A Light (?) Lunch and More of Les Berges

We had such a big meal yesterday that I was in the mood for something lighter.  When I googled salads I read several recommendations for Le Relais Gascon in Montmartre, so that's where we went.  I ordered a salad with Gorgonzola and Bill ordered one with duck breast.  They were good, as reported on the internet, but all of the salads offered came with fried garlic potatoes, so it wasn't actually a light meal.  The fried potatoes were delicious, by the way.






Our plan today was to return to Les Berges and see what we had missed last night.  First, however, we returned to a place we'd seen before near Les Halles.  It's the Aurouze exterminating company whose display window has rats captured in the area in the 1920's.  The bottom part of the photo is a reflection of the building across the street, but the top part of the photo shows what we came to see.





We were still happy with what we saw at Les Berges.  It's a very creatively designed park.  There's a huge chalkboard for people to doodle on.  When you go under one of the bridges you hear American music piped in from  overhead speakers.  There were lots of joggers and bicyclists.

The cafes and restrooms are made from maritime packing containers.

They even have packing container rooms that you can reserve to relax with friends or take a nap.

It makes so much sense to use the riverside for recreation rather than for auto transportation.











Before returning home we stopped by the shop of the chocolatier Christian Constant for hot chocolate.  I was afraid it would be a high end intimidating shop, but that wasn't the case at all.  The hot chocolate was very thick and creamy and much more bitter than Americans are accustomed to - but delicious.

A White Tablecloth Lunch and Les Berges

We had lunch today at a small restaurant just a few blocks from our apartment.  Le Fleury has a very homey atmosphere with small tables covered with white tablecloths.  We had the 3-course formule.  My appetizer was snails while Bill had a seafood pastry dish.














Daube de boeuf, a Provencal style stew was my main dish and Bill had lamb chops.  Plenty of vegetables were included with the main course.

While ile flottante (floating island) was on the dessert menu, it wasn't available today, much to my disappointment.  Instead I had pear charlotte with chocolate sauce and Bill had profiteroles.















We spent most of the day resting at home and waiting for the rain to end.  It finally stopped at around 7:00 p.m., so we headed for Les Berges.  Until June of this year, the quais of the left bank were occupied by a high-speed roadway.  This roadway has now been converted to a linear park, about 1 1/2 miles long.  There are play areas, a parcours, bike rentals, cafes, and other amenities available.  We weren't able to see the entire park, so we'll be returning soon to see the rest of it.