Back to the Left Bank, Eating and Diving

We stayed in the left bank for a decade, but we found that we only ate in the right bank, and the hour-plus walk home every night was weighing on us, so we shifted gears and now camp out on the right bank. A few things draw us back, such as Le Bon Marche and Huitrerie Regis. Two places that I couldn’t count how many times we have been. The only change is that Huitrerie now takes reservations where you used to be able to waltz in, although there was generally a line.

After lunch of Sancerre, oysters, and shrimps, we walked over to Pierre Herme, one of the best bakeries ever. Years ago we worked with a woman who turned us on to the double Napoleon that is filled with nougat and chocolate creme. It has the perfect crispiness to the dough, and the layers of creme just slide out when you cut in. Keep in mind they do not sell these treats in all Pierre Hermes, but they do sell them in the 6th at 72 Rue Bonaparte. We took our treat and walked over to Cafe du Clown, that serves an excellent cup of coffee.

We made our way back to the right bank and chilled a bit before heading out to dinner at Vantre. Vantre is a gem. Not only is the food creative, and delicious, they are so lovely there and their wine program is excellent, let the owner pick one for you. Tonight there were two specials, one is duck neck stuffed with fois gras. How could we say no? When in Rome, right? They brought out an old metal pot, took off the lid, smoke came streaming out, and voila, there was the duck neck sitting on groupings of herbs.

They took the neck back to the kitchen, dressed it up with some cherry sauce, and brought it back. This was rich, layered, melt in your mouth, deliciousness that we split. Only in Paris.

For our next course, we all had the lamb. This beautiful presentation tastes as good as it looks.

We went home and watched some Olympics on TV before hitting the bed. The next day, we went to see diving. Before going, we went to Bagnard, which has a perfect tuna Nicoise salad.

We jumped on the Metro to go out to the new Aquatics Center. The station is a 20-minute walk from the Center. This entire area is new. There are tons of office buildings, similar to Le Defense Arena, but we don’t understand why the Metro is so far. It is 85 degrees, in a concrete jungle, and so hot. By the time we got to the arena I was dying. I brought my handy air fans for my neck and face but still. We finally made it to the Aquatics Center, and it isn’t air conditioned either. It was hot and humid in there. Air conditioning is not in many places in Paris, and as much as I appreciate the need to save the planet, this heat is not good for anyone.

We are supposed to go back out there tomorrow, but it’s unclear if we can deal with the heat. I do like that the new Aquatics Center will become a multi-sports facility after the Olympics. It will also teach swimming lessons, as one in two children entering 6th grade cannot swim in Paris, although the heat is killing me.