Welcome to travels with Todd

I typically write about my trips sequentially but I’m making a small exception and publishing a story about the quick two night trip I made from Lisbon to Paris earlier this week. Those of you who know me or who have followed this blog know that Lisbon has become my second home and I generally will not write much more about my time here but, when its proximity to Paris provides the opportunity to breeze in on a two and a half hour flight on Sunday, watch the Maryland women’s basketball team open their season against South Carolina, and fly home Tuesday, I’m going to make the most of that.

My addiction to flying on Delta or one of its partner airlines (in this case Air France) meant I’d be flying into CDG rather than Orly. Some friends had prepped me to expect some difficulty getting to the city using the RER but my flight landed at Terminal 2 and there’s an RER B station in the terminal. I’d mapped my route before boarding – RER to Gare du Nord; transfer to Metro Line 4 three stops to Strassbourg – Saint-Denis then onto Line 8, three more stops to Richelieu – Drouot and walk 50 meters to the hotel.

The first lesson

Before I left Maryland for this brief two week stay in Lisbon, I sent some friends this picture

of me with all my “luggage” that contained a book to read on the plane, my notes from my recent trips to Oaxaca and Ecuador, an external hard drive that had my photos from those trips and some other files I needed to update, and little else. Everything else I was likely to need was already there. Then I had to pack for two nights in Paris. I needed toiletries, a hair brush, my computer, a change of clothes, and something to sleep in. Thus, the irony of my first lesson. I packed more for a two night stay in Paris than I had for my two weeks in Lisbon. The lesson is that if I plan to travel from my Lisbon home for more than a few days, I need a backpack or a carry-on here.

I know that voice

I was settling into my hotel room and trying to wrap my head around the fact that in the past month, I’d been in five countries on three continents when I heard an assortment of female voices from the hallway and recognized one above the others. The hotel had put me on the same floor and wing as Maryland’s team. I stepped out and chatted with them for a few minutes before everyone returned to their non-chatting activities. In addition to a bit of unpacking, one of my non-chatting activities was deciding where to have supper.

Sometimes greatness can be found in unexpected places. A train station, for example. Using guidance from the website 2foodtrippers run by my friends Daryl and Mindi, and a boost from Bing Maps

I set out for Lazare just over a kilometer away in the Gare Saint-Lazare. It’s described on its website as, “An iconic brasserie by Chef Éric Frechon, holder of three stars in the Michelin Guide and a Meilleur Ouvrier de France, located in the heart of the Saint-Lazare train station.” (The Meilleur Ouvrier de France is a competition for craftsmen held in France every four years. The winning candidates receive a medal.)

I settled on the three-course signature menu starting with Delicate Wild Mushroom Velouté, lightly whipped cream and hazelnuts, a main of Cod with Tomato Confit, ginger and basil, whipped lemon butter (pictured below), and Warm Chocolate Fondant, vanilla ice cream for dessert.

I think I was slightly heavier when I walked back to the hotel than I’d been when I left it. I was definitely happier.

The second lesson rua Augusta comes to avenue de l’Opéra

Monday the second of November in Paris felt like a midwinter day in Lisbon. The morning sky was gray and threatening rain (a threat on which it would make good later in the day) and the temperature was a chilly eight degrees. Prior to this trip, Daryl had also recommended I try to visit Cedric Grolet a noted bakery at 35 avenue de l’Opéra. It required an even shorter walk than I’d made to Lazare. Unfortunately, it’s only open Wednesday through Sunday so it would be unable to quiet my sweet tooth’s siren song. Still, I needed an early morning walk and avenue de l’Opéra was as good a stretch as any to explore.

Since I knew the shop wouldn’t be open but wanted to have some distance in my walk, I started in the opposite direction along Boulevard Haussmann to rue de Richelieu and then along avenue de l’Opéra where I (not unexpectedly) passed the French bakery-café chain Paul.

Farther along the street, however, I saw a store from another chain that surprised me.

Mantegaria opened its first shop in 2014 at Rua do Loreto 2 in Chiado. It expanded to 13 shops in Lisbon, and opened its first store in Porto in 2017 when Portugália Restauração acquired an 85 percent stake. It now has locations in Madrid, Macau, Hong Kong, and, obviously, Paris. I can visit both Paul and Mantegaria on rua Augusta in less than a five minute walk from my apartment in Lisbon.

I also came across this ad promoting the event I came to Paris to see.

And, on the way back to the hotel where I’d join the team and coaches for breakfast, I had what struck me as an interesting look at the Basilique du Sacré-Cœur de Montmartre.

I had time for some rest, then more walking, and a bite of lunch before my friend J arrived from Lisbon to join me for the game. As an alternative to Cedric Grolet, my friend Daryl suggested a trip to Stohrer. There I could stock my room for a late night snack. Of course, I took some photos along the way.

First, I passed Bistrot de Croissant

Where there was this marker

memorializing the assassination of Jean Jaurés. Jaurés was a democratic socialist who lost his seat in Parliament for defending Alfred Dreyfus in 1898 after the publication of Émile Zola’s famous “J’accuse…!” letter and who warned against militarism and urged arbitration and cooperation between France and Germany hoping to prevent French involvement in World War I as its shadow loomed over Europe. He was murdered on 31 July 1914 and Germany declared war on France on 3 August 1914.

Next, there was the cow above the fromagerie called La Fermette because what could be more appropriate for a cheese shop than a cow?

In due course I reached Stohrer. One person in the retinue that accompanied Marie Leczinska from Poland when she married Louis XV on 5 September 1725, was her father’s pastry chef, a man named Stohrer. Five years later he settled on rue Montorgueil and opened a pastry shop whose specialties would be babas and puits d’amour making it the oldest such shop in the French Capital.

Here’s a bit of the display:

And what I bought.

An eclair and a tarte grandmere.

And what of the game

On my way to meet J at his hotel, that was some distance away, I had a little incident worth reporting. I had to add money to the Navigo card I’d purchased at the airport. I did this but didn’t proceed quickly enough through the gate and the system blocked me from reusing it at that point. A stranger saw me and held the gate open while he instructed me to squeeze below the turnstile. Mission accomplished. (You see. The Parisians can be friendly and helpful!)

J and I had a nice chat before grabbing a bite to eat at a nearby Bioburger. We walked through a persistent rain to the arena about a kilometer away, passed through security, and settled into our seats.

One’s evaluation of the game itself in which Maryland played the top ranked South Carolina in the season opener depends on how you perceive sports. If it all comes down to simply winning and losing, the game was a success for South Carolina who won by a 101-93 final and a failure for Maryland as the losing side. If, on the other hand, you can recognize that SC was the favored team, that Maryland is reliant on several freshmen, and is still in the process of blending other new players onto its team, then you might be able to look at their effort in reducing a 33-61 halftime deficit to 90-96 with 43 seconds to play and you can see the seeds of a successful season. Either way, it certainly was an entertaining contest.