Passage des Panoramas, Paris

We came  to the Passage des Panoramas for the restaurant, Passage 53, which we posted earlier here.

The Passage des Panoramas is a roofed commercial passageway located in the IIe arrondissement, of Paris between the Montmartre boulevard to the North and Saint-Marc street to the south.

According to Wikipedia:

It is one of the earliest venues of the Parisian philatelic trade, and it was one of the very first covered, airy commercial passageways in the world. Bazaars and souks in the Orient had roofed commercial passageways centuries earlier but the passage of Panoramas innovated in having glazed roofing and, later on, gas lights for illumination. It is thus the precursor to all the city gallerias of the 19th century and the covered suburban and city shopping malls of the 20th century.

It is hard to imagine this humble-looking passage evolved into the shopping malls of the world.  Think Milan’s Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II (see our post here) or the themed shopping malls of Macau- see our post here. There is a themed restaurant – named Victoria Station – in the Passage.

Not only is the history  of the Passage interesting – the shops are interesting too – where would one find such a high concentration of shops catered to the collectors of stamps and postcards ?  They buy and sell, and do valuations.

These philatelist’s stores are getting rarer these days as letters and stamps are slowly being replaced by electronic messages.

Stamps that are on sale ranges from the very old and rare to the fancifully-themed collections. For example this set of four stamps costs 3200 euros!

This sheet of commemorative stamps depicting the Tintin series of cartoons/comics (aka BD) is only 30 euros..

There are many other neat collections of stamps displayed in the windows.

Could any one of these stamp and postcard shops be an original store when the Passage opened?

Postcards!   Well, I(Chris) have a small collection of art postcards, including some early 1900’s commercial posters, like those on the left side of the photo.

May be I can sell some of my stamps and postcards for food !?

It is good to know that such a place exist where so many shops supporting the hobby of philately.

This is definitely, a fun place to look around.

In case you are interested in see more stamps, go here where we showed some British commemorative stamps for 2012 London Olympics.

Au bon couscous, Paris

Au Bon couscous is one of many touristy restaurants in the Latin Quarter, located just around the corner from our apartment. On one of the several rainy days in that week while we were in Paris, we ducked in Au bon couscous for a quick lunch.

There are many restaurants (Greek, Italian, French, Asian, Indian, Turkish) on this pedestrianized street – Rue de la Huchette. They were all trying to steer diners into their establishment by placing menu on the street and having a waiter outside.

The restaurant below has on its front a sign saying “FRENCH FOOD”. Can we get any more touristy ?

According to Wikipedia, this street is one of the oldest street running along the Seine on the left bank – existing since the 1200’s. And it was already known for taverns and rotisseries since the 17th century. Here is a fine display of food ready to be grilled (but not from where we ate).

We entered Au Bon Couscous without being invited as we knew the type of food we wanted. The person at Au bon couscous was a big fellow whose physical presence was more threatening than welcoming. We bet he also moonlight as a bouncer at one of the bars nearby since he is very well-qualified.

Apparently, there is another Au bon couscous in Paris located in the 17th district. There is a restaurant in Lausanne called Au couscous (apparently not bon enough).

Couscous is North African in origin and third favorite dish of the French (surveyed in 2011). We are relying heavily on Wikipedia here.

I(Chris) like middle eastern food and was happy with the tagine. I had better but it was good enough.

We wondered if couscous is eaten with grilled meat traditionally. Perhaps it varies from country to country. The merguez sausage were quite good.

As we went around 11am, we were the first table of customers of the day. The restaurant served us a free round of drinks (a diluted anise-flavored liquor) when we sat down, and at the end of lunch, free hot mint tea.

The restaurant service was not refined but earnest.

On Tripadvisor, this restaurant is ranked 7,368 out of 9,798 (in July 2013), the one in the 17th district fared worse being ranked 7,670.

Anyway, following this solid lunch, we had a great day of sightseeing.

High on the Eye over London

While we were in London to watch the UEFA Champions League Final 2013, we had a chance to be on the London eye (as a part of the hospitality package).

