Traveling even if you are home

I love to travel obviously. So much so that when I am in Paris for a week I treat it like a week of travel. Take last week for instance.

Saturday: Went to my favorite neighborhood restaurant  La Grotte with friiends. We actually started at my place with champagne and made it to the restaurant by 9. Philipe and Erwan always take great care of us and serve delicious food at very reasonable prices. It pretty much feels like home.

For some reason at what should have been the end of the evening  it was terribly important to stop by another neighborhood favorite Le Tourn'Bride  for a nightcap, resulting in two of my friends missing the last metro home. Serge always has a nice selection of food and wine and makes everyone feel at home.



Sunday: I visited The Louvre for the first time in my two years here  and stoppped for a cafe (for some reason we always plan a cafe but have a glass of wine instead). Then strolled along the streets of The Marais with Alison checking out everything that was about to go on sale for the twice annual sale season. She bought a lovely coat. Of course we stopped at the very nice  Le Preau for a glass and a nibble.

Monday I joined my colleagues at  Cafe du Commerce in the 15th for a very high quality meal in an unpretentious atmosphere with good service. I recommend that you always reserve to avoid getting stuck in the back room of the ground floor. We had a lovely view of the open courtyard.











Tuesday I met some friends at L'Area Bar in the 4th for drinks and great conversation. Although it is a very nice bar and restaurant, we tend to stand outside so the guys can smoke big fat cigars and we can all gossip..




Wednesday I met my friend Nona for dinner at Le 404 . We amused ourselves trying to guess what the name was derived from. Car enthusiasts are best equipped to answer this question.








It is a beautifully decorated space with nice lighting. We enjoyed great food and a nice bottle of Algerian wine, served by our Algerian waiter.







Thursday I stopped for a glass with Janice at Le Tourn'Bride (yes I go there often) and discovered we had a lot to talk about. By 10PM I realized dinner would need to be something relatively quick. Luckily there is a very good takeaway, Zamane so I brought home brochettes de poulet, hummous, pita, tabouleh. Enough for 2 and only 10 Euros.



Friday Janice and I went to Wine by One  with a meetup group Bubbles 'n Nibbles. Really great concept with 100 wines available. You buy a card (like a Starbucks card) and put as much credit on it as you want. Then you walk around the vending machines full of real bottles of well known wines and select either 6cl (a taste) 12 cl (a larger taste) or 24cl (a nice glass or 4 oz.) of wine. Prices range from 1 Euro for a taste to some crazy price. The selection includes many countries, and of course you can choose champagne, white or red. I think I also saw 2 roses. I highly recommend this place. Friendly staff, nice people, good wine - how would you rather spend your evening? Oh I guess there was food too but we somehow missed it in the midst of the lively conversation.

Maybe my next career should be restaurant critic?

All this to say:
If you sit still long enough in Paris you will find a glass of wine and lovely meal to enjoy, You also will find someone to enjoy it with!