Paris Snow 07-08 Janvier 2010

07 Janvier (Juedi) - Saw one of these on the street the other day. They're about the same size as a Smart and almost as cute.

So here it is...our last day in frozen Paris. It's time to partir, just as we were starting to get used to the cold. Almost everyone has said that it hasn't been this cold in a long, long time. It must be that damned global warming.

Madame Perez called to say she would be about an hour early for the final inspection and the returning of the deposit.

We walked down to Saint Paul and got a taxi to Place d'Italie and Italie2. Of course, as we are wont to do, we struck up a conversation with our driver. We mentioned that we were going home tomorrow, and he gave us his number and said if we called him, he would be happy to take us to the airport. We're glad that happened because otherwise, Robb would have to walk up to Saint Paul, engage a taxi and bring him back to the apartment to pick up me and our baggage. This arrangement is much better. Beside, the driver was a very cute Chinese guy born and raised in Paris.

In Italie2, we covered almost the entire place. I thought I might buy a pair of shoes, but couldn't find any I really liked, including the ones made by a company with my name. I bought a nice scarf at Jules for half off because of the soldes. Robb bought another stocking hat. It's really nice. I saw a fantastic leather jacket that I would have bought in a heartbeat if I had seen it first. It was three times as much as the one I bought, but it was so much better. Ah well, I've already got three leather jackets, well two jackets and a coat, I don't need another one.

We returned to the apartment, just in time to greet Madame Perez. She is Irish and very nice. She didn't even bother to check the place, just gave back the security check and, after a brief chat, left.

Our last dinner was, of course, at Fontaine Sully. I had a great veal stew, and ate every last morsel. Robb had steak and fries. For the first time in a long time, I finished my entire meal. We said our farewells to the staff, took a last look around and returned to the apartment to finish packing.

Because of the latest "terrorist attack", Air France emailed us and suggested we get to the airport several hours early. We will leave the apartment around 07h00. That should get us there in plenty of time.

Of course, as a final slap-in-the-face, the internet was down when I tried to get on one last time.

08 Janvier (Vendredi) - Up at 06h00. Did all the morning stuff and made one final sweep to be sure we had everything. Just started taking the bags out, when Win (the taxi driver) pulled up. With all the baggage loaded in the back, we climbed in and took off for Charles de Gaulle.

We got to the airport in what must have been record time, easily found a luggage cart, and set out to find the Air France check-in counter. Naturally, it was at the other end of the building. Because we were so early, check-in was quick and easy and we headed for the departure gate. If you've been to CDG on the way to the US, you know you have to take a train to the terminal. It was fairly crowded. Once in the terminal, we passed a lot of stores, but only one place that sold food; it wasn't even a bistrot. We passed on that. Checked out a place where the geeks among us could rent time on a computer. All the stations were empty at that early hour. I didn't look closely, but I think the prices weren't too out of line for an airport. One hour was €2, I think.

We got to the gate where we sat freezing with over an hour to go before boarding.

Boarding began several minutes late. They started, but then stopped, but didn't tell anyone why they had done that. Once on the plane, it was freezing again because they had the heat off while they were refueling. Now, the plane had been sitting there for several hours, why wasn't that already done? We left over an hour late, so a lot of people with connecting flights, didn't make them. I wonder, do they compensate those people?

We were in the middle section of the 747-400. Seated next to me was an English girl who was going to Miami to work on a cruise ship. She was cute and very nice. She invited us to come over and tour the ship before it leaves port in Fort Lauderdale, but I can't remember her name, so I guess that's not going to happen.

It was quite cool in Miami and even cooler in Fort Lauderdale. It was about 19C in our apartment. The heat was turned on immediately.

À la prochaine, mes amis

Paris 2008 - 30 Mai

Vendredi - We started to make a special trip the the Museum d'Histoire Naturelle, but Robb wanted to go to a bank to open an account. We walked down rue Maillard which becomes rue Mercoeur, to Boulevard Voltaire. Over Blvd Voltaire, past rue de Charonne to the BNP Paribas. Again we had to go through two doors. The second door does not open until the first door closes behind you (it's the same on the way out).

