Squeezebox

Our last day in Paris. Sigh.

We went to Cafe des Phares for our last morning cafe and tartine.

Went over to Judy and Bill's to pick them up for a morning at the Carnavalet-- the museum of the history of Paris. The museum is really great-- it has artifacts from stores and tradespeople, relics, painting, furniture, entire room tranplanted to the museum and a wonderful garden. We stayed several hours looking at everything. Bill stayed for a couple more hours after we left.

We went to lunch at the BHV cafeteria. Bazaar d'Hotel Ville is a department store, and they have a fantastic cafeteria where you can select from wonderful composed salads, cheeses, charcuterie and desserts. They also have a little self-serve wine section where you can fill a demi pichet with a red or rose. We grabbed trays and some salads and sat in the dining room with the Parisiens.

We shopped a little bit after lunch and then walked back up rue Saint Antoine, going through a demonstration in front of the Mairie. Scientists were demonstrating for more funding.

I finally had a Parisien nutella crepe. The crepe was great...the nutella was overkill, but it was good. The vendor asked if I wanted a Kilo or 2 of nutella.

Back to the hotel to pack and get ready for dinner tonight at Bofinger.

Tomorrow we catch an early shuttle to Charles de Gaulle for our flight from Paris to Dallas/Ft. Worth and from there back to Seattle. R will continue on to Spokane.

Posted by Christine at 09:12 AM | Permalink

Met Judy at her apartment around 10am and ambled through the Marais on the way to the Centre Pompidou. On the way we were accosted by some hilarious 14-ish year olds who were on some sort of a treasure hunt (we'd seen dozens of them around all morning looking for things and asking directions from everyone). The kids giggled and laughed when they realized we didn't speak any french, and they didn't speak any english. We said back and forth "I don't speak french" and "I don't speak english" and they just laughed and laughed. At the Centre Pompidou we saw a very large Miro exhibit which was wonderful.

We walked to Samaritaine, a large old department store where we were going to have a ladies lunch at the restaurant on the top floor. The restaurant was beautiful. Most people dining were quite long in the tooth. We were hoping for wonderful composed salads like Judy and Roberta had eaten their last trip. Alas, they had changed the menu. I ordered a fish dish and it was the worst thing I have ever eaten, mainly because I think the fish was terrible! It was a piece of dorade (John Dory) wrapped in a piece of ham AND CHEESE, with a pesto sauce. The fish was terribly strong, which is unusual. I don't know what I was thinking. It was awful-- a totally wasted meal! Judy had a great sauteed rabbit with ginger and R had essentially a fish eggroll. The restaurant was lovely and I enjoyed being there...ladies lunch is always fun!

The scene of the crime...

From there we walked all the way to the Eiffel Tower-- a trip of a few miles (a forced march, according to R+J, through a really cold, strong wind). We didn't go to the top but we admired it from below. Then we walked across the Seine to the Trocodero and stopped in a cafe for a Campari for me (to get lunch out of my system) and vin rouge for J+R-- L'Anciens Trocadero. The waiter was extremely snotty and mocked our accents to our faces, which was a little hilarious, given that he was working in a cafe adjacent to one of the biggest monuments around-- you'd think he'd be a little more tolerant of tourists and their varied accents! We sat outside, though, and it was fabulous.

Posted by Christine at 10:34 AM | Permalink

9:45 AM met Judy at Cafe des Pharses for cafe and pain au chocolat. L, R + I will take the Metro to Rue du Bac and go to Musee Maillol to see the Botero exhibit. On the way we were caught in the middle of the Half Marathon of Paris as it made it's way through Place de la Bastille. We watched as a lone runner leading the pack ran by, and a minute later followed by several others, and then more minutes later followed by a much larger bunch. People clapped and whistled as they ran by. We also walked over to the street market behind our hotel. While I was taking a picture, this funny old guy jumped in front of the camera to have his picture taken. Laura kindly posed with him, refused a kiss and then we hurried to the Metro.