The Eye is 443ft/135m high. Each pod holds about 20 people. Because we were catered in a private pod, we had to wait a bit. The line was rather long too for the regular tourists. We went around twice, one more revolutions than normal admittance.  Otherwise, they don’t have enough time to serve us wines and finger sandwiches.

The Eye is located on the south bank of the Thames just downstream of the Westminster bridge. Parliament. Here we are looking upstream of the Thames and the House of Parliament and Big Ben (316 ft/96 m high).  The wheel spins clockwise, so we saw the west side of London on our ascent.

If we look directly across the river, it is the Ministry of Defense (building with four copper roof buildings), behind it the House Guards parade and then St. James Park.

A guide was in the pod with us and pointed the various sights out to us.

Thames downstream, east London. St. Paul’s Cathedral, OXO tower.

On our descent, Charing Cross train station and the Hungerford bridge comes into view.

This is Her Majesty’s Treasury and there is the Foreign Office on its right.

One can almost see Buckingham Palace with a little help from the zoom lens.

Further away, it is possible to see the white arch at the Wembley stadium (where we saw the Champions League Final, see earlier post).

The view South is less interesting than the North, except this building which is under construction. Apparently it is not the Shard (1016 ft/310m) as I initially assumed, because the construction of the Shard was completed last year. Can someone tell us about this building ?  We did not ask our guide in the pod because we could not see it so clearly without the zoom lens in the camera.

Not sure what those buildings are, they are on the south bank near Battersea ?

Another view of the Eye.

Yes, it looks a bit titled towards the Thames – now you know I have a cheap camera.

This is a great way to see a city, we rode other ferris wheels over Vienna and Lyon, click to see our earlier posts.

Kartell, Rue du Bac, Paris

The area around Rue du Bac/Blvd St Germain in the 7th arrondisement is where furniture stores congregate in Paris. Several manufacturer have their showrooms here. We passed Cappellini, Knoll, and Cassina but went into Kartell because we are interested in their Tati lamp.

Kartell, based in Milan, is known for their plastic furniture. Founded in 1949 by Giulio Castelli, a chemical engineer with a vision to create something good from plastics.

During the plastic-loving era of the 1960s and 70s, Kartell became a famous household name.

More recently, the company created hits such as Philippe Starck’s Ghost Chairs…

And Ron Arad’s Bookworm shelves.

Single-handedly they made plastic chic again. Here is Kartell’s web site celebrating the 10th year anniversary of the Louis Ghost chair.

I(Chris) think we can use a mirror in our hallway. How about that one with a light blue frame which looks like a tray (it could probably serve as one) ?

It was good to see the real pieces because in a catalog, one can never get a feel of the finish and the weight/strength – particularly when it comes to furniture made in plastics.

In various stores, we had seen the Tati lamp in white and beige but not in black. Now that we have seen it – I think if we are getting one we will go for the pleated beige shade (see picture below).

Plastic office furniture. Serious business ?

Although they are all mass-produced in molded plastics, the prices would make one think that they are manufactured with more precious materials and human attention.   Glad that we visited this showroom.

Passage 53, Paris

Passage 53 is one of several restaurants that our local friends (D & C) made a reservation for the four of us for our week in Paris.

The restaurant is quite difficult to find as it is hidden in the oldest arcade in Paris (Passage des Panoramas) among specialty shops that sell stamps and postcards. There will be a later post dedicated to them.

The windows near the entrance were covered with a semi-translucent white material. Tables were barely visible from the outside. There were no menu or hours on the door – just a piece of white paper laser-printed with the price of the set lunch and dinner.

The restaurant is just one long room, minimally decorated. We sat across from a very tight spiral staircase which led up to the kitchen and bathrooms. Apparently, that staircase dated back to the 1700’s and is a protected monument of the city.

All the diners had the same food – whatever that was available under the Degustation Menu Surprise.

The only option offered was whether we wanted to add a caviar course to the surprise menu. Yes, we added it.

The other option was the wine – we had a couple of Burgundy whites.

Because there was no menu, we cannot named the dishes as we cannot remember what we ate. Except that every thing was delicious, particularly the green pea soup.

The chef is Japanese, Shinichi Sato, apparently a Grand Chef Relais & Châteaux. He works with an all-Japanese kitchen staff and an all-French but English-friendly service.

