Carnet de Voyage: Resilience ‘En Terrasse’

Travel notes from the real France. Carnet de Voyage is a weekly personal travel story in France sent in by readers. If you’d like to write a story for Carnet de Voyage, head here for details on how to submit.
In November of 2015, when the brutal terrorist attacks in Paris took place near the Bataclan Theatre, my husband Bob and I were at home in The States, in Connecticut, and started closely following the news after the first alerts came through. After several fretful hours, we were enormously relieved when we finally heard back from several Parisian friends we tried to reach who, amazingly, happened to be all having dinner together. They were in an apartment where they were safe and where they would eventually end up spending the night, a few of them sleeping on the floor.
Knowing that we go to Paris every year for the holidays, friends started checking in immediately to see if we were changing our plans and, I think, mostly expecting that we would. We never considered it. Rather, an odd and powerful urge took hold that we hurry up and get there as soon as possible.
“Why?” one puzzled and worried friend, K.T., asked us at a Thanksgiving weekend celebration.
All I could say by way of explanation was “if you had a friend, and they were hurt in some way, wouldn’t you want to be by their side?” It was hard to explain, but after a decade of spending every Christmas and New Year’s there, Paris, had become for us a kind of friend. I could tell that K.T. was trying to understand but I could also see that she thought we were crazy for saying we were still going.

A few weeks later when we touched down at Charles de Gaulle Airport, not surprisingly, there was much more of a police and military presence. Once we were settled into our rented Paris flat we started exploring around and it was clear that the same was true near many of the touristy areas of Paris. But in truth, now that we have visited so frequently, we don’t spend much time in those places, so there wasn’t a huge obvious impact on our customary holiday experience. There was, however, an uneasiness in the air. It seemed that collectively everyone we encountered had a heightened awareness of any loud sounds or unusual sudden movements. Even bustling nonchalant Parisians seem to glance over their shoulders frequently. Many who died in the attacks were innocently sitting outside of cafes and bistros while gunmen suddenly sped by in vehicles shooting with semi-automatic weapons. But within days of the attacks, Parisians defiantly returned to their cafes and outdoor tables, posting on social media using the hashtags #jesuisenterrace (I am on the terrace) and #tousaubistrot (Everyone, to the bistrot!). In Paris, where apartments are small and space is at a premium, most socializing happens in these public gathering places and Parisians regard this as a sacrosanct way of life, and an important part of their heritage worth preserving.
Inspired by Parisian bravery, and in solidarity, we were determined to go about our visit as we ordinarily would. Like everyone, we may have had a slightly elevated awareness of our surroundings, but we decided we wouldn’t alter any of our plans.
One thing we look forward to every year is shopping. In addition to having items to bring home, we love to purchase things we can use during our trip. The first day we are in Paris we usually make a beeline to La Tuile a Loup, the spectacular pottery shop in the 5th arrondissement so we can purchase a few beautiful pieces we can use in Paris to serve food and hors d’ouvres instead of the dreary Corelle Ware dishes that are found in the apartment. Invariably, there will also be some gadget or vessel we will need for a cooking project for one of our at-home holiday gatherings, so we head to Les Halles in the 1st arrondissement to stop at our favorite kitchen supply stores. And as early as possible during our stay, we make a trip to Merci, the incredibly stylish boutique in the 11th arrondissement, very near where the attacks happened. We visit Merci to make our annual purchase of a linen apron, which is particularly helpful when our overly-ambitious holiday cooking plans are underway. The aprons are generously sized, come in a dozen earthy tones, with new colors rolled out each year. All the young, hip staff can be seen sporting these tablier jauntily around the store which is how we first got hooked. Merci also has terrific housewares, gadgets, furniture, books, apparel, and the proceeds from sales all support educational, health and cultural projects in Madagascar. After snagging an apron in this year’s new color, bright terracotta, we meander just a few doors down on the Boulevard Beaumarchais to the recently opened Maison Plisson to find some lunch.

Lunch at Plisson
Maison Plisson is a gourmet food shop with exceptional products sourced from all over France and points beyond, and also has a restaurant next door. It is an uncharacteristically warm and sunny December afternoon, and even though it is hard not to think about what happened nearby a month ago, we opted for seats out on the terrace. My pulse slightly increased as we were led out to our table, but there are heat lamps to ward off any chill, and now we can participate in that most Parisian of activities; watching the crowds stroll by on a busy boulevard.
I start with a glass of crisp Petit Chablis, and Bobby opts for a beer. We both enjoy a warm bowl of minestrone as our first course, and then Bobby selects the Plat du Jour, which today, happens to be the Saucisses Purée (Sausage and mashed potatoes). We later learned that when Le Figaro, the Paris newspaper, ranked Saucisses Purée across the city, Maison Plisson came in fourth. He evidently chose well. I order the Tarte au Lard et Beaufort, which is essentially a Quiche Lorraine with some Alpine cheese added in. A classic Lorraine will omit the cheese, but over time many chefs have included it, and even the venerable Madame Saint-Ange (1880-1955), considered by many to be the Betty Crocker of French home cooking, mentions the addition as an option. The Lorraine region is in eastern France next to Alsace, and according to Larousse Gastronomique, the word Quiche derives from a Lorraine dialect that borrows the word Kuchen from nearby Germany. Perhaps because of this addition of the cheese at Plisson they refer to this dish as a tart. But whatever they call it, it is incredibly rich, unctuous, and completely irresistible. Warming, comforting, and accompanied by a nice contrasting tart salad of baby greens, it makes for a very balanced and satisfying lunch.
Sitting out in the sun on the terrace with our lunch, and a few more glasses of wine and beer, we feel in our own small way like we are doing our part to help preserve this treasured way of life. If we were quietly a bit anxious at the beginning of our meal, we are now smiling and quite content.

Gary on the terrace at Plissson
Before this trip I don’t think we ever knew that Paris had a motto, or a coat of arms, but shortly after the attacks people began quoting the motto frequently. “Fluctuat nec mergîter” which in Latin means “She is tossed by the waves, but does not sink.” The phrase was first used in 1190, then revived in 1811 by Napoleon, and later solidified as the official motto in 1853 by Hausmann, who was then the Prefect of the Seine. The coat of arms that often accompanies the motto depicts a large wooden three-masted sailboat at sea. That year, we started noticing that icon everywhere around Paris. In front of the Mairie (mayor’s office) in each arrondissement; on the sides of park benches; above building entrances and on iron gates; and now, on the sidewalk in front of the terrace at Maison Plisson, we spy it atop of one of colonne Morris (Morris columns), the iconic Parisian cylindrical advertising kiosks. These tall and wide round columns, also introduced by Hausmann, were meant to reduce graffiti and random advertising, and they can be found all over Paris. The lower portion has large colorful posters advertising upcoming cultural events, and the tall structure that houses them is crowned with an ironwork hexagonal roof. In the decorative cornice of the roof, in small circles surrounding the column, just visible from where we are finishing our lunch, we can see a ring of these cast-iron boat symbols. These reminders about resilience, are apparently everywhere, and always have been. We just needed to know how to find them.

The Paris coat of arms on a Morris column
We left that terrace feeling fortified in more ways than one.
Read our other Carnet de Voyage entries here.
Prior to COVID, Gary Schiro and his husband spent every Christmas and New Year’s celebration in France. During lockdown Gary started trying to recreate the French dishes we had grown to love, and weave them together with some of our adventures in the country. His forthcoming book Chasing the Taste is a collection of those recipes and tales. He is a member of the International Association of Culinary Professionals. You can read more of his work on www.garyschiro.com.
Lead photo credit : Parisian café
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