Saturdays, St. Germain and Tasting Wine

Saturdays, St. Germain des Prés and wine! Celebrate your weekend with a visit to the wonderful small but very select wineshop, Le Dernier Goutte. On Saturdays, generally from 11 to 2 and 3;30 to 6-ish a winemaker from one of the top quality, smaller scale regional French vineyards will be on hand to chat and offer generous samples of their wines. Le Dernier Goutte (the last drop) is a shop that features wines from up and coming and well-know French wine regions with an emphasis on the Southwest, Rhone and other lesser-known appelations. Many of the wines are organic, in keeping with the strong interest in wines that are as true as possible to terroir and which hue to the greenest possible production principles. This is a gem of a wine shop. Informative bi-lingual staff and well chosen wines. And, complimentary tastes on Saturdays!
6 rue de Bourbon le Chateau, 6th
Phone: 011 33 1 43 29 11 62

San Sebastian, Tapas & Markets Extraordinaire!

The fish market in the La Brexta market in San Sebastian (Spain) is a sight to see.  The freshest possible fish, in a staggering variety, are sold by the bushels to diners, chefs, & shoppers of all ages. The tapas (pinchos in Basque) are bounteous and endlessly tempting. My laptop is balking at uploading images today so please google my Sally Peabody page on facebook for lots of tempting images.  San Sebastian is one sweet little seaside city. I'm here with clients on my spring Pays Basque tour and we are loving it!

Love Fabulous Olive Oils From Provence?

Check out my article on the outstanding new mini-chain of exquisite olive oil shops, Premier Pression Provence. This was just published on the Hip Paris blog.

http://hipparis.com/2010/04/09/premiere-pression-provence-the-new-parisian-mecca-for-fine-olive-oil/

Helpful tips for Paris-ophiles

The annual Rendezvous France event hosted by A Tout France, the French Tourist Board, yielded some interesting information. The Louvre is planning to implement online tickets next fall. This is great news if you don't want to purchase a museum and monuments card and don't want to stand on lengthy lines to buy your single admission tickets! I also learned that folks wanting to purchase tickets for the TGV's or other French trains can now go right to the SNCF website and order and print your tickets in advance of your trip. This should help you purchase a less expensive ticket than from other reliable intermediary online sources like Rail Europe.

You can order timed tickets for the Eiffel Tower online now. A major improvement!

The Turner and his contemporaries show at the Grand Palais is getting major accolades. Lengthy lines abound but you can always order tickets in advance from the Grand Palais website.

I'm in Spain now, about to lead a Pays Basque culinary tour. Back in Paris on 4.22. News and photos to come. Safe travels.