The magic started right away, on the RER train to Paris from the airport, when two men carrying huge bunches of lilacs got on and sat next to us, their fingernails rough and grimy, chapped hands clutching the ragged ends of the lilac branches. They let us smell the flowers, us lilac-deprived New Yorkers, groggy from the flight.
It continued when we got to our hotel on the rue de Verneuil, just steps from where I used to live, and it turned out that the hôtel particulier across the street used to be Serge Gainsbourg's. The wall encircling the private garden was covered with graffiti and stencils of Serge, Jane, Charlotte, and others. I had to rub my eyes.
I finally saw rascasses in the flesh, on ice, at a little market just behind the Place de la Madeleine. You can't find them in the United States, but I always read about them in recipes for bouillabaisse, that spicy, rusty fish soup from Marseille. The market also sold olives so pungent I smelled them from four stands away, great big rounds of brie de Meaux, faintly pocked, handfuls of bright yellow ranunculus for just three euros, and roasted beets, cooled and waiting in their jackets for shoppers to take them home.
Everywhere we went, I saw people holding small bouquets of lilies-of-the-valley, just in time for the sudden advent of spring, or May Day, I suppose. They were even affixed under a plaque of a police station in the sixième. An efficient little police bike stood under the bouquet at attention, while sharply-dressed policemen milled about inside the station, cooling their heels.
Oh Paris, with your darling streets named after grammarians and revolutionaries and mathematicians. I spent the entire first day agog, head turned upwards in wonder, mouth agape. I lived there for a year; I mean, I know that city, and still it left me speechless.
We had hot chocolate at Angelina, and watched little girls and boys stand in front of the pastry case in wonder. The chocolate came in a sweet little jug along with a pot of thick cream to dollop on top. We had to split it four ways, of course. It was too rich otherwise. But it was delicious.
If you don't already know about the cheese course at Astier, in the 11th, consider this your nudge. When you're in Paris, have dinner there. Skip the desserts, they're nothing special. But whatever you do, don't skip the cheese. The waiter, winking, will bring you this straw platter covered with...can you count how many cheeses? With a few knives and a nub or two of bread, settle in until he comes by again, cluck-clucking, to take the cheese away and bring it to another deserving table.
We were lucky with the weather: a few of those perfectly moody Parisian days, in which the sky is a soft shade of gray, like old kid gloves, and the light falls just so and it never quite rains, so that each street and corner you discover feels like a gift and a temporary reprieve; and then a few days of bright, brilliant sky, where the sunlight illuminated the creamy colors of the buildings and I practically got tears in my eyes from all the beauty around us.
The magic infused every bit of this perfect little trip. It was something that filled up our souls and made us promise to do it again next year and the year after that. It may have even made me feel like I reclaimed Paris from my ghosts of the past. Now it's all about the future, our next trips, the ones we daydreamed we might take one day with our children: a bunch of women and their kids in a rented apartment somewhere, going to Angelina for hot chocolate and the Place des Vosges for soccer and the Jardin du Luxembourg for a puppet theater. It's just a dream for now, but if the magic makes it happen, I think it's a tradition I'm going to love.
More photos here.
The cheese! The radishes! I'm jealous that you got to enjoy all of this wonderfulness first hand but so glad you took time to share it with us so we can have a vicarious moment of enjoyment!
The closest I've come to being in France lately is converting tavel wine bottles into water carafes.
http://danamccauley.wordpress.com/2009/04/06/hydrotherapy Sigh.
Good luck sorting your kitchen out!
Posted by: Dana McCauley | April 30, 2009 at 11:14 AM
Sigh. I haven't been to Paris in 5 years and I am aching to go back. Your photos are perfect - capturing the feel of the place. I love your description of those gray days.
Posted by: Dana | April 30, 2009 at 11:17 AM
Thank you for this! For a second, I was in Paris instead of my rainy Chicago.
Posted by: Judi | April 30, 2009 at 11:25 AM
What amazingly gorgeous photos! These make me want to jump on the next plane to Paris!
Posted by: Michele | April 30, 2009 at 11:37 AM
oh those lilacs, beautiful. sounds like a most fantastic journey!
Posted by: Vanessa | April 30, 2009 at 11:46 AM
I was just at Astier in January...thanks for bringing back the memories of the amazing food!
Posted by: Michele C | April 30, 2009 at 11:47 AM
Saw a pile of those radishes as tall as a small child at Marché Monge in the 5th earlier this month. What beautiful sights and aromas at the markets of Paris! Dana, get your passport ready; you are overdue for a another visit.
Posted by: Bobby | April 30, 2009 at 12:00 PM
This brought tears to my eyes a little...how magical to have this time with girlfriends and to plan it again for the future. Would LOVE to go with my girls, when we are all aunties of each other's kids some day. We rented an apartment on our last trip, which was a nice way to go.
