Here are some before/after pics from one of the local channels. Crazy thing now is that that rats are getting pushed up into the neighborhoods. Am happy we’re on the third floor and don’t have anything of value in the apartment cave (cellar). Other intriguing note is that most of the apartments have their electrical hook-ups in the cave, so the TV news is warning of power outages in some of the lower lying areas. Just one of those things I would have never thought about… until the lights went out.
Rain is supposed to taper off tonight, which should spare the office underground parking (flooded a couple of years back), but will likely be a close call. Link below is in French, but with viewing for the before/after photos.
Supposed to stop tonight, crest on Sat. Will post when I get back.
Find some of that merkin-label PF for me to buy Am around off/on next week, in Monaco/Nice the following week, then back again. Happy to meet up if you’re around. Would be a good excuse to finally meet Tim, as well, if he is available. I can even BYOB a US bottle just to be a contrarian if you know somewhere that will let me cork it. Perfect bottle for an American in Paris, is all I’ll say
I’d love to meet up, email sent. Oh, we tasted Baudin’s red (yes, it’s a Vin de France made from centenary Pinot Jacquot and Gamay) today as well as his sparkling Chasselas. The red was really cool, the Chasselas meh. But I can’t wait to get to Paris, I’ve got croissant on the brain…!
Broke my own rule and went out to Bastille market after 10:00, as the vast majority of shops I normally hit up for food are closed on Sundays, leaving me with Marche de Passy or Bastille if I want higher-end meat for Sunday dinner. Bastille? Think Costco on the weekend, but filled with people pushing their way through a confined space.
January is always challenging for fresh, local produce, but seafood is in full swing, especially if you enjoy oysters. Dec and Jan are the height of the season and Bastille had three or four stalls stacked with them. I opted for a couple of striped bass from Corsica (bar de Corse) and then picked up two kilos of beef cheeks for tomorrow. The big steal for me at Bastille, however, is always the charcuterie. I have one stall, in particular, that I hit as one of the women there speaks broken English and always gives me sample of anything I want. Today’s lunch below, including one of the creamiest tomme de Savoies I’ve ever had. My wife didn’t want to pop a bottle with lunch, so I’m drinking Bareksten GnTs
Ill do the striped bass tonight using Keller’s salt crust recipe (my kids love to make it with me and then hammer it when we take it out), with a 2016 Pascal Jolivet “Les Caillotes” Sancerre.
A belated thanks for this thread in general and your recent pictures especially! Super photos of iconic places that many of us have seen (in dry times).
Regarding Sunday market, what do you think about the Sunday morning market just north of Les Halles? I’m not sure it’s special among Paris markets, but we like long Sunday strolls when we are in Paris, and we usually pass this one on the way to the Marais (for our traditional Sunday fallafel).
I think Barry is referring to the Rue Montorgueil market.
The food halls (as well as the rest) of the Bon Marche and Galeries Lafayette are open on Sundays. The quality of food products sold at Bon Marche are as excellent as they are expensive.
Couple of quick thoughts - have yet to head over for the Rue Montorgueil market, although I was thinking about it yesterday at Bastille, but was tired and wanted to go back to the apartment. In general, the challenge I have with the Bastille/Marais area is that it takes me 45-60 mins to get there, as we’re over near Pont Grinelle/Radio France. If I want a falafel, I walk downstairs
Bon Marche - didn’t even think about this. A new one (La Grande Epicerie de Paris Rive Droite) opened in Passy and is a 10 min walk. We’ve gone a couple of times and enjoyed one of the cheapest coffees in Paris (clearly subsidized by the high prices of the rest of the store) while shopping. I need to start reminding myself that it’s open on Sundays That said, I don’t recall being overly blown away with their butcher and the prices were high for what you were getting. It’s a funny place in that it has just about everything you miss from home (my wife goes to grab Bisquick and Duncan Hines mix for her cakes) but, as noted, it’s 2-3x what you’d pay at home. Love wandering around their wine cellar and picked up a bunch of Tempier Bandol Rose the last time I was over.
Yup, that’s the one. It’s just one of those places for me that one is fond of because of serendipity - I just came across it on a rambling walk, and the made it a regular walk.
I landed Saturday morning and after a quick nap, shower and some shopping for my apartment, went out to meet a customer and an expat buddy at Bistrot Paul Bert. It was, as you can imagine, a nice night. Not pictured, the scallops in their own shells and swimming in herb butter, and the boar terrine.
Got a text this AM while I was driving in a cab through sunny Dublin… our apartment cellar is starting to flood. I, of course, thought everything was peachy because the water level of the river is nowhere near the main street (Avenue de Versailles), but it appears the groundwater tables are rising fairly quickly, resulting in the cellar flooding 30 CM (~1 ft). On the bright side, our little block is 2 feet higher than the lower area of the cave, so we’re dry
Needless to say, my wife is now moving our luggage, bikes, scooters, etc. up a narrow flight of stairs while I’m drinking Guinness. You’d think I planned it that way!
Where this could get really interesting - there are quite a few restaurants ~2 blocks off the Seine, especially stretching from the Louvre down past Ile Saint Louis. I have to assume that there are quite a few sommeliers with exploding calf-muscles right about now…
Had some time this morning so I went for a walk down to the Seine and back to my place while working (calls/emails on the phone, ain’t technology grand?). So the Seine is a wee bit high…
Am around off/on next week, in Monaco/Nice the following week, then back again. Happy to meet up if you’re around. Would be a good excuse to finally meet Tim, as well, if he is available. I can even BYOB a US bottle just to be a contrarian if you know somewhere that will let me cork it. Perfect bottle for an American in Paris, is all I’ll say 