BNP Paribas is a strange bank. All the executive offices are on the first floor and the main banking takes place on the second floor. I'm chalking that up to being typically French. If there's a more complicated way to do things, they will find it and utilize it at evey opportunity. Mostly, it's amusing but I can understand how, for some people, it could be a huge pain in the ass.

BNP Paribas, as expected, told Robb there was no way he could open an account in Paris, or France for that matter. That's probably not true for a couple of reasons. First is the complication factor. Second is the fact that when a French clerk tells you it can't be done, it's impossible or just 'no', that is just the beginning of the conversation. But, Robb being the non-confrontational person that he is, will always say "okay" and consider the conversation over.

So we left the bank. It was too late to go to the museum and too late to have lunch at the tearoom. I suggested we could go to Monoprix and see what kind of luggage they might have. We found no luaggage at all, but did buy a bottle of cologne each. Considering the problems I'm having with umbrellas, I considered buying one I saw there because the one I just bought to replace the one I had bought in Toulouse, is already about to become garbage. I'd bet there's no more than another day or two of functionality, at most. We are used to things being made with built-in obsolescence in the US, but I expected more in France. I guess it just goes to show how much France is being Americanized.

We left Monoprix and wandered around the area for a while. We saw the police checking some guy's ID. There were three policemen but one of them was busy talking to his girlfriend on his cell phone. Then, I thought I saw a sundry shop down the street and we checked but it was just the sidewalk tables in front of a resto. We walked back to the apartment. I was again near exhaustion and took a nap for a couple of hours.

Around nine-ish, we walked down and got the bus to Place d'Italie. A person who read my Blogger blog, left a restaurant recommendation and we thought we might try it. It is Chez Gladines at 30 rue des Cinq Diamants in the 13éme, just a couple blocks off Boulevard Auguste Blanqui. From two blocks away, we could see that a crowd was collected outside the place. There was another resto across the street and that, too, had a crowd waiting to get in. Now, while that usually means the resto is good (or cheap), it also means that we probably won't be going there, because there are far too many good restaurants to wait to get into one.

We turned around and back-tracked. On the way to Chez Gladines, we had passed several likely looking places. We first stopped at a creperie, but decided against it since that was all they offered. We found a place right on the corner of rue des Cinq Diamants and Boulevard Auguste Blanqui, called Jardin d'Italie. There was an available table right next to the window and I had my eye on that, but the waiter suggested that we might be just a bit snug there between the tables on either side that were already occupied. He was right and we chose a table which still permitted us the view of the street that we (I) desired. I found the decor of the place to be fascinating. There was almost no square inch of the place that had not been painted with 'something', flowers, or leaves or abstract things. We began with pâté de compagne, that came with the crispiest, tastiest pickles I've ever had. Because of their deliciousness, they kind put the pâté on the back burner. I followed that with spaghetti bolognaise and Robb had veal marsala. The spaghetti was great with just enough spiciness to make itself known but not feel like your mouth is on fire. Robb,on the other hand, felt that his veal was not a good cut even though it was tasty. We partook of dessert. Mine was "three scoops of ice cream" (it was written in English). I chose vanille, café and pastachio. Robb had something they called "Kilmanjaro". I'm not sure what it was, but it appeared to be a rounded cake surrounded with chocolate sauce with whipped cream on top and a few dollops around the plate. Finished with café.

We had thought that we would take a taxi back to the apartment, but I was feeling up to taking the bus, so we walked back to Place d'Italie and caught the 57 to Gare d'Austerlitz. Unfortunately, I missed our stop and we ended up somewhere near Gare de Lyon. From previous experience, I knew there was a bus stop nearby, so we walked over there. After we arrived and were awaiting the 61, I discovered that we could have stayed on the 57 and it would have brought us to the same place. Okay, information for another time. Also, I forgot that since it was the weekend, the buses run until 01h00 or 02h00, I thnk. I know the métro runs later on the weekend.

Plus à venir, mes amis.

Paris 2008 - 29 Mai

Jeudi - We didn't really do much today, but we did get out of the apartment for a couple of hours. We took the bus to Place d'Italie. We walked down to the little store that had the orange suitcase to see if they had gotten any more in the size I want. If they did, I didn't see it, nor did I ask.

We walked back up the street and entered Italie2.

