Monday, June 22, 2009

DAY 3: Toupary restaurant (La Tour Eiffel and Musee d'Orsay)

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DAY 3 of a week in Paris - Tuesday
La Tour Eiffel & Musee d'Orsay

It's taken a while, but we are waking up to our third full day in Paris. Well, to be honest, I want to skip the day for now and jump straight to evening. I can't wait to tell you about one of my favorite spots in the city. I'll tell you later about the other stops on our itinerary, ok? (I had problems with the HTML for my itinerary, strangely enough, so I am not posting it. I'll figure it out next post hopefully.)

The Toupary restaurant may not be the best reviewed or have as fine a cuisine as Taillevant, for instance (I'll tell you about that Michelin 3-star restaurant one of these posts), but it is one of my favorite spots to eat in Paris. As I've said before, I think my simple palate would be happy with a grilled sandwich at a gas station in France, so maybe you shouldn't trust me. But I do love me some good food. And I am willing to spend money on it if the experience warrants it.

That said, the food I've eaten in my four or five meals there has been superb and the service terrific. But the main reason I chose it in 1997, alone for lunch in the second week with my sister Nancy after we learned in the first week we liked spending our time and money differently, was for the view. It is on the fifth floor of the Samaritaine Department store - which has since closed (is there anything else in the building now, I wonder?).

You can see the Pont Neuf from my table in the top photo, my favorite bridge in the city. It's rather a cliché to love this bridge, as there have been countless movies about it. But that's OK, there are reasons for it. It is at the point of the island for one thing, and it's just so darn picturesque.

When I excused myself to myself (you must be polite to yourself when you go out alone) to go to the ladies room, I was tickled to find this gorgeous view there too. Of course I had to take my camera with me as there was no one to guard it at the table, and wasn't it handy to photograph myself in the mirror that stood in front of this marvelous sight? I nabbed the orange card for my scrapbook.



Again when Don and I went to Paris for our 25th anniversary in 2003, I wanted to eat there to celebrate. Do you see our water glasses reflected in the window?



But below are the glasses we wanted to steal. I don't think I've ever been tempted to steal before this (and later I did steal a Guinness glass from the Guinness factory in Dublin), but this was just too sweet! Because they knew it was our big 25th anniversary, they brought our champagne in this special glass set. We asked if we could purchase one, but they didn't have them to sell. So, we seriously contemplated hiding them under Don's sportcoat. Ha. But we didn't do it, although it might have been fun to meet Inspector Clouseau.



We asked the waitress (rare female in this male dominated profession in Paris) to snap our pic, but this is the result. It's probably not her fault, since the light was behind us.


5 comments:

Susan said...

Oh, my! So much to take in here! The photo of the bridge and the glasses looking so ghostly there is sublime. Was that a happy accident or your intention all along?

And, I actually love the last photo, flaws and all. It looks as if it had been rescued from something dire, from another time maybe. I don't know, it just gives me the oddest feeling, like it's trying to tell me something.

I love that you treated yourself very nicely while you were there.

The bathroom picture is very sweet and you are so skinny!

I would have been extremely tempted to steal that glass. You probably have better character than I!

PeterParis said...

I regret to inform you that the Toupary is closed since some 3 years and probably for ever... The whole building seems still to be empty. One day there will certainly be something very fashionable there, but when? Well..., in the meantime there are other restaurants in Paris! :-)

Sorry about the double champagne glass! Shall I try to find one?

Jeanie said...

Oh, this is such a treat! I love the black and white photos, too!

I'm back from Paris, and oh, it was delightful! I'm so very glad I discovered your blog!

who said...

???do you mean the glasses in the picture below it are a reflection?

oops, sorry, my bad, I do see the wine glasses now, right in between and slightly lower than Mr. Snuffalopogus and the cardboard bald eagle.

oh my! the woman in the mirror looks the same as she did 7 years earlier...ummm Dear Lord forgive father for my thoughts are impure. I cannot help it, brilliant, sutle, I'm infatuated with these women's minds. I can't control my urges... luckily though I am much too thick headed to fit in that tiny --WHOLY ELBOWS- Skull!!!! forgive me too thick headed skull, I did not mean to give you the wrong impression.

listen to me I'm rambling, I cannot be in the presence of beauty when there is brilliance around (in that beauty)

Ruth said...

Bounjour, Dusty, welcome to Paris. It's cool that you found this blog, since I wasn't really advertising it anymore after not posting in so long. Thanks for that, and your nice words.