A Festive Fete

We'll be leaving fascinating Paris soon, but we were able to enjoy some street food before leaving. This weekend Montmartre is having a Fete at Sacre Coeur a few blocks uphill from our apartment. We took the funicular up (looks like it operates much like the San Francisco cable cars) and looked back as we rose to view the city spread below, subdued due to gray cloud cover.

The previous day had been clear, cool and breezy with a bright blue sky - perfect fall weather! We took the Metro to the Musee d'Orsay to spend time with my favorite artists' works, then took a jaunt on the Seine down to Notre Dame and St. Chapelle. Time just flew by!

So the cloudy coolness of Friday's Fete was a big change. For some reason it made it difficult to get photos of the stained glass while inside the church, but it didn't matter because this church, while grand and gilded,

is also a holy place not just a tourist attraction. We lit a candle for Max and said a few prayers.

Outside the festival included street performers, an assortment of food stalls and lots of wineries stalls. There were also people dressed in costumes from the Napoleonic era.

My favorite food stalls to look at included the raclette sandwich stall where heaters warmed the top of a wheels of cheese and the bottom of a half baguette until a customer ordered. Then the melted cheese was scraped onto the warm bread and ham or other toppings added.

Another had an aprons young man stirring a mass of melted cheese in a large pot with a long handled stirrer who kept the mass of hot cheese moving and occasionally he lifted some up, showing thick strands of deliciousness looping from the sturdy stirrer.

 Sweetie bought a traditional potato dish that combined potatoes, bacon, olive oil, cheese and pepper. One stand served that mixture in small containers made from bent thin wooden strips. There was a colorful candy stall

and one that sold Japanese cashews, which Sweetie enjoyed.  I enjoyed some macarons with no filling - just two cookies with bottoms pushed together. The apricot was especially intensely flavored, although they were all delicious!

It was the day when high school aged students were invited to come, so there were lots of young people around with their youthful energy. We walked down a series of broad steps through the Willette Gardens, directly below the church. Despite the gray day it was a fine excursion to end our trip to Ireland and France.

A little later we visited the Anvers weekly market across the street from the apartment and purchased some roasted chicken and veggies for our dinner and some fruit for breakfast. The displays were works of art!

They had some delicious looking roasted chicken livers, mushrooms and potatoes, but I wanted to make dinner myself.

I cooked up onions, garlic, red pepper, carrots and zucchini with some thyme for a veg, and roasted cooked fingerling potatoes in the onion and garlic scented oil left from the veg dish.

A green salad with house made balsamic dressing completed the meal. Forgot to take a photo until we had almost finished! The apartment, La Parisienne on VRBO, was a delight and fun to cook in. There was everything one could want, lots of spices and condiments and pretty serving bowls and plates, too.

Hard to believe that it's time to go home!