Went down to Tati where I bought a pair of jeans and another shirt. The shirt does not have a regular collar, and though I know there is a name for that particular style, I have no idea what it might be. But I like that style and now have about a half dozen shirts in my little collection.

After leaving Tati and checking a few more stores on that level, I asked Robb what he wanted to do because I just wanted to return to the apartment. Once again, it was wearing me out to wander around. This time I think the reason is l'enfoiré who lives upstairs. I think there may be more than one person living there because that's the only way it makes sense that "he" could be up all night and all day. Whatever, his night prowling and my headache kept me up for most of the night. I took an aspirin and he finally quieted down somewhere around 04h30. I'm not certain at what hour I finally dozed off, but I awoke a little after noon.

So, anyway, after the usual lack of direction from Robb, I suggested that we could go up to Armand Thierry because I knew he wanted to get another pair of jeans. They were way too long and he consulted with the salesclerk to have them altered. While he was waiting at the checkout counter to get his receipt, I decided to buy a nice sweater-shirt that caught my eye. And besides, we both are starting to feel a little conspicuous when carrying a Tati bag, since it is not known for quality. Having stated that, I have to say that I have bought several shirts there and I really like all of them. It can't be beaten for price and the quality isn't that far below the more (much more) expensive stores. It's like anything else, if you shop around, you can find good stuff without emptying your bank account. But in spite of that, we felt much better carrying the Armand Thierry bags into which we had put the Tati bags.

We finally left Italie2 and waited the arrival of the 57 bus to Gare d'Austerlitz. Something I didn't know before today; there is actually a space reserved on the buses for baby carriages. Now, while I think that's admirable, I also think it's a royal pain in the ass, because although the carriage almost fits in the space, the woman/man pushing it, does not. So it's a bit inconvenient for all the other passengers who have to get past her/him/them to get off the bus, since the space is just opposite the exit door. I have witnessed a few occasions when a passenger just barely got to the door in time. While I'm ranting, what in hell are they doing riding the bus during the rush hour?

I like getting the bus at Gare d'Austerlitz because it's the first stop and you're almost guaranteed a seat. That's something you might not get after a couple of stops, and especially during the rush hour. I don't don't why, but we always seem to time our excursions so that we end up having to ride the bus or métro during the rush hour. We need to put an end to that. There are enough people going home from work and they don't need us taking up space. I feel about that as I feel about people in our building in Fort Lauderdale doing their wash on the weekend when the working people need that time.

We were going to go out to eat, but neither of us much felt like it.

Plus à venir, mes ami

Paris 2008 - 23 Mai

23 Mai (Vendredi) - We got ourselves ready and walked down to get the bus to Gare d'Austerlitz. Once we got there, we had our first encounter with a rude bus driver. A bus that should have been going to our destination arrived, but it indicated that it was going to a place we didn't recognise. I asked the driver if it was going Place d'Italie. Evdently he didn't like the way I asked the question and lied, telling me that it was not going there. We got off to await one that was going to Place d'Italie. Then we started thinking; wait a minute, it has to be going to Place d'Italie no matter where else it might go, so the driver flat out lied to me.

At any rate, we were getting a llitle tight on time for our appointment to meet Rhino at Place d'Italie, so I suggested we take a taxi. We couldn't see any taxi stands, so we determined that if we went into Gare d'Austerlitz, we would certainly find a taxi stand. We did.

Upon arriving at the taxi stand, there were at least four people ahead of us and the taxies were arriving rather slowly. It finally got to be our turn, when some old woman and her husband showed up and thought they were going to jump in front of us. When the taxi came, she tried to push in front but I elbowed her out of the way and we got into the taxi and took off. It didn't take us long to figure out how to handle the queue jumpers, of which we've encountered quite a few on this trip. probably because we're using the bus instead of the métro. And it seems to be mostly the women who are the perpetrators. The men pretty much just wait patiently for their turn. I suppose they've been beaten into submission by the pushy women.

We got to Place d'Italie in plenty of time and waited at the métro entrance for Rhino to appear. He was running a little late, but no problem, we weren't in a hurry.

While we were waiting, Robb was accosted by two Indian-appearing women who were selling some kind of paper about feeding the poor. He paid €2 for it and then immediately regretted it. He got into a mini-confrontation with them but it apparently ended with both parties laughing about it. He because he realized he had been had, and they because they, too, realized he had been had.

