After the non-stop activity of Champagne, the last weekend in Paris was comparitively languorous.
lan’guor·ous; adj. a dreamy, lazy mood or quality.
Even so, we got to see the main tourist sights, namely the Eiffel Tower and Notre-Dame.
Before we had gone to Le Parc in Reims, Annette had booked a lunch at the 1-starred Le Sergent Recruteur on the Île Saint-Louis. We weren’t really sure what to expect, especially after walking into the restaurant while the staff were clearly still having their pre-service breifing. However, our sommelier, Ludovic stole the show, and after learning that we had were guests of Champagne, completely spoiled us.
Our 6-course degustation was accompanied by a rare bottle of Old Vine whiteChâteau de Beaucastel, which Australia probably gets an allocation of about 6 per year. This rich, textural and complex wine matched really well with our mains and Ludovic, generously gave us complimentary tastings of some Jura wines made of Savagnin and a Grenache-dominant red from the Côtes du Rhône with our beef.
Another brilliant lunch, one which I’d certainly recommend to anyone looking for a great meal in Paris.
We managed to find some great wine bars in the 9e Arrondissement on Saturday night and spent our Sunday morning walking over the hill of Montmartre and checking out Sacré Coeur. Clive, from the Sydney Wine Academy had just flown in that morning from Hong Kong, and joined us for the wander.
After visting the brilliant markets at Saint-Ouen we trekked back to Montmartre to find the vineyard located within the city. Unfortunately our CIVC back-stage passes had no sway within the périphérique and we were forced to view it through the fence.
To cap my trip of forgetfulness off, I realised, once we had arrived at Charles de Gaulle 2E, that I had left my suit jacket in the bar of the hotel. Where, 5 years ago, this would have been an issue, Uber came to the rescue again. I booked an UberPOP to the hotel and had my jacket to CDG thirty minutes and thirty Euro later. #boom.
After that excitement, we had a bit of a battle with Air France over overwight baggage and Annette got stung a little. Sadly, that was pretty much the end of the trip.
We boarded the plane, I finally got my copy of Le Monde and we contented ourselves with a “glass” of bubbles to start the journey home.
warrellwine 