We waited for about 20 minutes to get into Musee Maillol-- and experienced our very first extreme European personal space issue. The woman standing behind me kept literally pressing up into me, and had her feet between my feet-- even though there was ample room. She wasn't even trying to pick my pocket. She just didn't think that she should be any further than 1" from me. I kept moving, and finally put my hands on my hips and turned sideways to make my self a little larger and afford myself a luxurious 6 inches of space. It was really bizarre. No one else was crowding anyone...just this weird lady.

The Botero exhibit was great-- all the paintings and drawings were very recent: 1998-2003. There was a very moving series about riots and massacres and the political environment of Colombia. And lots of rotund men and women dancing.

We went back to the Bastille to meet Judy and Bill for Sunday Lunch at Baz Art, a very nice neighborhood bistro. I had a bavette sauce bearnaise avec frites, and a funny composed dessert-- a souvenir a glace Carambar au sauce chocolat. It was a frozen caramel meringue-y mousse with some chocolate sauce and a chocolate covered marshmallow bear. Delicious, but very funny.

Laura had to go back to Grenoble, so we walked with her to the Gare de Lyon and waiting with her a bit on the platform. She took one of the high speed trains and will make it home early evening.

I had to do laundry, so R kindly accompanied me to the small laundromat-- where you have to use a single machine to buy soap, start the washer and start the dryer. It's a little confusing even though the instructions are in English!

We went to a place called Cafe Martini and had a pastis while waiting for the laundry to be done.

Posted by Christine at 11:21 AM | Permalink

We woke up late--switched rooms AGAIN-- we'll all three share a room tonight. We've moved to the top floor-- a great courtyard side room with 2 queen size beds. We can see the top of the Bastille monument.

Tartine and cafe and Cafe des Pharses. Then we walked down rue St. Antoine to the Hotel de Ville to see the Piaf exhibit. This exhibit was fantastic! Lots of photos and artifacts-- arranged well designed mini exhibits, a bit like the great exhibits at EMP or other popular culture museums. In particular, one room exhibited some photographs mounted on board attached to bars on the sides-- the photos faced a wall with mirrors on it, and the captions were on the back of the boards. Another room featured walls covered in large silk roses with photographs nestled among them, all behind a white fishnet 3 feet out from the photos.

Afterwards, we went into the Marais to get a falafel. We found spot with 15 people lined up and queued up. The falafel was fabulous-- R + I had Falafel special-- a pita filled with hummus, a tomato sauce, red cabbage, cucumber (salade turque), falafel, sauce sesame (tahini) and aubergine (fabulously roasted eggplant. Laura had her sandwich without eggplant. We took the sandwiches to a little playground and ate on the benches there.

Then we went to the Musee Picasso-- took us a little while to find it (I was really turned around in the Marais). This was fantastic, seeing such a comprehensive collection of his work with spanned from the turn of the century into the 70s.

To round out our day we went to a great place that Laura suggested: Le Loir dans le Theiere-- the -- in the teapot. We shared 2 amazing pastries: a lemon meringue tart with a 5" meringue and a warm, flourless chocolate cake.

As we were walking back to the hotel we stopped at a shoe shop and Laura bought a great pair of high-heeled shoes with and ankle strap and fishnet stockings. Very good looking.

We freshened up and went over to J+B's for dinner. Laura and I stopped at a place called Cafe Moderne to have an aperitif (a Pastis and Campari + soda) and use the free internet access (http://www.hotcafe.fr). While we were there, a dj came and set up and started spinning. Cafe Moderne is a tiny spot and it was very early (7:30) so we were a little puzzled by the appearance of the dj.

Dinner was another wonderful affair. Salade with a non-mustard based sauce (for Laura and Bill who commented that they only get mustard vinagrettes in Paris), Osso Buco (I tried the marrow for the first time), and a lovely tarte framboises (Most of the fruit and vegetables come from Morocco this time of year). We returned to the hotel full and happy.

Posted by Christine at 11:07 AM | Permalink

Met Judy and Bill at Cafe des Pharses. Had a quick cafe express and a tartine (baguette, butter and jam).

Onto to the Metro towards Montmartre. Walked with R, J + B to the Funiculaire. They rode it up while I walked up the steps. The city was completely socked in with fog...you couldn't see much of anything. Loads of tourists, loads of street artists harassing you to have your portrait drawn.

