Squeezebox

Tuesday
Awoke 8:30 and got ready to go.
Went to the internet cafe at 10. They weren't open. Waited for 5 minutes in the street for the internet cafe clerk to arrive. He finally arrived and I ran in and checked my mail. 10:30 met Judy at the hotel for a day with the ladies.

Somehow, all our Metro carnets got demagnetized. I had to try to communicate with a very miserable looking Metro clerk what was wrong. She kept saying "tais? tais?" but finally let us through. We took the Metro to the Franklin D. Roosevelt station and caught another Metro to the Miromesnel Station. We had a quick cafe standing up at L'Escale on Rue de Penthievre. Walked over to the Jacquemart Andre Museum.

This museum is the former home of Nelie Jacquemart and Edouard Andre. She was a portraitist and he was a wealthy Parisian. They married and spent their lives collecting art, particulary Italian/Venetian and portraiture. Their yearly budget for purchasing art was many time the annual budget of the louvre. We toured their salons and room and boudoirs. We then lunched in the dining room, which was filled with lunching ladies and people from this neighborhood. I had a salade with crottin au crostade, parma ham and a very anchovy-y tapenade. Judy had salade with curried chicken and cumin carrots. Roberta had a salade with poached egg and lentils with smoked duck. Judy had a fraises sorbet and I had a lemon meringue tart for dessert.

After the museum we walked down Rue Haussmann to Galleries Lafayette and Printemps. Apparently it is a requirement that Parisian Department stores be heated to at least 80 degrees. They were unbelievably HOT.
In Galleries Lafayette there is a section called the food halls. Judy calls it Larry's on steriods, which is a pretty accurate description. It's Larry's x 100.

Galleries Lafayette

We shopped for a bit and then went to Cafe Flo in Printemps for a chocolat chaud and Badoit. I couldn't finish my chocolat, but there were others around me who did not have that problem. The clientele at Cafe Flo reminded me of the ladies who would lunch at Frederick & Nelson in Seattle.

We took the Metro back to the Marais (and this time I no trouble exchanging our tickets-- I figured out how to say "Le billet est mauvais!" The ticket is BAD. The clerk understood. I also spoke more loudly, so maybe it was just a case of being heard through the acrylic window.

Wandered through the Marais with Judy picking up baguette, cheese, foie gras and water. She invited us back to the apartment for a snack after we dropped stuff off at the hotel.

Met Judy and Bill at the apartment for foie gras, camembert, blini and other treats. I was able to check email and chat with Martin courtesy, again, of their neighbor who has an un-password protected airport network. Yay!

Had dinner at the french Red Robin: Hippopatamus. Everyone wanted a hamburger with frites. The waiter said they didn't have that at night, but pointed us to steak hache a oeuf cheval (or something to that effect). Judy, Bill and Roberta ordered it. I requested hamburger, s'il vous plait and got a hamburger and fries...they each got a hamburger patty with a fried egg on top. The little girl sitting next to us ate "nuggets du poulet".

Tomorrow we will walk along the Seine and visit Ile de la Cite and a neighborhood that has a "Greek street"