Rhino showed up and we started walking down to L'Oisive Thé. Even though Rhino and Aimee know each other, he had not yet been to the tearoom. In the tearoom, Rhino and I had Aimee's wonderful chocolate cake while Robb had a huge salad. We all shared a huge pot of very good tea. We chatted for about three hours, with Aimee joining us for a while.

Afterwards, we walked with Rhino back to the Place d'Italie métro station, on the way to which we saw this neat building just down the street from the tearoom, and then we caught the bus back to Gare d'Austerlitz where I walked to the Pont d'Austerlitz to get this picture of the metro pont (if it has a name, I haven't been able to find it, but it's between Pont d'Austerlitz and Pont Charles de Gaulle) and one of the backside of Notre Dame. As we were approaching the pont I noticed this interesting contrast between old and new. Then we got the bus to the apartment. We have started riding the bus all the way up to Pére Lachaise and walking back because it's downhill all the way and a lot easier for me to navigate.

Back at the apartment, we indulged in another bottle of champagne. This one was even less expensive than the last at €2.20. It was a rosé and really quite good. Wow, who would have thought? We have checked the prices for our champagne of choice in the US and found they are more expensive here.

Plus à venir, mes amis.

Paris 2008 - V

7 Mai - Another day spent pampering myself and doing nothing constructive. So here's a couple of pictures.

These two pictures are of the post office just down the street. In France, La Poste is also a full service bank. For us, it's a convenient ATM from which to replenish our euros.

This is the Mairie du 13e (City Hall of the 13th arrondissement). There are twenty arrondissements in Paris and each has it's own city hall complete with all the bureaucracy for which France is so famous. I've asked about the trees with the purple flowers but no one seems to know what they are.

8 Mai - Today we took the métro to Place d'Italie. We went to Italie2, our favorite centre commercial (shopping center) in Paris. We didn't do much shopping today, we only went to Tati where I bought some pants hangers and what I thought were T-shirts but turned out to be some kind of "muscle" shirts for which I'm a bit long in the tooth (not to mention that I simply don't have the body for them). Then, still in Tati, we found a photo machine where I had some pics made so that I could put one on my current métro pass and a couple for the next two. Then we walked down rue Bobilot looking for L'Oisive Thé, a teahouse just opened by a fellow blogger. We walked the entire length of the street but did not find it. So we walked back to Place d'Italie.

We had planned to have lunch at the tea room, but since that didn't work out, we decided to have lunch at the Café de France. I had a tomate-mozzarella salad and a glass of wine. Robb had a huge seafood salad and wine.

We went out around nine-ish for dinner at l'Artiste Café (the place to the left is the café), again. I had Penne au trois fromage and Robb had the Magret du Canard. Notice, in the forefround, the double-wheeled scooter. I never saw them before on any of our trips to Paris, but there seems to be a lot of them now. For guys who need training wheels perhaps?

9 Mai - I remembered, after we returned to the apartment yesterday afternoon, that Thursday was not the day to go to the tea house, because that's the only day of the week that Aimee takes off, so we would have missed seeing her. I checked the address on her website again and we set out confident of finding it today.

And we did find L'Oisive Thé. Aimee was happy to see us since Katia had called and told her we were coming. What a nice experience we had. The ambience was so welcoming and comfortable. The tea was excellent and the food was Parisian good. This was the view from our table. It's a must do when you come to Paris.

After a charming couple of hours at L'Oisive Thé, we walked up to Place d'Italie and Italie2. We went back to Tati so Robb could get some pics for his métro pass. Then we stopped into FNAC where Robb completed his Raphäel cd collection. We left there and went to a perfume store looking for perfume for his cousin. We didn't find it, and I think the reason is because it's something that's not made any more. His cousin (who was married to a Frenchman) keeps asking for all these things that she bought in Paris many, many years ago and when we try to find them, of course, they're no longer available.

Then Robb discovered that his sunglasses were missing. We thought maybe he had left them in Tati and went back, but couldn't find them, so we stopped at Printemps where he bought another pair. After, we caught the métro back to the apartment.

We were going to have dinner at A La Rennaisance, but it was closed, so we walked back to la Bistro Expo. Did I forget to mention the music when we were there the other day? What an interesting repertoire; jazz, typical Moroccan music and you haven't heard reggae until you've hear Moroccan reggae.

