Day 13 Paris

It's the last full day in France, time to get ready to go home. I got up this morning and went to the bakery, then walked up to the metro stop to get tickets for tomorrow mornings train to the airport. We'll have to leave at six and I don't want to have to fool around trying to make our way out of here.

Jim and Darcy stopped by to have lunch before we head home. They're leaving tomorrow too, but not quite as early as us. We went to lunch at Bistrot Mazarin, the same restaurant we had dinner the first night we were in town. It was a good last big meal in Paris. Darcy had a salad, Sylvia  a ham and cheese omelette, Jim a veal picatta, and I had veal kidneys. Everybody was happy as usual, and we lingered there for a couple of hours. Afterwards we stopped for a drink at a restaurant directly across from our apartment called Le Procope. We sat outside and just watched people. A pleasant afternoon.

In the evening Sylvia and I went for a walk just to get out of the apartment for awhile. A crepe sounded good, so we stopped at a little creperie and each ordered a dessert crepe. We both gained a few pounds I'm sure. Tomorrow's an early day and it's nice to be going home.

Omlette and Kidneys

Salad and Veal Piccata

Day 12 Paris

Got an early start this morning so we could get in line for the Louvre. We got there a little before 9 and were about 751st in line. It was the first free Sunday this year, which is first Sunday of the month from October to March. Thankfully, it didn't take long for the line to shrink. Once inside, the Louvre is so large that it just seems to swallow people up - except for the Mona Lisa room. Everybody's got to see that, and we did. After spending two hours wandering about and seeing lots of incredible art, we had enough and left through the underground mall where there was a line waiting to get in that stretched for at least a quarter mile. I'm sure there were people in line that had no idea how long the line was. The Louvre is at least twenty times the size of the National Art Gallery in DC. What a place.

It wasn't even noon, so we walked down to the Marais area and stopped at a cafe called Open for a snack and a beverage. After that we walked over by Notre Dame and checked out the Bird Market where there are hundreds of beautiful birds for sale, all different kinds and colors, lots of cages and bird paraphernalia. Very interesting, but kind of sad too. We parted ways and agreed to meet for dinner somewhere in the St. Germain neighborhood.

Around six o'clock J & D came over to our place and we went downstairs and across the street to Vin et Terroirs. It's a small 120 year old traditional French restaurant. We had a really fun waiter and we ordered standard French fare. For a first course, Darcy had escargot which she loved, Sylvia had ravioli with a chive cream sauce (loved), I had a goose pate (loved), Jim carpaccio of beef and foie gras.  Our main courses consisted of three duck confit with roasted potatoes, Sylvia had roasted lamb and mashed potatoes. Everything was great, and it's unbelievable they can serve an appetizer and main course for less than $20. Back home this would cost at least $35, if you could find it, which I doubt. We also split a couple of desserts and the waiter gave each of us a brandy with our espresso.

Just in case you didn't know, the reason I'm always posting about the food and where we ate it's because it does resolve some lively discussions that occur in later years. Pictures are only needed to confirm the narrative.

Darcy's Escargot

Sylvia's Lamb

Duck Confit and Roasted Potatoes

Day 11 Paris

This morning I got up early and went to get a raisin baguette and take some pictures of the  Luxembourg gardens. Jim and Darcy also got up early this morning and took the Metro over to the Montmartre area while Sylvia didn't do much of anything until almost 11 o'clock when we walked to Galeries Lafayette on Haussman. Shortly after us getting to Haussman Jim and Darcy called, they were finished at Montmartre and decided to walk over to meet us. The Galeries Lafayette are fabulous department stores and unlike any store I have ever seen. It consists of four big buildings, each with 5 to 7 floors of the best of everything. The men's building had seven floors of just men's stuff, and very expensive stuff. The woman's store has to be seen to believe. The food and wine building was to die for. To me it was very impressive, although nobody bought anything. It's worth Googling Galeries Lafayette and looking at the images.

Galeries Lafayette Women's Store

On the walk back to the St. Germain area we stopped at a little cafe with the intention of just getting a beverage, instead we opted for lunch and a beverage. Sylvia had chopped chicken in a puffed pastry, Jim had an Italian salad, I had grilled duck breast, and Darcy stepped out and had a salad with duck liver, duck kidneys, and smoked duck breast. Everybody loved their dish except maybe Jim, you couldn't tell, he never says anything. I was surprise though when he asked to taste some of Darcy's kidneys and liver. I though "This should be interesting, I wonder how our cool French waiter is going to react to someone throwing up at the table?". But jeez, he liked it! Great.

We finally got back to St. Germain by walking through the Arts district. We stopped at a bistro a few blocks from our apartment called Freddy's where we had a couple of bottles of wine and chatted. Afterwards they left and headed back to the Montparnasse area where their hotel was. Sylvia didn't feel like going out for dinner so I went out and brought back a ham and cheese on a baguette. It was pretty much the end of the day. A good day too.

Le Jardin du Luxembourg

Our Apartment