We went into Sacre Coeur and looked around. The interior of this church is much more beautiful than Notre Dame-- with a round of arches behind the pulpit that allow you, when you walk around the perimeter of the chapel to look up at the marvelous painted ceiling.

Back on the street we went to the square and had lunch at Au Cadet de Gascogne. R + I had salade de tertre-- hot goat cheese salad. My favorite! Judy had onion soup and Bill had brochette de bouef and frites.

Afterwards we wandered down the hill to Boulevard de Clichy-- past the thousand sex shops and onto the Metro at Place Pigalle where we went uptown with Judy to Rue Honore-- the high fashion street. This is the street with the Hermes shop, the Dior shop, the Galliano shop, and the Chanel shop, etc. Lots of euro-trashy ex-model-type women, lots of older wealthy women and a fair number of complete couture victims wearing a bit of this and a bit of they. They're the ones who look like clowns in their gold chain belts, pointy-toe snakeskin stiletto boots, fur coats, cropped camouflage pants and jaunty hats and sunglasses. We stopped in a little bistrot for a campari and soda before heading home. Also stopped at Monoprix to pick up some pate for later. There were a couple of men in the Monoprix demonstrating wine from their vinyard. It was a father and son. They had small plastic wine glasses for us to taste from. The wine was very good: Chateau la France Medoc, Cru Bourgeois, Mis en bouteille au Chateau. Promo $6.99!

Our friend Laura Dodge took the train up from Grenoble to spend a couple days with us. We met her at the hotel at 5:30 or so-- toasted with some red wine and headed over to Judy and Bill's. Laura stayed in a beautiful top floor room with a view out the back courtyard. Her bathroom had a little skylight.

Hors d'oeuvres at J+B's: pate, foie gras, blinis with caviar and creme fraiche and cheese. The wireless connection of Bill's neighbor hasn't been turned on for days, so he's again been sharing his connection. I tried to instant message Martin, but he was nowhere to be found. Our friend Dave was on line, luckily, and he was kind enough to message with me, and CALL Martin on his cell phone and serve as an intermediary for us. Thanks Dave! Turns out our phone in Seattle had been turned off early. Martin will be moving us to a new apartment on Saturday and Sunday-- and I'm just partying in Paris! Thanks Martin!

We had dinner at Bistrot des Vosges-- onion soup and vin rouge. We dropped Roberta off at the hotel and went out at about 11:30 to check out the Friday nightlife.

We walked around the Bastille area-- rue Amelot, rue Daval-- there were gangs of young Parisians milling around the streets. It felt a little bit like an amusement park-- with the only amusement being teenagers and brasseries. We ended up at L'Iguana. We found a table on the second floor and ordered a Red Lion (a red gin and juice drink for Laura) and a Manhattan (avec Maker's Mark, s'il vous plait)-- inexplicably garnished with a green maraschino cheery, a piece of strawberry and a single raspberry! Laura accidentally spilled her whole tall drink on the table and into my lap, which totally horrified her (No worries, Laura!). She ran downstairs to get the waiter-- while she was gone I managed to pull from my little brain the word for napkin-- and I asked a girl at the next table who gave me a very sympathetic look-- serviette, s'il vous plait? She gave me her napkin and I mopped myself up. The waiter even brought Laura a new drink. We laughed and finished our drinks and went back to the hotel. Final word on cocktails in Paris: expensive and weak. Better to go with vin rouge or apertifs.

Tomorrow we will wander around the Marais.

Posted by Christine at 11:02 AM | Permalink

Awoke relatively early and went to Rotonde de la Bastille, a cafe that had wireless internet access. Had their Formule Matin- cafe express and 3 mini pastries: croissant, pain au chocolate and a round roll with raisons. Couldn't get the airport to work, so gave up and went to Cybercube for a quick check. Found out I didn't have to do any more illustrations, so we were free to hop onto the Metro to the Louvre but only after arguing with another Metro ticket lady. As mentioned before ALL our our tickets got demagnetized- so we've been exchanging them as we go. This Metro clerk took my 2 tickets...tore one up and gave me 1 new one. At the same time, a little girl oozed over against me and essentially shoved me out of the ticket window. I had to ooze back and say "ParDON!" very forcefully then "MADAME!" to the clerk, who finally gave me a second ticket after trying to tell me no. I felt very Parisien-- which means I was a little snarky.

