This being the school holidays, I went to the Palais with the children for a hot chocolate - the weather having turned quite a bit cooler. Situated near the Grand Théâtre and just opposite the Palais de Justice, this renowned café counts a mixture of artists, actors and lawyers amongst their regular clients whilst tourists are delighted to discover this unique establishment. The unchanging decor manages to avoid being kitsch although the art and artifacts are most original, unusual, if not just plain weird and are juxtaposed in a manner that highlights the originality of each piece without being vulgar or tasteless. In a similar way younger clients are seated alongside the rather elderly clientèle that seems to flock to the Palais on late Saturday afternoons, the well-heeled share a banquette with people of more modest means and single people find themselves opposite romantically entwined couples or busy families. It is even through all these differing elements that the café finds its harmony.
In the 1920's a certain Louis Millet came to Reims from Paris as an aspiring cafetier hoping to run his own establishment. Indeed, Millet was an auvergnat, a descendant of one of the thousands of hard-working natives of the Massif Central region of France who had converged on the capital from the 17th century onwards, gradually developing their trade from initially being water carriers, coal delivery men ('les bougnats') to become wine merchants and cafetiers.
The Palais, like the majority of the rémois cafés, has a terrace so that in summer the clientèle can enjoy looking at passers-by, or being looked at themselves whilst eating the bistrot cuisine on offer, sipping wine or champagne or simply drinking a hot chocolate, as was our case today!
Near my home we have an exellent pâtisserie that offers the most beautiful-looking cakes created by the man who was once the patissier-chef at the Hôtel Crillon in Paris. Here's one example of his oeuvre - called 'Paradis du Fruit'...
Perhaps you do need a princess's purse to eat such pâtisserie.......
After our trip to the Palais, we went to the park to see the beautiful flowers there and feed the fish (sorry, just an old baguette!). Here's my little princess...
That just looks so delicious, I want to go there now!
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