~ Paris 7.0 ~ Rue Cler

Rue Cler is a pedestrian only open-air market street located in the heart of the 7th arr.  Unlike other pedestrian-only streets i.e.Rue Mouffetard, Rue Buci & Rue Montorgueil, Rue Cler is wide with a very relaxed village-like feel.

Since Rue Cler was a block from our apt., we frequented it often.

  Just about everything we needed could be found there.

The street is cobbled.  The only vehicles are delivery vans/trucks.

The post office is the first building on the street; that was my first stop to buy stamps.

There are a variety of specialty shops; chocolate, honey, wine and imported salmon.  I think you'd really have to love salmon to pay those prices.

What you notice most, though, are the colorful produce markets. Most were "help yourself".  Below are blackberries, blueberries, red currants and raspberries; I had to look up groseille because I had no idea what those little round berries (red currants) were.

Inside there were nuts and oils.

Shopping here for the evening meal would not bother me at all.  No crowds, no cars or parking lots and really fresh produce.

That's Woody shopping for oranges to make freshed squeezed orange juice.  There's a juicer in the apt.

Flowers~one of the things I love about Paris.This was a very large flower shop.

Further down the street are two charcuteries (delicatessen). Both offer a wide variety of pre-prepared meals.  The spaghetti bolognese (below) is 4.5 euros; across the street at the cafe it's 12.95 euros.  As you can see, there is a large selection of vegetables and roasted meats and chickens.

Love the green beans (haricots vert).

The tray on the left is a tangine.

The choices change daily.

There are a handful of restaurants on the street.  Cafe Central, is where we would go if I wanted Spaghetti Bolognese.

I loved that large antique cash register.

Amuse bouche (hors d'oeuvres).  The marinated olives were very tasty.

The patisserie where we bought our daily pain au chocolat is marked by the purple awning.

Pain au chocolat is a sweet roll made with the same dough as a croissant, it is a chubby little pillow filled with pieces of dark chocolate.

The outside counter is supposed to be for convenience, but the yellow jackets were all over the sweets.

macarons

melt in your mouth meringues

Only one small souvenir shop on Rue Cler~a real plus!

But there were two fromageries (cheese), which I suppose the French love.  The smell was really awful walking by these shops.

There were also two grocery stores.  We shopped in the Franprix, which is a chain grocery.  You can find just about everything you need, but be careful how much you buy because you will have to carry it home.

The very first thing I did when we booked our apartment, was to search for the closest ice cream shop.  Lucky for me there's an Amorino on Rue Cler.

I did a little research and found this old photo from circa 1900 of Rue Cler.

a bientot~~

~Paris 7.0~ First Days Settling In

 The agency we used to find the apt was Lodgis.  They were very friendly and fast to respond to any of our questions.  The apt managers were friendly and quite helpful.  Benjamin spoke very good English.

 Our apartment building was located at 7, Ave de la Motte-Picquet in the 7th arr.  The little green door between Max's Restaurant and the auto repair shop is the entrance.
They were doing construction on the street; Woody watched the daily progress and was amazed at the efficiency of the workers.  It was completed before we left.

The building's elevator was certified for 3 persons.

This photo shows Woody and I in the elevator.  We were always coming up with scenarios for fitting in a 3rd person.   We could barely fit in if we had a bag                          of groceries.  

We were thankful for the elevator since our apt was on the 4th floor.

The apt was quite roomy.  There was a living room with a dining area and kitchen in the front facing the street.

The bedroom which you could walk around, had a chest of drawers and closet space.  They really know how to utilize the limited space available.

The bathroom was also in the back of the apt.   It, too, could accommodate all of our 'paraphenalia" and had a spa tub.  When I saw the apt on-line I thought this was terrific~something that would be great for a sore body at the end of the day.   But in reality, I could not justify using the amount of water needed to fill it.

There was a large screen TV with several English speaking stations...mostly news.  Woody was able to watch Ohio State Football on the computer and I listened to the Federer/Djokavic final of the US Open tennis tournament.

The kitchen was laid out quite efficiently.  I loved working in the kitchen (though that was rare ).  We (Woody) used the coffee maker, orange juicer and microwave all the time.  Woody also figured out the cook top and made french toast for breakfast several times.   There was a washer in the kitchen, which we did not use. No dryer though.

                                                   The dining table became the 

                                     computer work station and general "catch-all"

If you stood in one exact spot in the living room, there was a view (glimpse) of the Eiffel Tower.  And, we were able to see it 'twinkle' on the hour.

The neighborhood was wonderful.  The pedestrian market street ~Rue Cler (there will be a blog post highlighting rue Cler)~ was 2 blocks away.  The apt was located between the Eiffel Tower and the Invalides.   These were the tourist areas.  (Rick Steve's loves Rue Cler.)

We had lots of choices of restaurants and each one that we chose was good.

There was access to about 6 bus lines and 2 Metro stops.  

 This is the large intersection at the Ecole Militaire Metro stop.  Lots of restaurants here and it's where most of the bus stops were located.

  At the other end of the street was this little park.  So quiet, relaxing and just beautiful.

This is the Invalides that houses the superb Musee de l'Armee.  We've been here twice.   The Medieval exhibits and World War I & II exhibits are great.

  Just past the Ecole Militaire intersection is the 

Champs du Mars and the Eiffel Tower.

Woody ,on Rue Cler, buying oranges for my fresh squeezed OJ.

Next time we'll take a closer look at Rue Cler.       ~a bientot.

~Paris 7.0~ Prologue

We've just returned from the "city of light".  I intended to call this post Paris 7 (which it was) but it was also a celebration of a milestone birthday that I wasn't particularly looking forward to.  That resulted in our 7th visit to my favorite city and the revised title.

Each of our Paris stays has been different, but there are things we always do, places that must be revisited and food that can't be missed.  This trip was, indeed, different.  We didn't go to the Louvre or Montmartre ; no nutella and banana crepe or tomato and mozzarella sandwiches, therefore no feeding the pigeons; but, we survived ~another perfect Paris holiday!

Our apartment for the 2 week stay was located on Ave de la Motte-Picquet in the 7th arrondissement.  The area is clean and fairly quiet because of the many embassies located there.  We were between 2 main tourist attractions; the Eiffel Tower and the Invalides.  The Ecole Militaire Metro area was a main hub for many buses, which was our main mode of transportation.  Only a block from the apartment, near the Champs du Mars, the Place de l'Ecole Militaire is a sprawling  intersection of 5 streets. 6 bus lines use this area as a correspondence.   The real challenge is finding the bus stop for the correct line, going in the desired direction.

When I was planning this trip, I tried to include many of the sites that were missed on the previous 6 visits.  (My plans always tend to be a bit amibitious.)  At the same time, I tried to make each day easy on my body (limiting walking and stairs).  There were 2 side trips planned; 2 days in  Brussels for my birthday and a day trip to Rouen.  I also included 3 neighborhood explorations, 2 open air markets and 3 museums.   The rest of the time we would 'play it by ear'.  My goal was to take lots of photos.  We did go to Brussels, 1 museum and did a lot of 'playing it by ear'.  I took over 1500 photos

So let's begin this photojournal of Paris 7.0.