After dinner, since it was so nice, we walked around the area for a while.

I managed to crash my computer a few days ago and lost all my files. That's why there is no music with these entries. Coming soon.....maybe.

Plus à venir, mes amis.

Paris 2004

28/29 Avril - Our Air France 747 left Miami International Airport at 6:00 PM. It was fifteen minutes late taking off. It turned out to be the Flight From Hell. Robb's dinner sucked, there were several screaming kids and there was a lot of pretty rough turbulence (especially while I was eating). After bringing it all back up, I managed to actually get a few minutes of sleep.

We arrived at Aéroport de Paris Charles de Gaulle at 8:15 AM Paris time. A few minutes ahead of schedule. We got lost in the airport while trying to find the baggage claim. The weather was cold and windy but sunny. We got a taxi into the city. I recognized the area from all my webcam viewing and gave the driver pretty exact instructions to reach the apartment we had rented at 18 rue Raymond Aron. You can see pictures of the apartment HERE.

We had to wait quite awhile for the concierge, Monsieur Caulier, to show up with the key. His wife took us up to the apartment which was on the third floor (Paris - fourth floor in the US). It was a lot bigger and nicer than it appeared in the pictures on the agent's website. It is directly across the street from the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, which consists of four twenty-four story buildings, each L-shaped which is representative of open books, of which twenty-two are above ground. There is a huge courtyard in the very center of the BNF which, when looking down into it, appears for all the world like a tropical rain forest. To the left of the apartment (north), is the Seine on which we can see several cruise boats (bateaux-mouches). On the other side of the river, is the Palais Omnisports de Paris and Cour St. Emilion. To the south of the apartment are the train tracks going to and coming from Gare Auzterlitz. Though we were less than two blocks from these tracks, we never heard a train the entire time we were in the apartment, although we heard several leaving the station while we were walking.

Monsieur Michel Malaval, from whom we had rented the apartment, left some excellent directions to various places we might need during our stay. One of these was a small grocery store named FranPrix. We walked the three blocks to Boulevard Vincent Auriol and got stuff for coffee and some salad stuff. While in the store, I heard a woman speaking to her daughter in English (real English) and on the return to the apartment, we got acquainted. She was in Paris with her Egyptian husband, an engineer. They were living in a building just down the street from us.

It began raining, lightly, about 4:00 PM. At about 9:30, we took the métro to Place d'Italie and had dinner in Café de France. We both had Veau Grille et Frites (grilled calve's liver and french fries) and shared a carafe of red wine. After desert and a café each, we métroed back to the apartment. We watched a bit of TV before going to bed. It rained rather hard for the rest of the night.

I had forgotten my umbrella.

30 Avril - I tossed and turned most of the night. It was cold in the apartment because we couldn't figure out the heating system and, also, I had developed cramps in my feet. First one foot and then the other, all night. Robb couldn't sleep either. I finally gave up at about 8:00 AM, by which time Robb had managed to get to sleep. He slept till noon. I set up the coffee pot and made coffee. Ahhh, good French coffee!

The first order of business was to go to Avenue Italie so that I could buy an umbrella. I had planned to just leave it in the apartment for whomever might need one, but it was so nice that I may take it with me. We walked back to Italie2 (a large, three-story shopping mall) to see if we could find a scarf for Robb, since he had forgotten to bring one. We found no scarves, but he bought a nice shirt at Armand Thierry. Then we went to the pharmacie where he bought shaving cream, toothpaste and shampoo. We stopped at Brioche Dorée for a ham and cheese baguette with an Orangina. Then we métroed to the Latin Quarter and walked over to see Ste. Sulpice, a cathedral on my list of things to see. It was really quite nice and well worth the walk. From there, we decided to walk to Boulevard St. Germain to find the New Man store for Robb. He thought the address was 155 but when we got there, it was something else. We drove past the address a few days later and it had magically appeared where it should have been. We're still puzzled about that.

We had walked quite a bit and we were both tired, so we métroed back to Quai de la Gare , the métro stop nearest the apartment. Robb thought most things would be closed on 1 May, which is Labor Day and a BIG holiday in France. We got some sandwich stuff and cookies at FranPrix.

