Wednesday, June 28, 2006

A ball of red, s'il vous plaît!


Although the French drink less and less wine (70 liters per person per year in 2005 vs 160 liters in 1965!) it is still pretty common to order a "ballon de rouge" ("ball balloon of red", after the shape of the glass) in a bar or a restaurant. Some even drink that in the morning... As for this photo, I took it at lunch time in a restaurant in Le Marais (4th arrondissement) from the first floor.

35 comments:

  1. That is exactly what I am ordering next time I am there!

    ReplyDelete
  2. No wonder the French have a nasty reputation! Maybe they should drink more! *kidding* of course!!

    Ok Eric, which restaurant were you in? It's obviously not Quick!

    ReplyDelete
  3. P.S. The French just beat Spain in their World Cup match tonight. Maybe they won't need their "ballon de rouge" tomorrow!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Oh, wow, super good shot! And I love this beautiful wooden countertop!

    Funny, I never drank much wine when I lived in France. I was "introduced" to the local wine right here, in California, and I might add, they have some pretty damn good stuff around here in Sonoma Valley! :-D

    ReplyDelete
  5. Michael: The French just beat Spain in their World Cup match tonight. Maybe they won't need their "ballon de rouge" tomorrow!

    On the contrary, maybe they will ! Celebrate! :-D

    ReplyDelete
  6. Pity I don't really care for wine. Of course that could be because I've never had a "good" wine. (ie, I've only ever had stuff that's just a step above old school boxed wine. Oh, except for a guys home made blackberry wine. That was goooooood.)

    Michael: Perhaps the French should start drinking more again! Drinking is cool, all the "in" people do it!!! (I'm sooo in, I swear. I totally know what in is!)

    ReplyDelete
  7. Is that what you have for breakfast? =)

    ReplyDelete
  8. Really enjoyed looking at your work - thanks.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Tomate: I respondie to you, dah-ling!

    mandie: good motto. Youneed the coffee at night to keep you awake after a day full of drinking! Ah... to be unencumbered by responsibility again!

    ReplyDelete
  10. I love looking down at the bar!

    Museé Quai Branly Architecture Review in NYT today.Critique and pictures.
    http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/27/arts/design/
    27bran.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

    ReplyDelete
  11. Looks like a cool place,I think I'll have a bottle please:)
    Well done to 'Les Blues' last night.
    Today is the Sainte Maxime DP funny caption competition.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Eric, looks like quite a cool place indeed. You must have enjoyed a very pleasant moment !

    ReplyDelete
  13. great shot, I like the beautiful wooden counter too...and I'll remember how to order red wine in French now ;-)

    ReplyDelete
  14. Wonderful shot. Don't those two guys each have a pack of cigarettes and a lighter next to their glass?

    I certainly remember a mechanic somewhere near Dijon (I think), who towed our car at something like 6:00 a.m. and, when we got to town, he had a glass of white wine at the local bistro. I was maybe 15 at the time.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Nice shot. I imagine most is exported now.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Oui, bravo pour cette photo ! Très réussie ! Mais elle me donne un peu le vertige. Personnellement, je pense que commanderais un Irish coffee ou un diabolo menthe...

    ReplyDelete
  17. Love this shot: great POV. When the wife and I were in Paris in April, I bought a bottle of Cotes-du-Rhone at the local (tiny) convenience store for 5.50 euros. It was outstanding. This is my favorite red, and I was amazed at the quality at that price. You must be keeping the good stuff for yourselves! I love they way French cafes serve both good wine and good coffee side-by-side. ..

    ReplyDelete
  18. What I do not like about this blog is that it is all about clichés, and this is annoying !

    ReplyDelete
  19. Est-ce le Lizzard lounge ?

    ReplyDelete
  20. I love cote du Rhone, drink a lot of it, as much as Bordeaux or anything else. I had a lovely bottle of cahors at Cafe L'Absinthe on rue de Turbigo when I was there. And last night a medoc. (Ah, and she got there for the last glass, too, as her timing often is perfect...)

    Nice photo, mon ami. I trust you were not reeling over the edge!

    ReplyDelete
  21. And, hey...what happened to Michel's spiritofparis photoblog?