Spent several hours in the Louvre seeing many of the famous pieces. I loved the rooms with the Roman Mosaics.

Walked in the drizzly rain through the Tuileries and across Pont Alexandre III to Les Invalides. From there we wandered up Rue de Grenelles through a strange police blockade. They let us through, but they were asking where everyone was going. Shared a demi-pichet at Les Flores on the corner of Rue de Grenellls and Rue du Bac. Headed up Rue du Bac to the Metro and found our way back to the hotel.

In the evening, we went over to Judy and Bill's for a blini and then went to LEON, a moules and frites restaurant. We had pots of mussels and fries and it was delicious.

Posted by Christine at 10:57 AM | Permalink

Met at Judy and BIll's apartment for a coffee and a quick email check on the borrowed wi-fi.

Walked down Henri IV to Ile St. Louis and window shopped and then went to Notre Dame on Ile de la Cite. Gawked at the architecture and the sculptures and stained glass.

On to a bizarre little section of town that Bill calls "the Greek street." It's a small block of passages and streets that's almost all Greek and Tunisian and Moroccan restaurants. Each restaurant has a person out front practically begging passerbys to "eat here-- you can have a free cocktail. It's very good" Even the french restaurants in this part of town have a front door hawker. We ended up going to a greek place called Acropolis on rue Xavier Privas. I had a dolmades, lemon chicken and the worst piece of baclava I've ever eaten! Other than that, it was a charming little place-- on a street of charming little places. All the greek restaurants in this area display all of their meats and fish in their windows.

After lunch we walked down la Rive Gauche looking at the stalls and the riverboats on the Seine. Went to the Musee D'Orsay and wandered through the fabulous rooms looking at the Impressionist and postimpressionist works.

After the museum we wandered towards St. Germaine and had a coffee at Le Solferino-- a brasserie on rue de Solferino.

Onto the metro and home.

Had a bowl of onion soup at Bistrot des Vosges and then went to Fauchon- a fabulous take-away/patisserie/wine shop. We bought 2 beautiful pastries and a bottle of Cotes de Blaye.

Tomorrow we will visit the Louvre and the Tuileries.

Posted by Christine at 09:08 AM | Permalink

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"

Posted by Christine at 01:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Awoke 9:30 and got ready. We have GOT to get the heat turned down! We're zombies.
Went down the street to a boulangerie where we ordered 2 pain aux amandes. We ate them while walking to find another place for a coffee. Popped into L'Iguana- a very popular bar/bistro. Drank our coffees and watched a woman preparing a divider in the cafe for a stencil she was going to paint of the cafe logo. Off to the internet cafe for WORK. Had to download some of the drivers I'd stripped from the laptop before leaving Seattle and discovered that I didn't have Excel on my computer (stripped off) which required that I had to go talk to Angry Parisian Computer Geek to get him to turn on PC that I was using my laptop in front of so that I could use that Excel. Got my spec and went back to the hotel to work.

Roberta went out walking and came back around 2. I finished my illustrations and went back again to the internet cafe to mail off the work. Took about 20 minutes-- APCG accused me of being there a whole hour so I had to argue with him about time.

We walked down Rue St. Antoine in search of lunch. Stopped at Fontaine Sully-- the bistro across the street from Hotel Sully. I had Crottin au Crostade (hot goat cheese crouton on mesclun), R had Oeufs et Lardon aux Frisees (poached egg and thick bacon on frisee/chicory) Really delicious. We each had a glass of a red: Medoc, I think. The waiter was hilarious-- miming and singing something about taking off...

We continued up the street veering onto Rue Rivoli. Stopped at the BHV, a large department store, and gawked at everything. I was mesmerized by a plump parisian man who looked like a homlier, slightly thinner version of Rip Taylor in a lavender shirt who was demonstrating the irons. In the BHV there are dozens of people demonstrating the products-- women sitting at sewing machines just waiting to answer your questions, men by the washing machines and knives. The most exciting product I saw was an italian espresso pot (like the stovetop versions you can get in the states) with an electric bottom-- like the Russell Hobbs teakettles.

