Misadventures in Paris – Part II

This is the continuation of Misadventures in Paris – Part I.

You may remember that the concert was the Four Seasons by Vivaldi.  We did some quick searching on the web and discover this concert lasts about 45 minutes.  So, we choose to have dinner afterwards.  I mean this is Paris after all and finding someplace to eat dinner at 9:30 on a Saturday would not be a problem.  We even had a plan.  After the concert, we would hit the closest brasserie and have French onion soup with a side of fries and some nice red wine.

As we rush through the front door, we saw something about the Ave Maria on the poster. That’s odd.  Our tickets only mention the Four Seasons.  This is what we are discussing as the musicians take the stage.

However, this is a little bewildering as well.  You see, there are clearly 4 chairs and 4 music stands set up but 5 musicians and a woman in a formal gown come onto the stage.   As they reach the center, 4 musicians take their places and the other musician and the woman keep walking and disappear into the shadows.

Finally, the music starts and it’s lovely.  But it’s not the Four Seasons.   After three songs, the woman comes out and performs the Ave Maria in full operatic soprano.  To be honest, I am not a fan of this style but we both love the Ave Maria (we played it at our wedding) so it’s all good.

However, after the Ave Maria she performed another song.  Then another and another.  After 5 long songs, she took her final bow and the last musician came on stage.  At last we get the Four Seasons started and it was absolutely beautiful.

Well, the first three seasons were good.  We left before the fourth since it’s now after 10:00 and we are starving and it was time to implement the last part of the plan.

We head out the front door and beeline for the closest brasserie.  As soon as we sit down we have a feeling we choose badly.  We were right.  Our soup had no flavor at all.  It was mostly broth with a few onions thrown in for good measure.  The only true flavor came from the burnt cheese on top.  And the fries.  They were very greasy and had obviously been frozen.

After spending a lot of money for pretty piss-poor food we found the closest Metro, bought new one-way tickets and headed home. On the way we passed Rue de Buci and the Café de Paris, which is one of our favorite local restaurants.

We sat down and promptly order an assortment of desserts.  They were exquisite and did a fine job finishing off a tiring evening with a wonderful flourish.

There you have it.  Challenging transportation, unadvertised changes to the concert, and horrible food can be found in Paris. The trick is to simply proclaim c’est la vie and roll with the punches until it finally gets better. And that usually starts with dessert.

Au revoir!

P.S. I was looking at the bus map today and discovered that the 24 bus we were waiting for actually does not come down that street so we were waiting for a bus that would never come.  I have no idea why the number 24 bus logo appeared on the stop along with the 21, 69, 72 and 81.