Robb poured us some wine and and we drank that while enjoying some pâte. After, he tried on his new shirt. It fit him nicely.

After a short nap, we went out to find a place for dinner. We walked down to the quai and walked west along the Seine. Right on the corner was a Buffalo Grill. We passed on that. Then we came to a Quick (a French fast food place). I suggested it, but Robb nixed the idea immediately. We continued along the quai until the street was blocked by construction work. We walked up Boulevard Vincent Auriol and found an interesting looking place and went in. It was very nice. Kind of modern but classic at the same time. There was a neat mural on the ceiling very reminicsent of the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. The name of the place was Djoon.

We were seated and ordered dinner and wine. Everything was excellent: the ambience, the food, the decor, the staff and the clientèle. We will return there before we leave.

After dinner, we walked along Avenue de France and found another interesting looking restaurant: Brasserie Au Bureau. We'll try that one night.

1 Mai - I couldn't sleep and got up around 7:00 AM. Robb slept till noon, again. I made coffee, then we decided to walk to Gare de Lyon to check out Le Train Bleu. Because today is a major French holiday (Labor Day), we weren't sure it would be open. It was quite a long walk. We began our journey by walking down to the Seine to check on what we thought was a floating restaurant, but it was just a boat with an advertisement. We continued along the river to Pont de Bercy where we crossed to rive droite (north side of the river). While we were walking along the Seine, Geoff called from Rio. Is that amazing to you guys or am I just a babe in the woods? Oh yes, I guess I forgot to mention that I had taken my cell phone with me and this time, it actually worked in Paris.

We finally got to the train station and found Le Train Bleu. It is an absolutely beautiful restaurant. All the pictures I've seen do not do it justice. We made a reservation for 10:00 PM.

We left the train station, re-crossed the river and walked up Boulevard Vincent Auriol to Place d'Italie. We stopped at a small store to check on pillow prices because the pillows on the bed in the apartment were like hotel pillows - way too small and thin for my liking. They were closed because of the holiday. Since we were so close, I decided to check the computer place. It was open, so I rented an hour, wrote a quick FOD entry to let all the wonderful folks there know where we were, then Robb and I both checked our email.

We walked back to the apartment. Robb made a nice salad, then we rested until about 9:00 PM. We caught the métro to Nation station, where we got the #1 to Gare de Lyon. We arrived a bit early for our reservation, so we just sat in the station for awhile watching the people coming and going, then went up to the restaurant.

We started with a Kir Royal, during which we discovered that our waiter (whose name I did not get and Robb cannot remember) had been to the States as many times as we had been to Paris and absolutely loved Key West. Robb told him that he had lived there and from that point on we were treated like royalty. When we had drunk about half of our Kir Royals, he refilled the glasses with champagne. Our first course was Gros Escargot de Bourgogne. It was so much better than snails with just butter sauce. We had a glass of white wine with that. The main course was Pavé d'Espadon (Swordfish steak), with a glass of red wine (one recommended by our waiter). For desert we asked for his recommendation again. Robb had a rum-soaked cake. He brought the cake and a bottle of rum. I had puff pastry that had been halved and filled with vanilla ice cream and covered with a really rich chocolate sauce.

Although we had been in the restaurant for hours, it seemed like we had just gotten there when it was time to leave (they were actually closing the place down when we left).We got the #6 at Nation. At the next stop, a group of 6 - 8 young guys and one girl got on. They were all wearing big, red clown noses. The girl brought out another and I asked, "C'est pour moi?" She seemed surprised but put it on my nose anyway. That was all it took to become bosom buddies with the rest of them and I had a great time until Robb and I got off. The train departed with all of them saying, "A bientôt, amis!"

2 Mai - After last night, we were both exhausted and slept till noon. Robb made coffee and we discussed what we might do today. I was so worn out, I didn't feel up to much of anything, but decided a walk would do me good. We walked up rue Raymond Aron to Avenue de France. We stopped to check out the MK2 and found a couple of nice restaurants there: Jules and Jim, Limelight and Café Bibliothèque. Thought we might try one for dinner tonight. As we continued down the avenue, we discovered even more nice looking restaurants. We turned onto rue de Tolbiac and walked all the way to Avenue d'Italie, where we stopped at a small store and bought some napkins.