Continued up the street to the Hotel de Ville-- I wandered around while R was in la Poste getting stamps. We had a dinner date that evening so we turned around and headed back to the hotel. Stopped at Monoprix to pick up vin and caviar, creme fraiche and blini for an hors d'oeuvres at Judy and Bill's.

Had wonderful time with Judy and Bill. Judy served a beautiful salad with endive, fennel and grapefruit, veal scallopini with haricot vert and garlic pasta, and amazing crepes suzettes filled with orange-peel laced dark chocolate. We discovered that someone in their apartment building had an open wireless connection so I used that to chat with Martin back in Seattle. We drank wine and talked until 11 and then went back to our hotel.

Tomorrow we have a ladies day out at the grand magasins.

Posted by Christine at 01:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Awoke at 8 and got ready to find a nearer internet cafe. The only one we knew of was Com@Com down the street- and it was a dingy, smoky place filled with people playing computer games. At 9 in the morning its metal gate was shut and there was no info on when it opened. Wandered back up the street to Cafe des Pharses for a coffee. Wandered back down after the coffee and it was still closed. The guy in the newstand next door didn't know when it opened but thought there was one near. He pointed in its general direction and mentioned a street which could have had Charles or Lenoir or Lyon in the name. Wandered around some more and couldn't find it (due to differing opinions on which way we should go. R wanted to go all the way in the opposite direction of where the newstand fellow had pointed!). Gave up and went back to the hotel to ask. The pointed us back to where I had wanted to head in the first place!. Great internet spot: http://www.cybercube.fr-- checked mail quickly (after a very difficult negotiation with the Parisian computer geek regarding configuring my laptop. He could barely disguise his disgust. I managed to disguise mine) and went back to Pharses to meet Judy for the market.

The market is on Blvd Richard Lenoir and appears every Thursday and Sunday: it's an expansive combination of the Pike Place Market (complete with boucheres and fish mongers) and the Fremont Sunday Market. Everybody drags wheeled carts behind them (the kind that Martin and George won't let me have!) and they buy their vegetables, meat, poultry and cheeses from the vendors. The produce looked fabulous. There are also vendors selling clothing and shoes and utensils. It's very crowded and fun-- especially when the little old Parisian ladies get mad and yell and curse at people who bump into them.

We went back to the hotel briefly and then went to J+B's for a quick glass of champagne before our Sunday Lunch at Le Train Bleu in the Gare de Lyon. Took the Metro to the Gare de Lyon and learned that the little tiny magnet on my bag is strong enough to demagnetize ALL of our metro tickets. Bill had to give us some of his. The train station is spectacular: a hugh 6 track station where the TGV (Trains a Grande Vitesse) arrive and depart. Le Train Bleu is a landmark restaurant in the station with Belle Epoque decor. We had a wonderful lunch. I had the Menu (prix fixe): sausage lyonnais, Salmon with red wine on pureed split peas, and pears with pistachio zabayon. R had a walnut oil dressed salad and a dish of scallops and vegetables with turmeric which was baked under a puff pastry cover, with an Armagnac and coffee afterwards. Judy had a salad and giant escargot followed by a Bomba Rhum, similar to what I had the night before, though at Le Train Bleu they bring a bottle of rum to the table to pour on the cake. Bill had lamb with a potato gratin. Three hours later we walked back to the Bastille.

J+R took off and said they'd meet us at Cafe des Phares; Bill and I wandered around the block to check out the internet cafe again. Went to Cafe des Phares and J+R weren't there, so Bill and I had a cafe and watched all the rollerbladers zip by. I saw at least 20 rollerbladers and only 1 helmet. In fact, I've seen only one helmet on only one bicyclist. The amazing thing is that I've seen 3 accidents/near accidents since I've been here: 1) a car vs. a scooter 2) A non stop-signalling bicyclist who had 3 cyclists behind here almost run her over (their rear tires lifted off the ground they braked so hard) & 3) a gray haired fellow in a squarish small sedan absolutely destroy a beautiful vintage Volvo sports car/convertible. This guy, on a narrow street managed to plow into the side of this car at a near 45 degree angle, and instead of backing up to remove the front of his car from the side of the volvo cranked wheel and continued driving straight ahead, lifting the Volvo up until he could clear it. He left a 4' long scrape along the passengers side. And then he drove off without doing anything. Vive la France.

