Bouillon Racine And Jardin Des Plantes

As promised, we were back in the Latin Quarter next day, for lunch at the Bouillon Racine and a walk in the Jardin des Plantes. Bouillons began in the mid-19th century as quick, cheap, and simple eateries for working stiffs, and are regarded by some as the first chain restaurants: in the later 1800s, Paris had some 250 bouillons, many owned by the same person or group. As Art Nouveau developed, some of the bouillons morphed into fancier type restaurants. A look at historical photographs from the era suggests that the "workingmen" that frequented these later bouillons are best contrasted with non-workingmen, that is, aristocrats. So also the decor. They were people who worked, but also wore fine clothes and could afford fine food in fine surroundings. Several of the surviving few Belle Epoche bouillons are listed national monuments. Thus the Bouillon Racine on Rue Racine, originally the Grand Bouillon Camille Chartier in 1906. The place catches your eye from the street, and, thanks to a thorough restoration by the Compagnons du Tour de France in 1996, it is even better inside. The food was great, and quite reasonable, by the way, but that's not why you go there.

Bouillon Racine

My zucchini and basil gazpacho

And sole muniere over baby leeks, etc.

Her pork ribs and veggies; not pictured: her creme brulee

The ceiling above us

Heading upstairs

Bar downstairs

Downstairs dining

Incredible place

Drunk with Belle Epoche art and architecture, and fine food, 

we waddled on to our secondary target of the day, the Jardin 

des Plantes, Paris' botanical garden and zoo; also natural history 

museum and more

More history of science, botany and zoology; in

monuments

Quite a lot there

Entrance to the Menagerie, zoo and enormous greenhouses

But we just strolled the Jardin, having had enough intensity for

the day

Flora impudica (impudent flower)

Fall color in full swing

Latin Quarter

After leaving the gardens we wandered generally toward the Latin Quarter and an ultimate goal of the shops of Au Vieux Campeur, a favorite on earlier visits to Paris. But mostly just gawking at the assorted shops and restaurants of interest.

Doll store; no Barbies

Can't remember whether this was a book store or a flower shop;
or maybe something sinister...

Find of the day (mainly because Vicki never misses a menu):
the Polidor, which counted Hemingway, Joyce, and the rest of
the gang, but probably not Proust, as regulars; also famous as
seen in Midnight in Paris

Can't imagine Hemingway and Joyce being in the same room;
or even the same city

Now at an antique and hand-made knife shop

For when your Trident Solingen just won't cut it

$1,000 pocket knife

Knife-making workshop

Custom-made jeans shop

The red tag says they've been worn a year and a
half; evidently a major selling point

Bamboo bicycle shop; strong, light-weight...

Bespoke shirt shop...evidently for architects, engineers mostly 

Big Find of the day: the Bar de Bouillon Racine...we'll be back!

Finally arriving in the precincts of Au Vieux Campeur, a cluster
of 23 shops, scattered over several blocks, featuring the latest in
camping, hiking, mountaineering, travel... 

Thus; you need a map to find what you're looking for

And a gazetteer

Solar-powered fondue kit

Sorbonne

Favorite French philosopher, Montaigne

The custom is, rub his shoe and you will return to Paris

Thus; vigorously; Vicki now informs me she just fabricated the
thing about returning to Paris; so whatever the custom is, I am
entitled to it; or have a ticket in the lottery...

Luxembourg Garden

Another day took us back across the river to Luxembourg Garden, one of Paris' larger interior  green spaces, a place for recreation as well as heritage and beauty. We'd taken grand-daughter Penelope there a couple times, for boating and pony rides, when she was much younger.

Checking out the scales at the park's entrance; alas,
doesn't work unless you pay 20 centimes

Statues everywhere, this one a take on the boca veritas
in Rome

George Sand

Solar-powered pigeon

Stendhal

Sculpture celebrating France's intellectual role
in ending slavery 

Beginning a series of statues of "illustrious women
of France"...all of them royalty...

The pond and beyond

Luxembourg's distinctive chairs, of which there are hundreds,
perhaps thousands

Luxembourg Palais, Marie de Medici's official residence while
serving as Regent until her son, Louis XIII, became king; now
the meeting place of the French Senate

More illustrious women

Sailboat rentals

Pond and palais

Avast! Turner would have loved it; Penelope did

Among the several immense lawns; treading upon the grass is
interdicted; and strictly enforced, too, as we know

Leaves in the trees beginning to change, but matching the fall
flowers, which are still going strong; more illustrious women
looking on

The one lawn where sitting is permitted

Marie de Medici herself

Pony corral; tourist families are gone, schools are

in session; the ponies are probably getting a little 

worried about the glue factory

Sword-fighting instruction in the park; Luxembourg has probably
seen its share of real duels