Day 7 – Friday
It’s Bullet Train Day (again, for us) on the TGV as we hightail it back to Paris. Most of our morning and early afternoon revolved around travel: first, getting to the train station; then boarding and riding the train; and, finally, getting to our 1st Paris hotel.
L’Hôtel Napoleon
Our first night will be spent at L’Hôtel Napolean, located just down the street from the Arc de Triomphe. After checking out our accommodations for the night, we joined the Greathouses and others for a stroll down the Champs-Élysées starting at the Place Charles de Gaulle and ending at the Place de la Concorde…at least that was the Greathouses’ goal. We were all given carte blanche to peel off wherever we felt like it…which happened when we reached the Galeries Lafayette department store about halfway down the grand boulevard. No one went any further. (The three of us, P, R & I, would reach the Place de la Concorde the following day.)
While some of the group explored the department store a bit before heading back to the hotel, Rob and I set out to find a small cafe to “go Parisian” and have a glass of wine al fresco. Then we, too, returned to the hotel to rest up and ready up for tonight’s big event.
A Very Special Night in Paris
Tonight’s “event” was the raison d’être that I’ve carried a sport coat, a dress shirt and two ties across the Atlantic, unpacking, hanging and then repacking them at every place we’ve stayed. We are having dinner at the Restaurant Le Clarence, a Michelin two-star establishment owned by Prince Robert of Luxembourg…the guardian of Château Haut-Brion & its sister property, Château La Mission Haut-Brion (where we slept last night.)
It was his great-grandfather, an American named Clarence Dillon, who purchased and preserved the historic first-growth Haut-Brion winery in 1935. 1983–our anniversary year–saw Château La Mission Haut-Brion join the parent Domaine Clarence Dillon family. 2011 saw the acquisition of Château Quintus; and, in 2015, Le Clarence restaurant and its adjacent wine cellar & shop opened their doors in Paris.
La Cave du Château Wine Cellar at Le Clarence
Pre-dinner wine and amuse-bouches
After killing some time with a visit to the wine cellar, we proceeded up a grand marble staircase for our first sitting. The stately reception room was arranged into two intimate conversational circles, one of which we occupied. Here, we were served several hors d’ouvres complemented with either a 2022 Clarendelle rosé or a 2014 Bollinger champagne. I chose to try the champagne first and never looked back. (Xandro, our waiter for the evening, had recommended it. And he kept my flute filled!)
The meal
Pre-dinner formalities concluded, we proceeded up two more flights to the large formal (and private) dining room where dinner was served. The menu was set by executive chef Christophe Pelé. The wines, lined up on a buffet, were curated by Dan to best complement the meal. It was here that Xandro decanted the first of several reds in a sinuous glass carafe designed for and unique to this establishment.
And the food?
The pastry/bread-like column (looking a little like a baked penis) was one of the most incredible bread courses I have ever experienced in my life. (I wanted SOOO badly to request “More, please?”) Poached lobster and rice was served next, followed by melt-in-your-mouth poultry (that sounds so much classier than chicken) on a bed of hyper-mashed potatoes and smoked eel. There was a cheese selection, of course! And then the delicious conclusion: a chocolate cake with pears and hazelnuts which one-upped the already high standards set by every other course we’d just finished.
The only downside to the whole experience was our awareness that our skipper, Dan, was not feeling himself. He put on a brave front…but it was sapping his energy. At least the trip was nearing its end.
Après le dîner
Our after-dinner nightcap was visual rather than liquid. After a short (digestive-inducing) walk down the street from the restaurant, we reached a bridge crossing the Seine that provided us with an ideal view of the Eiffel Tower all a-glitter in twinkling lights.
With dinner and the light show finished, we über’d our way back to the hotel for forty winks.
Bordeaux 