Where we are staying. Where we are eating.

We are staying in an apartment in the Latin Quarter.  It's a studio apartment with a large bedroom.  There is a small kitchen appliance area with a refrigerator and a cooktop as well as a coffee maker and toaster.  There are cabinets above it with dishes, glassware, utensils and other supplies.  The landlady put water, Coke, milk and orange juice in the refrigerator.

Jan found this location by hunting on Vacation Rental By Owner or VRBO.com.  The address is 17 Rue des Boulangeries, Paris.  The front of the building is under renovation as required by city ordinance.  Work is at a stand still because it is August, but we think it looks a bit like the one below.  It's hard to tell because there is scaffolding and various tarps covering it.

There is a large bathroom with a full size tub, a full size shower, a sink, a washing machine, an antique dresser for storage of clothes and the commode.  There are skylights that can be opened to help with cross ventilation.

 

Jan would prefer the room be in show condition for this type of report, but I am making due.  You can see the kitchen area over her left shoulder.  There is a table behind her where I do my blogging but it is meant for eating.  Odd idea.  There are drawers beneath the bed for clothing.

 

Outside our bedroom / living area there is a small balcony which overlooks a park.  The surrounding areas are well maintained.  It is one block from our doorstep to the Cardinal Lemoine metro station.  That makes getting to our various destinations pretty easy.

Our land lady is actually on holiday (because it's August in case you missed my repeated mentions of that).  Her son is caretaking for the family business.  We settled accounts today even though we don't leave for a few days.  He made an excellent restaurant suggestion tonight.  We went to La Truffiere at 4 Rue Blainville, just a short walk from our apartment.  He called ahead to let them know we were coming and they treated us so well.

They gave us this folder as a souvenir.  It contained the menu that we were served as well as the bill.  It's not large.  It's about 5 by 7.

We elected to order from a pre-set menu and the food was excellent.  The service was outstanding.  The price was competitive for this type of establishment.  We were not served and did not eat every item below.  We ate the egg, the fish of the day, the duck, a selection of cheeses and the ganache chocolate with caramel ice cream.

Yum.  Yum.  Portion size is ideal, especially if your doctor is the one deciding.  It's enough to enjoy but not too much to make you uncomfortable.  Some of you will read this and see that there was a fish course.  Yes.  I ate it.  I enjoyed it.  It was fresh and very tasty.  I am a fish snob.  Serve it to me fresh and I will eat it.  Serve it from previously frozen and I will pick at it but not actually eat it.

It is located where the neighborhood finds its night life.  There is a traffic circle which serves as a sort of piazza.  Aided by the fact that it is August (did I mention that yet) the locals who stay behind to work will celebrate at night. 

La Truffiere is just off this circle as are about a dozen other places to eat of all types and price ranges.

It will be hard to top tonight's dinner in terms of food quality.  Jan also learned about how the French believe wine should be served, especially the temperature of the wine.  White wine that is just opened should be at 10 degrees centigrade.  You can convert it using Google.  If it is opened more than a day they recommend 12 degrees centigrade.  They are not fans of serving red wine at room temperature.  They serve it at 14 or 15 centigrade.  They say you can taste the fruit of the wine more easily at that temperature.  Jan really enjoyed her glass of red wine so you wine drinkers can weigh those pieces of advice from the French.

We are a ahead of schedule in terms of our site seeing.  That permitted our night of leisure.  Tomorrow we are visiting a couple of places during the day.  At night our "driver" is taking us around the city.