Quelle belle vie!

In these times of la crise financière, I thought it might be fun to dream about how to enjoy France if money was no issue. So, here is my partial “wish list” that you are welcome to pick and choose from as desired. First of all, for a place to stay, forget two- or three-stars; the rooms are so small especially in big cities. Make your reservations at a super luxury hotel like l’Hôtel Plaza Athénée in Paris. Located in the 8e arrondissement between les Champs-Élysées, Paris's "main street," and la Tour Eiffel, it’s offering a special price until May 25th of only 695 euros a night (though I doubt that means for the room pictured)! If you’re interested in la province, you could get a far better deal. The Cour des Loges in le Vieux Lyon, for example, has a whole apartment complete with a separate living room for less.

As much as I love food and eating out, it may surprise you to learn that my list doesn’t include dinner at la Tour d’argent, le Jules Verne, or other restaurants étoilés from le Guide Michelin. (Although if staying at the l’Hôtel Plaza Athénée I could just go downstairs to Alain Ducasse’s restaurant…hmmmm, let me think that one over.) What I’d really like to do is take a food tour of Paris, like the ones presented by Canadian Stephanie Curtis, translator of Paul Bocuse’s cookbooks. For about 120€, which I believe includes lunch, she takes groups on a tour of Rungis (the big food market which replaced Les Halles), or le marché biologique on boulevard Raspail, or outdoor markets at la place Monge or on la rue Mouffetard. I suppose we could visit these locations on our own, but we certainly wouldn’t learn as much as with such a tour guide. Another food-related fantasy of mine concerns deluxe cooking schools. Last summer I’d picked up a secondhand copy of On Rue Tatin, which tells of Susan Herrmann Loomis's adventures at a culinary school in Paris and buying a house in la Haute-Normandie. She now holds cooking classes in Paris or in her small town of Louviers, south of Rouen. Another ex-patriot, cookbook author Patricia Wells, offers similar lessons in Provence and Paris.


But, let’s face it…the life I’m living is pretty nice the way it is. So, I’ll be content to discover gourmet spots in Paris for thirty euros or an English-speaking walking tour of the city for twelve. And if I really want to learn how to be a better cook there are places like Comme des chefs on rue de Sèze in Lyon where a chef teaches you to prepare exotic sushi or Thaï food for 40€ and includes a meal to bring home for two.