We stayed in on Sunday night reading and watching Jackie Brown en francais on the TV.

En Francais!

Posted by Christine at 01:23 AM | Permalink

Awoke at 11 (!) am- completely rested and a little shocked to have slept so long.

Showered, dressed and repacked to move next door to 3 bis-- which has a double bed and a twin bed. The prior occupants of 3 bis appear to have been backpackers in search of a cheaper room (ours)-- their backbacks (4 huge backpacks) were stashed in the hallway, waiting to be moved to our old room.

Met Judy and Bill at 1pm at Cafe Phares- the one of Paris' original philosopher's cafe. I had cafe creme, quiche lorraine with salad and a bottle of Badoit water.

In the afternoon we went walking in the neighborhood. We walked again through the Place de Vosges to the Hotel de Sully to see the photographic exhibit on the Algerian War-- mostly photos by army photographers and SIPA, Erich Lessing, Agence France Presse, etc. Very grim and moving. Also remarkable, however, was the excellent terrazzo floor- with an aggragate of black, grays and quartz with copper strands. Couldn't take a picture of the floor because we were in a museum.

Wandered through the Marais (most shops were closed for the Sabbath), though Carnavalet and towards the Centre Pompidou. Found an internet cafe, CyberBe@ubourg and checked email. The cafe dog was a huge rottweiler looking creature, sleeping happily in the middle of the floor. Luckily I didn't have to say a word to the clerk to get to a computer-- he just wrote down the time on a piece of paper and pointed to a computer. When I was done, I handed the paper back with some Euros. Forgot to ask for an American keyboard so I had to struggle with finding all the keys on the board. Found out I had work for Monday morning: helloooooooo writin' off the the trip!

Had a perrier with the ladies at Bistro Beaubourg and tghen strolled to Saint Eustace. Walked past the Louvre and took the Metro back to the Bastille. Back to Judy and Bill's for cheese and bread and a tasty rose. Decided on dinner at Baracane down the street on Rue des Tournelles. Back to the hotel to clean up and get ready for dinner.

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Posted by Christine at 10:04 AM | Permalink

Thursday 10AM: Flight to Chicago. Sat next to a close approximation of Martin: a young guy with his g4 laptop and ipod, alternately watching Fellowship of the Ring and listening to tunes.

Lunch at the airport: split a chicken caesar salad and drank vin rouge.

5:30 PM: flight to Charles de Gaulle. The plane was almost full. It was occupied by the parisian whistler- a fellow who would burst into brief but full whistle every half hour or so. Practically levitating out of their seats the whole flight were three young guys from San Francisco who were going to ride Eurail for 2 weeks. They twitched and twitted out the whole flight.

Arrived airport. Cold and beautiful weather. Looked for Blue Vans. There was a problem with the reservation, so we had to wait a half hour for it to be sorted out. Arrived at our hotel around 10am. Tiny room with 2 twin beds. No place to put our suitcases, let along sit down. Arranged to change rooms the next morning.

Cleaned up and went over to Judy and Bill's wonderful apartment on Rue de Tournelles. Had some champagne and then went out for lunch. Walked through the Place de Vosges to Bistro Ma Bourgogne. I had the Ma Bourgogne salade- greens with goat cheese crouton. Roberta had aignee avec frites, J had faux filet and frites, Bill had boeuf brochettes and frites. We drank cote du rhone. Finished with creme brulee and espresso. Walked around the neighborhood for an hour or so more. Mom had a hilarious one sided conversation with a woman and her poodle-ish dog who was wearing a sweater and had 2 scarves wrapped around it's head.

Tried tried TRIED to stay awake but I could not. Fell asleep at 5pm.

Posted by Christine at 09:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)