Posted by: maggie | April 30, 2009 at 12:05 PM
Oh, swoon. What a perfect trip! So glad you had fun and now have good memories of Paris.
I can only dream of going back to Paris. But I have a trip to New Orleans coming up that will provide a much-needed breath of fresh air.
Thanks for sharing.
Posted by: Lisa (dinner party) | April 30, 2009 at 12:13 PM
This is my favorite post you have written.
I can smell the lilacs in the photo above.
Posted by: Megan | April 30, 2009 at 12:19 PM
Lovely piece of writing. So evocative. You lead a charmed life.
Posted by: Dawn in CA | April 30, 2009 at 12:43 PM
Jealous!!!! I keep going around New York singing I Love New York In the Spring time. You know replacing Paris with New York, and you're actually in Paris in the spring time. I spent the whole time I was Paris walking around every corner and exclaiming, "Oh my God, it's beautiful!" If you can, please take a photo and post of it the florists - they are just spectacular.
Posted by: Prue | April 30, 2009 at 01:03 PM
I have been dreaming of paris for ten years now. I have never been, but now I want to live there. Next year, April in Paris, for sure. Thankfully Boston has been warm lately, but its not Paris.
Please share more photos :)
Posted by: shayna | April 30, 2009 at 01:53 PM
You're giving me a mean case of wanderlust! This trip looks just lovely.
Posted by: laura | April 30, 2009 at 02:09 PM
I am very jealous! It looks like you're having a great time.
Posted by: Sara | April 30, 2009 at 02:51 PM
thank SO SO much for sharing your experiences with us. I am planning a trip to Paris for Spring 2010 and this post has me excited all over again!!
Posted by: Ashley | April 30, 2009 at 02:58 PM
Lovely engaging post-a nice reminder that I will be there soon...must go and start x-ing off the days!
Posted by: Parisbreakfasts | April 30, 2009 at 03:50 PM
You've captured very well the wonder and thrill of Paris. Like you, I hope there is always another trip to Paris in my future.
Posted by: Zoomie | April 30, 2009 at 04:11 PM
This post just made me feel like I was floating around in Paris with you! I have only been there once, and three summers ago, at that. I can't wait to go again and check out those places. Beautiful pictures as always!
PSST. It's funny that it took a non-recipe post to make me comment! But I simply couldn't read it and not post a note!
Posted by: Mandy | April 30, 2009 at 08:07 PM
Ah....this brings me back. My first time to Paris 4 years ago was right before May 1. I remember walking the streets on that holiday and seeing lilies of the valley on every street corner, shop and market. It seemed to quaint, so traditional, so French.But the lilacs also....Glad to hear you enjoying...
Posted by: Lemon Tart | April 30, 2009 at 08:28 PM
your visit sounds so amazing--i LOVE the first picture! i love the RER from the airport, i get so excited right then and to see all those flowers right away...you must have been jumping out of your skin.
i took pictures of the same radishes, i wish i could get those in toronto. when you have time, check out my pictures from my visit last month! i wrote about what i ate every day (and a few other things of course). but seeing yours, i wish i took more pictures of the everyday beauty of paris.
http://lesauce.typepad.com/le_sauce/france/
Posted by: yasmin | April 30, 2009 at 09:55 PM
I have been reading your blog for about 6 months now, and have been enchanted not only by our writing, but also by your photography as well your recipes! This post is beautiful and desperately maes me want to go to Paris, but alas... Maybe next year...
PS: Love the picture in Angélina!
Posted by: Turner | April 30, 2009 at 10:52 PM
Oh, Luisa, this post made my heart pound, and my eyes water. I've never been to Paris, and this took me there for a few moments. I just know I'm going to love it. Someday.
Posted by: Katie | April 30, 2009 at 11:48 PM
What a beautiful post! Makes me want to go jump on a plane and head straight for Paris!
Posted by: Reemski | May 01, 2009 at 04:18 AM
Four people for one cup of Angelina's is about right. Its so thick - my favorite for dipping croissant in!
Posted by: gastroanthropologist | May 01, 2009 at 04:34 AM
So wonderful that associations with places, people, smells can be turned around like this. I was so excited by the location of your hotel: have been listening to Serge's Histoire de Melody Nelson all day and it put a smile on my face. And thanks for the wonderul pictures.
Posted by: Lexi | May 01, 2009 at 07:08 AM
I need some Paris time...it has been too long! Those rascasses are wonderful...sort of moody looking. And my those radishes, I can't wait until they're back in the markets here in New York.
Posted by: Laura | May 01, 2009 at 04:02 PM
What a gorgeous photo spread! I'll take a bouquet of radishes and a wedge of cheese, please.
Posted by: Rose-Anne | May 01, 2009 at 07:42 PM
totally jealous.
that is beautiful.
