Charles IV had it built back in the 1300's but selected a particular date. Apparently the corner stone was laid at exactly 5:31 am on 9 July, 1357 which creates a palindrome--135797531. I thought that was cool. You know they were all superstitious about things back then, so I guess he was told that was a fortuitious date. Anyway, it apparently was finished just in time to permit his funeral procession a crossing. All the statues lining the bridge are Saints with significance to the Czechs and the ones we see today are copies since the originals have been moved to places where they can be protected from the elements.

Another interesting story says that when they were buliding the bridge, a call went out to all the neighbouring villages for wine and eggs to add to the lime to create a stronger mortar and I guess it worked since the bridge lasted right up until 1890 when a flood wiped out 3 arches. They are currently working on a huge section of the bridge and I don't know the specifics but it cuts the width in half and makes it more crowded than usual.

It was nice to see the bridge from the river Vltava. The river is substancial and it's easy to see how it was a major transport link in its day. Apparently they used to raft huge convoys of timber along it's length cut from the surrounding forests to yards lining the river. All that ended when they constructed dams for hydroelectricity. Most of the traffic you see now is made up of small boats chugging along loaded with tourists including moi.

The "Billa" Way.

My local grocery store is called "Billa" and it's across the street from the school which makes it handy on the way home. My first trip was not the most successful since I didn't know the rules of the game. They rejected my two loose apples at the check-out, "Neh!" and the woman berated me for not taking my groceries out of the hand-held basket. I didn't recognize names for most of the products and I couldn't even ask for any ham. Well, I'm happy to announce I've made some progress through the tried and true process of trial and error. I now know how to weigh my veggies on the touch screen computer and stick the price on the bag. I know that ham is called "sunky" (Shoonky) and rolls are "rolicky." They have my fave yogurt "Activa" in vanilla flavor, Krusli is a no brainer and I'm slowly deciphering the huge range of Klobasas. The 7-up is "limonada" and BBQ'd flavoured chips are called "Paprika." Chocolate is "cokolada" and eggs are vejce. When you get in the check-out line, have your wits about you as it's a busy store. You have to bag your own groceries and you'd better do it quickly! They say "Dobry den" and all you have to say is "Dikuye" and you're on your way! Easy right? Hmmmm. Maybe not. I still haven't figured out how to unlock the grocery carts as one needs to insert a coin in the handle...and I'm still intimidated by the giant selection of meats and cheeses. I've been sticking to Edam and Brie for the most part but really feel I need to step out of the safe zone and give that really strange one a try. The Vodka selection is epic and cheap. My first bottle was a half litre of "Boris Jeltzen" made in France for about $6 Canadian. I've graduated to "Amundsen" triple distilled with "arctic purity"from Bratislava, Slovakia which cost 139 crowns. At the current rate of exchange that's about $8 bucks. Daaaaaangeroulsy cheap, right? Not to worry....you are your own liquor control board. : ) They sell all sorts of beer including Heineken in mini vats and today they had Paprika on sale. At least I know how to weigh my veggies now. It's rather amusing but the smallest accomplishments are encouraging when everything is so foreign. My strategy is to move quickly and say as little as possible and hopefully I will exit without arrousing any undue ire. Phew!