More on my NYC visit: this time, shopping and restaurants.
Following the Met, I went for a stroll along Madison Avenue to window shop, and my Francophile spirit called me into a couple of spots. First up was La Maison du Chocolat, familiar to me from blog entries I've posted about the most expensive chocolates in the world. I might have been able to resist if the candy had been their only offerings, but they also carried macarons and displayed them in the window; a person can only be so strong. The macarons -- sweet, flavored, fluffy clouds -- were promptly inhaled. The chocolates have not yet been sampled; I intend to ration them carefully -- starting tonight. (I will not write daily entries about each little bite.)
About a block or two further along was another chocolaterie, Debauve & Gallais, a place that had sentimental appeal to me because one of their Paris outposts was near to an apartment I'd rented a few years ago. Because I'd already spent most of my cats' inheritance at La Maison, I passed by D & G --tristement but solvent.
Near Rockefeller Center I returned to a favorite bookstore: La Librairie de France. Mostly, I go there to browse; the place is notoriously expensive, even moreso with the exchange rate. I held in my hands a copy of Alabama Song, this year's Prix Goncourt winner, but couldn't bring myself to spend $60 for a small paperback. There are more affordable items in the store's basement.
Word is that the store -- the oldest tenant in the center plaza -- will lose its lease next year due to high rents. It's a bit of an outrage: the tenants that have taken over other storefronts are merchants like Crabtree & Evelyn, which you can find in every mall in the USA. La Librarie says they will maintain their on-line business.
Why I'll never go to Cafe Cluny in Greenwich Village again. There's a restaurant location in Greenwich Village that's special to me; my friend Michael had worked there. Even though the decor and name and menu change regularly, I return now and then, because it's a place where I can recall many good times which Michael and I shared: great food, hanging out at the end of a shift, joking with the chefs and staff. When I researched the site before my trip and discovered that it was now a French bistro, I immediately made reservations. What serendipity! Or so I thought.
First, the good news: The food isn't bad. It's not stand-out -- a frisee salad was overdressed, and my short rib main course tasted great but looked sloppy. Yet I've had much worse.
Even faint praise, however, is not in line for the service and atmosphere. A small place, the restaurant's current owners have overpacked its rooms, and the noise level is close to painful. The service people swoop down to remove your plates before you've finished chewing the last bite. But what really made me hate Cafe Cluny was that we -- out of towners and newcomers -- were seated in a high traffic spot that the staff knows is uncomfortable. This problem wasn't severe at the start, but when -- about the time I ate my appetizer -- a party was seated at a table near me, the host came by to warn me I should sit closer to my table because of the passers-by. In other words, she knew this was a problem spot and I was the sucker they gave it to. For the next forty minutes, my chair was kicked, I was jostled by the speeding bus boys, other customers rubbed against me. By the end of the main course, I was so angry I couldn't speak. (If this problem had been evident before the meal had begun, I would have asked to be moved, but our food was already being served when the shoving began.)
Given the turnover at the location, I'm hopeful that some day a new restaurant will take this one's place. Until that happens, I'll never return. They've murdered some lovely memories.
by Gilles Desmond has thirty walks in different areas of the city, each of which lasts about two hours. By now I've completed most of the walks, and they've added immeasurably to my enjoyment of Paris. I've poked around alleys, passages, little museums, parks, cemeteries, and more. For those of you who want to get away from the heavily traveled tourist routes, this is the one to get (although, to be frank, tourists are everywhere in Paris; it's just a matter of how many). 
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