We landed at Charles de Gaulle Airport around noon on Sunday. We took a cab to our rental apartment on Ile St. Louis. The apartment is small, but serviceable for the two of us. The biggest drawback of the building – no elevator, and we’re on the third floor. The stairway is in a semi-spiral and has no railings. It was a religious experience getting our luggage upstairs. The plus side is the location – it’s within walking distance of most of what we go to Paris to see. Given that Covid is still an issue, staying out of the Métro is a good idea.
Ile St. Louis might be more appropriately called Ile de Glaces, as in Island of Ice Cream. This little bump in the Seine River has more places selling ice cream per square kilometer than most cities. Much of it is Berthillon ice cream, which is good stuff. A large percentage of the cows on nearby farms must produce milk for this operation. We have yet to partake on this trip, although there’s a place next door selling the ice cream.
We walked over to the Marais neighborhood last night to get some basic groceries and takeout. Because of the pandemic, many restaurants are also offering menu items to go. We stopped at a takeout window to get pitas filled with greens and merguez (Moroccan sausage). Very tasty. The pitas were nice and fluffy, unlike the dry husks we sometimes find in the US.
Today we did a little shopping. We started out at La Samaritaine, a high-end department store that’s been beautifully remodeled. We looked, but didn’t buy anything. We had lunch at Au Pied de Cochon (Pig’s Foot) restaurant. This is an old-school French restaurant that we’ve gone to on previous trips. Following that, we went to Librairie Gourmande, where I restrained myself and bought only one cookbook. We strolled along Rue Montorgueil (another foodie street) and got takeout salads for dinner.
More exploits to come.
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