We lost count of how many dishes we had, at the time.

It was a very satisfying dining experience.

It was unanimous in that we all thought Passage 53 outperformed a Michelin 3-star restaurant we went the night before. Less expensive, better tasting food and ambiance.

We did not know that it had received 2 Michelin stars   until just now when we looked them up online on viamichelin.

Dessert was similarly spectacular.

This is a restaurant that we would go back again.

= )

Astier de Villatte, Paris

This is our first visit of Paris after a long while. IT and MW had visited this city many times and knew it better than us. So we followed them.

Astier de Villatte is a lifestyle store on Rue Saint-Honoré not far from the Palais-Royal.

I(Chris) spent almost an hour in this shop while IT and MW were shopping. So I had plenty of time to befriend the store manager (she offered me a place to sit) and select my shots.

All the pieces are handmade, one of a kind flatware for everyday use – no mass production ceramics.

Their perfumed candles are named after places, like Quebec, Hong Kong, Aoyama, Oulan Bator … . I could not discern any aromatic connection between the scent and the locale (except Oulan Bator, I have been some of the places).

The signature ceramics, made of black terracotta clay, are extremely durable and yet surprisingly light.

The tableware collection is inspired by 18th and 19th century designs and is glazed to create a milky white finish – a bit like a pile of unfinished paint job.

Generally we like white flatware which shows off the color of the food. These pieces are all off-white. I think it would really go well with vegan or raw food.

With a ghostly and aged look, some of the pieces are quite surreal.

Metal cans ? No, they are ceramics.

These ceramic plates with wood grain could have been taken from a painting by Magritte.

The “de Chirico” ambiance of the back room matches the merchandises.

The company was founded by Benoît Astier de Villatte and Ivan Pericoli, which produces ceramics, paper goods, perfumes, candles, furniture, silverware, and glassware. They are created in a Bastille workshop that used to house Napolean’s silversmith.

More mugs and jugs.

Here is the link to their funky online catalog. Worthy of a visit.

Rue du petit pont #2, Paris

We spent a week in Paris in the beginning of June.

Since there were a total of four of us, we decided to rent an apartment again – like what we did in Vienna and Barcelona in past years. This arrangement saved us money, gave us more room to move about. Apartments in Europe are always more cozy than a hotel.

The apartment was located in the Latin Quarter, 5th arrondisement, near the Sorbonne on the left bank. 4th floor with an elevator.

This apartment has several unusual features – the elevator opens directly into the apartment’s foyer – each floor is one apartment and we use a key to select the floor on which the elevator stops. We had seen these type lock-n-key operated elevators used in lofts, converted from warehouse, in Soho, New York.

Another oddity is the tri-level layout – top = sleeping loft + shower; middle = bedroom + toilet, bath + laundry machine + elevator, and then bottom = kitchen-living room – all connected by a wide marble(?) staircase.

The surprise awaiting us at this apartment was the VIEW – Cathedrale de Notre Dame just across the little bridge (petit pont) over a narrow section of the Seine.

At the time of finding an apartment, we were not looking for any view – all we were concerned was the number of bathrooms and a central convenient location.

Living Room

Kitchen – small but fully equipped except it lacks a microwave. It had an American-size refrigerator (i.e., big, especially given the size of the kitchen) which is relatively rare on the continent.

Bathroom 1

Another bathroom with shower and jacuzzi.

The loft was used also for sleeping.

The location cannot be any more convenient for a tourist. One of Paris’s famous landmarks is just outside.

The downside of this location is that we were surrounded by tourists, day and night – the bars and restaurants do not close till 2-3am in the morning. When these establishments close for the night, the patrons spill outside, many of whom are drunk and start singing or arguing on the street.

During the week, we heard in the middle of the night two fights – groups of men and a few girls yelling at each other followed by the sound of breaking glass – no one seemed to be hurt I think. Suffice to say, we barely slept even after wearing earplugs found in airline convenience pack (Thanks to M).

While renting an apartment has many advantages, there was a ton of  details to manage – from coordinating with someone hired by the owner to pickup and drop off the keys, to paying a deposit and buying hose content insurance – all just for a week.