Posted by: natalia | May 02, 2009 at 02:28 AM
thank you for sharing.
Posted by: Kristin wyowoman | May 02, 2009 at 09:28 PM
I am Parisian, and l'Astier is a 5 minute walk from my house. I'm so happy that people are starting to know about it, it's one of my very favorite places (by the way, the surronding area is filled with great restaurants of every continent).
Lovely pictures!
Posted by: Coralie | May 03, 2009 at 03:57 AM
I also live in Paris and smiled at your enthusiasm for Angelina´s and its "chocolat africain"
this lava thick concoction that has little to do with a true chocolate beverage which is a thin and hardly sugared delicacy, flavoured with hot spices. Discover where you can have it in the little clever book
"Paris Chocolat" published by Parigramme (only in French).
Also you must learn that Paris has better parks than mentioned in your article. I warmly suggest picnics on the pelouse in that most magic of parks called "Buttes Chaumont" in the completely undiscovered l9 th arrondissement. I live by the park and you cannot be nearer to paradise.
Posted by: suedoise | May 03, 2009 at 06:01 AM
aghh, the lilacs just finished blooming here in Richmond. I havew 3 and it fills the entire yard.
Those cheeses... I swear that picture (add glass of wine) is my heaven. I can just smell the wonderful stink of it all!
Posted by: vanessa | May 03, 2009 at 09:33 AM
Thank you for those lovely pics. I was in Paris last year in May. Weather was great, the people were nice, had the best time. Making plans to go back (my 3rd time) next year.
Posted by: Janet | May 03, 2009 at 07:47 PM
Beautiful, just beautiful.
Posted by: Melynda | May 03, 2009 at 08:46 PM
i lived right around the corner from that big tree painting with a little poem next to it!! it is so fun to see it pop up here and bring back memories for me. did you enjoy rue mouffetard??
Posted by: Anna | May 04, 2009 at 11:34 AM
The BEST. Heaven. You truly capture my personal heaven. Thank goodness I have a trip officially on the calendar for July - otherwise I would be beside myself right now!!
Posted by: The Hungry Roach | May 04, 2009 at 02:03 PM
Nice photography.
I especially like the radishes, they remind me of a shot that I took recently: http://greentahina.blogspot.com/2009/03/organic-food-market-at-old-port-tel.html
NOthing like a day at the farmers market
Posted by: http://greentahina.blogspot.com/ | May 05, 2009 at 09:22 AM
Amusez-vous bien et passez un bon sejour. Paris peut etre magique!
Posted by: Sylvie | May 05, 2009 at 02:27 PM
LOVE Angelina's hot chocolate. Did you have ice cream at Bertillon?
Posted by: unconfidentialcook.com | May 06, 2009 at 11:09 AM
Only my second post and also not food related. You are a wonderful writer and photographer. Thank you, as always, for sharing!
Posted by: Margo P. | May 06, 2009 at 12:35 PM
What beautiful photos! Some amazing compositions. Makes me want to visit again right now.
Posted by: Esther | May 06, 2009 at 02:27 PM
wow. i just stumbled upon your lovely blog! love the gorgeous photos of paris...the radishes are gorgeous. i'll definitely be back :)
Posted by: miss sophie | May 06, 2009 at 07:45 PM
I feel like I've just been with the Pied Piper of Paris! I suddenly feel the urge to go - but I must bide my time - we're going in October and Angelina's is now on my list of "must do's." Thanks for the great read - I just discovered your blog and I'll be back. Nan
Posted by: Nan | May 07, 2009 at 10:23 AM
I love your blog. I also write a food blog from the French Alps where we are restoring an old watermill to turn into a gite. I hope you can drop in and have a look at
http://lemoulinaeau.blogspot.com/
Posted by: Sarah | May 07, 2009 at 01:48 PM
I hope the magic always continues for you. It's been many years since I was in Paris and still carry that glow - a scent, a flower, a market. Thanks for invoking those memories.
Posted by: Claudia Haas | May 08, 2009 at 10:31 AM
Luisa! I am in Paris now, paving over old memories from when I lived here in college. Loved your entry! This city is magical. Cheers! Mary
Posted by: mary | May 10, 2009 at 02:00 PM
Thank you for sharing your trip! Paris is always magical, no matter how many times you visit. To go with girlfriends sounds like such a treat!
Posted by: Erin | May 17, 2009 at 12:48 PM
I am headed to Paris on Thursday - thank you for the inspiration! I hope to visit some of your recommendations.
Posted by: Alison H. | May 17, 2009 at 09:22 PM
Thanks for a moment I was in Paris! instead i am in Atlanta
Love your Blog~:)
Thanks again
and you can visit me if I can visit you~:)
Posted by: foodcreate.com | May 20, 2009 at 01:05 PM