    ReplyDelete
  22. Hi Eric,

    Love your ParisDaily photo. I have learned so many new things about Paris. I will be in Paris in Mid September and I would love to meet with you. If it is ok with you let me how to contact you

    Appreciate all your wonderful photos.

    Maryam

    maryammahie@yahoo.com

    ReplyDelete
  23. Wow Eric, if this blog is about clichés, I would have expected the Moulin Rouge picture to have had a bunch more comments than a bar! Either it's an exceptional photo, or your readers are really attracted to wine! Bravo

    ReplyDelete
  24. Cliches? Well, not everyone can have a snappy name like 'Sylvain'. I guess the truly unique just have to put up with us.

    As to maryam's message: Eric, sounds like another party on the Seine!

    I really need to get back to work now...

    ReplyDelete
  25. > Sarah. OK, but do you really have to wait? Don't they have red wine in San

    Antonio?! ;)

    > Michael. Actually I do not remember which restaurant it was. I remember what I

    had (a hamburger, but don't repeat it!), but that'as all! And yes we beat Spain

    now is the turn of... Brazil!

    > Haxo. Thnak you; you always bring a useful piece of info, I am sure PDP viwers

    love it.

    > Tomate. That is very unfrench but I must that I like Californian wine too! But I

    very rarely - I mean very rarely drink wine anyway.

    > Soosha. No, no no the French should definitely not drink more (we managed to

    reduce dramatically the number of deaths on the road thanks to this slowing down

    in the consumption of alcohol)

    > Natalie. LOL. Yes, of course, every day!

    > Piika. Thank you, always a pleasure to hear that.

    > Mandie. And how long do you plan to live exactly?!

    > Terra Vechhia. Oui, tu vois, il y a des endroits sympas à Paris !

    > Ujima. Thanks for the link. I will visit this museum as soon as there is not a

    giant line like at the moment!

    > Mark. I wanted to participlate in the funny caption competition but I really

    could not find anything funny! This guy over looking the beach really...

    > GG. Yeah, the company was OK (oh, it was you, wasn't?!)

    > Lisi. I can picture you next time "Je voudrais un verre de côte du Rhone s'il

    vous plaît !" !

    > Mathew. Thank you, thank you! ;)


    > Elisabeth. You were 15 at the time. Oh but that was yesterday then... And yes smoking is still allowed in bars.

    >
    Bob. I don't know actually. I know the wine business is not doing too well because of the international competition (French wine makers were used to make good money with the domestic market so they forgot to adapt to the globalisation I guess).

    > My Lagan love. Un diabolo menthe, comme c'est mignon ça !

    > Greg r. Was it really good at that price?! Mind you I am not a specialist I buy wine by the label !

    > Sylvain. Not all. A little bit of course, because life is also made of clichés sometimes...

    > Celine. I don't know. I Je ne me souviens plus du nom du restaurant.

    > Jeff. I don't know. It's probably temporarily down.

    > Maryam. Sure. I'll do my best if I can. Just send me a reminder when you are about to land...

    > Michael. Second option, second option!

    > Jeff. Well, youi know, you cannot please everybody, that is life. And there are thousands of nlogs with pics about Paris so Sylvain will find what he's looking for, I am sure. And Yes, go back to work! (Good to hear from you here though!)

    ReplyDelete
  26. Sylvain: you're entitled to your opinion, of course, but I don't agree with you. Many of the pictures on this blog are not what one would expect to see about Paris. Some of us (the majority of us, I expect?) think this blogger is doing a damn good job of coming up with an original idea every day.

    Have a glass of wine and chill a little!

    ReplyDelete
  27. GREAT shot...i love the perspective and the bartender blurred in motion....

    I MISS EUROPEAN ESPRESSOS!!!

    ReplyDelete
  28. Alors là, je suis bien d'accord avec Tomate farcie, c'est un sacré travail de faire ce qu'Eric fait. Quelle endurance, faire ça TOUS les jours, j'en serais bien incapable. Moi je dis "chapeau bas" (Ah les rabats-joie !!!)

    ReplyDelete
  29. "Ballon" is actually "balloon" (thing that floats in the air that you hold onto with a string) not "ball" (thing you kick in the goalpost, if you're lucky). In English we call it a balloon glass.

    ReplyDelete
  30. Thank you very much..."anonymous". I learned on more thing today.

    ReplyDelete