Monday 21 December - Aux Iles Marquises

We were happy to find that Aux Iles Marquises was open for lunch with Mme. Thiery out front and M. Thiery in the kitchen.  We had made a reservation for New Years's Eve but there was a strong possibility that they would have sold the restaurant and retired.  We were happy that our reservation is good but the Thiery's must be disappointed that they cannot begin a well earned retirement,
Lunch was outstanding and it was good to chat briefly with M. Thiery and look forward to his meal on New Years Eve.

Terrine de chevreuil

Kidneys in a rich gravy

Dorade

Mignardises

It was a warm sunny day today although there was a cool wind at times.  A short metro ride took us to Balard and we visited the Parc Andre Citroen.  This is a very large space on the site of the former Citroen automobile plant.  It is set out in the grand style with a lot of concrete, reminiscent of La Defense.  There are grand walkways similar to Versailles with large well trimmed trees.  The whole place has a lot of small spaces with many interesting small gardens and wild areas.  Each one has been carefully thought out and each area is different.  One end of the park fronts on to the Seine.  This is an urban park as opposed to Monceau or Buttes Chaumont which have plenty of green spaces.

On the way back I stopped off at the Gare Saint-Lazare where I noted a number of changes.  There are a lot of the new electric multiple unit trains and the long distance trains I saw were all equipped for push pull working with ugly driving trailers.  I didn't see any of the old 1960 vintage electric locomotives.  Their numbers were declining last year so may be they have all been replaced,

A really ugly driving trailer conversion

There are many more of the new trains now in evidence.