Louis’s Cabin and much food porn

 Hi everyone (nice readership numbers, thanks, and I guess you’re all jonesing for a bit of vicarious vacation. 😂

[I was told I need to do a “key” to the initials; I kept it simple yesterday - K is my life partner…sometimes known as RR (recently retired); EH is my oldest, as she is accurately nicknamed Encyclopedia Hicks [just to demonstrate at some point yesterday she gave us the French word for Encylopedia — it’s a cognate so…but still} and KG is my youngest as, at an early date and without irony, he was a Kid Genius.  Keep up everybody)

It rained today.  It was not cold, so it was bearable, but it was bad enough at 3 PM that a walk down the slippery steps in the Versailles Gardens was nixed.  It’s a funny dynamic: “I was only going because YOU wanted to go.”  “But I was only going because you wanted to see it” “I never really wanted to go, anyway, I was just going along.”  We’ve already had several variations of this exchange & it’s only day 2. 😂

I guess I have to start with Versaille pictures, as it was the BIG event of the day.  In case you didn’t know THERE ARE A LOT OF ROOMS!!!  I never heard a number but I know I walked through like a thousand.  I mean there was the Queen’s chamber, the Queen’s antechamber, the Queeen’s ante, ante chamber, the guards chamber, the Queen’s bedroom, the Queen’s dressing room, and then of course every member of the family had a similar set up.  Geez, Louise, WTAF?!?!?!

Here’s the traditional family selfie from the famed Hall of Mirrors:

My favorite room was this one, the Hercules Room.  And yes I did have the staff person tell me to not touch the marble!  😳

Admittedly, I have been there before.  EH and I were there in 2000 (the first year I got a group of Students to London) and we both commmented on our disappointment then at the emptiness of the rooms.  Now they’ve obviously done a lot of restoration and there are a lot of reproductions.  LIke A LOT.  One room (the queen’s antechamber) had all this stuff and the audioguide said the only thing from the period were the two small corner cabinets that were commissioned by some Louis by some Guy blah blah.  

It’s impressive.  The first exhibit we went into was “1725” which was the year a delegation of American tribes people visit France, and, of course, Versailles.  They called it the King’s Cabin. 😂 We laughed and talked about what these Native Americans from the wilderness would have made of it all.  The gardens were then watered by a system that pumped (?) water up an aqueduct from the river, 180 meters below.  In 1725!  It was a fun exhibit — with the help of the current tribes they had a lot of Native artifacts — peace pipes especially.

Train to and from Versailles left from Invalides station.  Foolishly, we thought the museum would be right by the station and a “quick” walk and see.  It was not.  I made a mistake a) going to the right toward a visible entrance instead of going straight to where the real interest was, thus we circled the huge grounds; b) not paying to into the said entrance, remembering that I didn’t pay in like 2001 to go in.  We paid.  KG ran to the ticket booth and generously (he really had no choice) paid as we waited by the entrance. 

It is impressive too in its own right.  It is where Napoleon’s tomb is.  When I tried the old joke out, RR said “Grant,” which I thought was pretty funny.  😂😂  Here’s a tomb shot:

and the dome above (if you are unfamiliar, the dome outside is gold):

We were tired and I said I’d get us taxi back.  It was not free. 😢 the driver was pretty chatty and pointed out several different sights — like exact spot the jewel thieves broke into the Louvre recently! and the 5th wealthiest man in world’s swanky hotel the next block down (1950 euros for  their basic room tomorrow but it comes with their signature breakfast :)).  

Enough of that.  Let’s go back to breakfast.  I got up (too early) to find that IU held Ohio State scoreless in the second half and won the Big Ten.  Wow.  Just wow  Assholes. 

I found a place on Open Table (my go to for good restaurants) and figured out it was an easy on and off the Metro.  Though, in not the first, nor probably the last, time, it was hard to find.  We walked right past it, missed the sign, asked at the concierage in the hotel two store fronts away, and ended up there a few minutes late.  But it was the bomb.  For further record, it was called Parenthese (I tried to find the restaurant M and I ate in in ‘15 near here and the blog doesn’t help — it says we liked the food and atmosphere and the cheese plate was the biggest we’d ever scene :) not helpful to recreate)…

I’m going to give 3 pics, as it was that good: 

EH had something called pink and green.  You figure it out. 

KG and I had variations of their “Marbled Eggs” (yes, those are pancakes, which were very good):

And RR had their make your own with the French toast (yes, made from brioche) with carmelized apples:

It was a hit, and pretty affordable.

And, for dinner tonight, I tried to find the place M & I ate in in ‘15. 

Ok, it wasn’t the place from ‘15, which I knew immediately, unless they’ve knocked out walls and redone the whole place…but no. 

Still (it was called Le 52) it was very, very good.  Only 4 entrees on the menu, but quality French cuisine. 

Let the food porn begin in earnest:

RR started with pumpkin soup —

They all shared burrata with olive puree —

K had the pork shoulder on celery puree —

KG had the scallops on risotto with a fish fluffy stock (he didn’t seem to be a fan) —

KG and I had the Saith (a white fish) on a carrot purree with cumin in it and carrots and potatoes —

For dessert, K had the lemon and merangue on shortbread —

EH had the merangue in creme anglais —

Ian had sorbet; I had chocolate gelato. 

I have been told by KG that he is taking up the food planning mantel for tomorrow night and we are going someplace with duck (didn’t Elmer Fudd promise this?)…

Although I did not make the mistakes of yesterday, I do seem to have misfired my brain so that I keep saying “por favor.”  That was last year in Portugal! But my code-switching has me saying things like “check, por favor” to the embarassment of the family. 😂😂😂

Now for a story that may tickle certain of my friends (John and Sean will have quit reading by now, anyway 😂).  Since the invention of the handheld internet, aka “the google,” it has been a thing between EH and RR to call me when they think I am making something up.  

Vis, dinner tonight: as we were discussing the various thoughts on today’s Versaille trip, I remarked that I surprised that the depiction of Joan of Arc (~1425) didn’t have a halo.  Then I said, “oh, right, she didn’t get beatified till the early 20th century.”  I was called on this one.  I said, “yes, because Shaw wrote St. Joan prompted by it.”  Bull shit was called again and EH got out her phone [sidenote, neither RR or I have our data plans on so it is up to the kids to do all that stuff when there is no Wifi, and a lot of places haven’t had wifi {Versailles didn’t}] and finds that, yes, she passed muster in 1909 and was officially sainted in 1920.  AS to the Shaw bit, yes, he had work on Joan for some time and went back to it and finished the play after her beatification!!!! Win, win.  Then I wondered how I knew this…and I remembered (a Joan-like miracle in it’s own right 😂) — I read it my first semester in college (feel free to do the math), which led to discussions of me remembering, the oddness of the choice (it was a course on Historical Drama), etc.  But WIN!~ WIN!

As for winning, Sean, sorry about Notre Dame.  If we get there (the real Notre Dame) tomorrow, I will say a prayer…okay, no, I won’t but it’s the thought that counts this time of year, right? 😂

Tomorrow “early” the Louvre and then…well, many ideas have been cast about and it turns out my calendar saying 11 o’clock flight Tuesday in 5 o’clock Paris time, we will have time then, too. 

Manana.  or whatever they say here…