Then we headed over to our, by now, usual petite dejeuner spot and enjoyed our usual and then went to the Musee d'Orsay for a jaw-dropping visit to the Impressionists and Post-Impressionists. Yes, the crush of visitors was rather unpleasant, but seeing many paintings that I have liked over the years and seeing them in person, so to speak, was thrilling.
The museum layout felt something like a rabbit warren--it was difficult to get a feel for how to find pieces we were interested in visiting, which is good and bad. The bad part was that it was hard to find the Gaugin paintings because they had been temporarily moved, but the good part was that we saw things I would have missed otherwise. After 1.5 hours, we reached input overload and our feet and knees hurt so we started to leave. But this is one of those places where you keep seeing something else that you are compelled to go look at and so on the way out we passed a gallery of art nouveau furniture and we were sucked in for another half hour. If I lived close to this museum I would be a regular visitor and just feast my eyes on one artist at each visit. We hated to leave but we just couldn't take in any more.
We took a pedi-cab to Fauchon's and had a spectacular lunch--salad, a glass of wine, and a little dessert each. The place is all mirrored walls and pink tables and gold lame draperies and wait staff in dark grey pin-stripe suits with pink piping. Our salads looked like works of art, each item carefully positioned to please the eye and tasted spectacular--and the dressing was perfect. And the desserts almost made me swoon--we shared a caramel eclair (they are famous for their eclairs) the size a large cigar, skinny and long, and a lemon tart that was about a 2.5 inch square in size and was so intensely lemon it was amazing, and not too sweet. Each bite just filled my mouth with flavor.
After a short rest, then a shower and change, we embarked on our dinner adventure to Maxim's. Yes, THE Maxim's. This was one of those crazy ideas that we came up with 2 days ago during a "what if" chat when we were talking about this Paris visit as probably our one and only opportunity to see Paris. And that led us to dream up the over-the-top idea of trying to get a reservation at Maxim's--a very famous and historical restaurant. So we asked the hotel concierge to get us a reservation and voila, we were successful. We were stunned. And of course, we did not bring any glamorous evening wear on this trip although we did at least bring respectable dress up outfits.
The interior is elaborate art nouveau and gorgeous with dark woods and soft murals along the walls. Each table has those classic little cabaret lamps with pink shades, grouped around a small dance floor in front of a small stage for the chanteuse who sang and played the piano during the whole evening. It felt very 1880's. Sadly, it turned out that we were only one of three sets of diners that evening, so the place was pretty empty. I know that Maxim's draw is their history and fame and that people dine at other places now for leading-edge food, but I hope our evening was not an indication of a serious decline in business.
Happily, the food was magnificent. We started with champagne--but of course. My entree (which is the starter course in France) was beef bouillon. I expected a bowl of soup but instead received edible art. They first served a bowl with a slice of beef at the bottom with vegetables on top that looked like it had a garden growing out of it, then they poured the bouillon around the whole arrangement. The bouillon produced an explosion of flavor in my mouth (you are going to hear this phrase several times)--the flavor was so concentrated and complex and robust. And the slice of beef was the same. It had obviously been cooked for hours because it was butter-soft and full of flavor. Essentially it was a slice of pot roast but elevated to a much higher dish than just pot roast.
My main course was a fillet of beef with truffle sauce and a side of puffed potatoes. That description does not begin to describe it. It was a large portion of beef fillet swimming in a sauce that was thick, almost like syrup, and was so complex in flavor, so rich and intense, that I've never tasted anything like it before. The flavor just exploded in my mouth and I could not even begin to identify what was in it. Although I loved it, I was only able to eat about a third of the dish because it rapidly just became more than my mouth could handle--I guess it is possible to experience a flavor overload. And the potatoes were quite unexpected too. Imagine a potato chip about the size and shape of a madeline. Then imagine two of those put together to form a little hollow potato pillow. Then imagine it hot and crunchy but also a bit chewy. Delicious, and they stayed puffed up throughout the entire meal. I have no idea how they made them. Altogether it was magnificent.
Dessert sent me over the moon because I enjoyed, I savored, I swooned over the most absolutely perfect Grand Marnier soufflé I've ever had. Every bite was a piece of cloud with a delicate essence of Grand Marnier, not too much but enough to recognize. I can die happy now.
And so a spectacular, never to be repeated, day ended after 3 hours of dining--we were back at the hotel by 11:00. Between our lunch and our dinner, we spent about 600 euros, which is a whopping amount of money for two meals. I think we will have the most expensive poop in Paris tomorrow.
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