Rue Cler ; famous for its market selling fresh produce, chocolate and cheese shops
This district is famous for its food and specialty shops. We went there on our last day in Paris. The sky was gloriously blue, which was very pleasant,given that the temperature that day and the whole week was in the low teens. Today was no different, around 10 - 12 deg C. May had last come to Paris in 2011, and had learnt some French cooking booking the pricate class online. The American host recommended Rue Cler as the place to go for the freshest and most attractively priced groceries as well as cheese and chocolates. How French you will say. The shop selling cheese is called Fromage Marie-Anne Cantin and we bought some hard cheeses Racoulette and Gruyere. The address is the Rue adjoining to Rue Cler. 12 Rue Champ de Mars.
Egg and Cheese Omelette
The French take dining very seriously, and we noticed that the women who stay so fashionably slim, do not eat much except for a salad for lunch and something very light for dinner. Its true that Evian water is more expensive than a glass of house wine, red of white at most restaurants.
Pretty Streets of Rue Cler
A bottle of Evian water at the corner supermarket costs EUR 1.10 (S$ 1. 60) while the same bottle in Singapore costs EUR 1.80 (S$ 3.00) or more. But that is making nonsense comparisons ; the chocolate shop at Rue Cler charges EUR 16.00 or S$ 20 per box of small chocolates which, while exhorbitant, gives us a little piece of gastromic heaven after a dinner. This food dinosaur has been refining his prehistoric palate bit by bit over the years and is able to differentiate his Beaujoulais from his Bordeaux, and his his La Maison du Chocolat from his Hersheys. Ahem.
The market street at Rue Cler
Is Paris worth a visit every few years, certainly in my book. Not so for the threat of pickpockets or the vagrants of course. The city has its centuries of culture, world class museums , gothic and Renaissance architecture, Tour Eiffel (just an icon in my book) and it has turned gritty over the few times we visited (2009, 2011 and 2016). Parisians are entrepreneurial and cosmopolitan and there are a huge number of people from all parts of the world (all continents are represented) living and working there. Expensive city ? Yes. Global City ? Yes. Welcoming City ? Speak French and the answer is "Oui Oui !"
Taken as a whole, it is a melting pot of cultures, gritty, in your face with challenges facing it. Life goes on in the city of Lights.
Card Players by Paul Cezanne.
No comments:
Post a Comment