Sunday 1 January - Last Post

I have started a new blog for 2017. You can find it at:

http://colinchurcher2017.blogspot.com/

Saturday 31 December - New Year's Eve

As usual we went to Aux Iles Marquises on rue Gaite for the New Years Eve meal. We arrived around 2030 and Mme. Thiery made us very welcome.

Amuse bouches

Foie gras a la lie de vin et sa mache coquiette. This was much preferable to the straight foie gras of earlier years

Chausson de langouste au poivre rose. The lobster in the pastry packet was good and the juice was superb.  We had to conserve our bread because the sauce with the venaison also had to be sopped up.

Blanc de turbot aux lamelles de truffe.

Granite de champagne to clear the palate

Noisettes de chevreuil venaison
Mousseline aux marrons

Farandole de desserts. These were very filling A lady at a table for four close by was given three of the right hand desserts by her fellow diners who were evidently full up. She ate them all with relish.

Cafe et mignardises. Canelle, chocolate, fruit jelly and macarons

 We started with a coupe de champagne, then half a bottle of white Sancerre for the fish and half a bottle of Saumur Champigny for the meat. The whole meal was excellent and very well presented. The restaurant was full, many of the guests being well known to Mme. Thiery.

It was a bitter sweet farewell to Mme. Thiery as we had been coming here for this meal since 2006. It seems pretty certain that they will not be here by this time next year.  Retirement is overdue.

The metro was pretty full on the way back to Villiers.  Two German girls were trying to find their way to the Etoile and we steered them on to line 2 at Villiers.  The train was completely full here and one wonders what sort of chaos there was at the Etoile when everybody would be getting out.

This evening was a wonderful way to end a pretty good year.

Friday 30 December - Musee des Arts Forains

The Musee des Arts Forains is in Bercy close to the line 14 Cour St-Emilion station.  The weather has turned colder and it was damp down by the river.  The Musee is not open on a regular basis but there was unrestricted entry over the holiday period.  It contains a large collection of fairground type exhibits from the late 19th and early 20th century.  Fairground rides and games have been well restored and there were a large number of families with small children. The exhibits are housed in a series of old warehouses that were formerly used to store wine.  Bercy village is close by which is set up like a semi enclosed mall. There must be a great deal of maintenance and restoration work required on the exhibits while a great number of people are required to work and display the various items. Rather than go into a detailed explanation it will be best to rely upon images and video.

The velocipede was an amazing attraction.  People sat on the seats and pedaled like mad when the brakes were released

In this game the kids rolled balls into the holes to score points and advance their waiter

Mulled wine was a welcome warm drink

This band played weird music but developed a following of small kids in a pied piper-like manner

Not only have the old buildings been used but the trees have become part of the musee as well

After a snack we walked through the Parc de Bercy which is a large semi-wild area of grass, trees and wetlands with large numbers of mallards and moorhens.  Very pleasant on a warmer day.

Thursday 29 December - Le P'tit Canon

Lunch today at Le P'tit Canon was excellent.  It was very busy and the kitchen had to contend with 70 covers with just two servers.  We were in a room with just one party of about 20 people who had to work out the best table placements.  The servers could not reach everybody but had to pass the plates, cutlery etc from one location. The red Chinon was good.

We were close to the wine rack where straw hats were stored. Christian, one of the owners, always wears one of these.

Pickled herring (Mary)

Anchovies (Colin) - not at all salty

Ganbas (Mary)

Magret de canard (Coli)

Pear tarte (Mary)

Chocolate mousse

An old beer poster.

Wednesday 28 December - Movie "Passengers"

In walking over to the Champs Elysees this afternoon we passed this tall thin tree in Monceau Parc. It is almost as tall as the tree next to it but very thin indeed,

This afternoon we went to the Champs Elysees to see the science fiction/romance "Passengers" it was well foilmed and the acting was good. We thoroughly enjoyed it and the 3D was effective.

Tuesday 27 December - Fontainebleau

Today we had to buy Mobilis tickets to get to Fontainebleau, last time we tried it was free because of the pollution but the train broke down in Gare de Lyon.  It was a loco hauled train of UIC coaches which rode very well.  Our tickets allowed us to use the bus to the Chateau. The weather forecast was sunny - it turned out to be a cloudless blue sky all day which gave some excellent light on the buildings in the low sun. The pictures speak for themselves.

The plane trees have been trimmed to produce this avenue.

Cormorants on the roof sitting in the warm sun.

The Canada geese were trimming the grass

Back in the town the Naturalia store had an impressive green wall.

Click here to see all pictures taken at Fontainebleau

Monday 26 December

December 26 is not a holiday in France and the shops were open as a normal Monday. It rained first thing and I went for a walk to explore the abandoned railway from Pont Cardinet to Pereire. It is double track for most of the way and the overhead wires have been removed. All pictures are looking west.

Close to Pont Cardinet

The current RER Pereire station is in the background

The sun came out this afternoon and we went for a short walk around the Square des Batignolles where several birds, including a thrush and a great tit were having a bath.