We crossed Place d'Italie to Boulevard Vincent Auriol and began the long walk back to the apartment. We wanted to stop at ED (a supermarket) but it was closed.

When we got back to the apartment, we tuned the radio to Chante France (90.9 FM). After awhile, we turned on the TV and watched some news. I slept a bit, then we had tea and cookies. Monsieur Malaval was supposed to have called to set up a time for meeting tomorrow, but had not called by 9:00 PM when we left for dinner. We checked out the Café Bibliothèque, but it seemed like a snack and drink place. Jules and Jim was closed until Mai 2005. The stairs up to Limelight were blocked off. We decided (as if we had a choice) to keep walking and looking.

We cut through the second part of MK2 and discovered it is a place where you can go to the movies (there were 12 theatres), buy movies (VHS or DVD) or buy books and/or CD's. One of the movies playing at MK2 was "Mambo Italiano", which I had been wanting to see ever since I had found a synopsis of it on a movie website. We kept talking about it, but we never got around to actually going.

After MK2, we found a nice place just down the block - L'Avenue. There were lots of outside tables (café terrace) but it was a bit too chilly for me and we opted to sit inside. The decor was moderately modern. There were music videos (some French, some American) being shown on a large screen on the rear wall. We ordered moules (mussels). I had Moules Marinière, Robb had Moules à la Provençale. They came with a side of frites. We split a bottle of Sancerre. For desert, I had Panna Cotta, Robb had Souffle de Cointreau. They were both excellent. To finish the meal, Robb had his usual café and I had a cappucino caramel.

I was too tired to walk tonight, so we just returned to the apartment.

3 Mai - Up by 10:00 AM, coffee and then off to ED for groceries. Good grief, what a terrible store. As bad as FranPrix is (compared to Monoprix, FranPrix is tiny and only marginally sufficient), it's many times better than ED. It was dirty and very poorly organized. We got most of what we wanted and returned to the apartment.

We métroed to the Richelieu-Drouot stop and walked down Boulevard des Italiens. Robb stopped at a shoe store (Heyraud) and bought a pair of brown shoes. We continued down the boulevard to Boulevard des Capucines, looking for yet another New Man store. This one was actually where it was supposed to be. Robb bought a pair of slacks and a matching lightweight jacket. We left there and walked to Springfield just down and across the street. Robb bought two pairs of slacks and another lightweight jacket. I bought two pairs of slacks. They will be ready for pick up on Wednesday.

We métroed back to the apartment. We were barely in the door, when Monsieur Malaval called and asked if he could stop by for a few minutes. He was knocking at the door about twenty minutes later.

He is a very distinguished looking, older man. He told us he is an engineer and that he had bought the apartment for his son who is in a wheelchair. We chatted for quite a while. He told us that he and eight other couples had rented a huge chateau in Avignon, in the south of France. He went on to explain that Avignon is a place where during the summer, there are more than six hundred theatrical shows in various places around the town. I offered him a glass of wine but he refused, explaining that his wife was downstairs, waiting in the car. We talked a few minutes longer, he recommended a couple of nice, very French, restaurants, and then he left.

Robb and I had some wine and watched a bit of TV until about 10:00 PM. Well, okay.....I fell asleep. Hey, I was tired.

Then we went to the Limelight for dinner, but discovered that it's closed on Monday. We decided to check out the Buffalo Grill. It was better than we had expected. We had no sooner sat down than the waitress brought us a very nice salad. Robb ordered a carafe of wine. We had the "dinner menu", which consisted of salade, entrée (we chose filet de Dorade - a white fish), and desert (we had the pear tarte). Ended dinner with an expresso. There were very few people in the restaurant. It was amazing to sit at a table eating dinner and looking out the window to see one of the most famous rivers in the world. While we were there, several bateaux-mouches went by. We discovered there is a place to board them just across the river. After dinner, we crossed the street and walked along the Seine for a short while.

4 Mai - We got up late. Even though it looked like rain, we didn't take our umbrellas. It had gotten colder and, to make matters worse, it was very windy. We métroed to the Châtelet area. We went to BHV, where I bought a hand-held shower head very much like the one we had had in the place on Avenue de Choisy, which I had really liked.

Afterwards, we walked up rue de Temple. It had begun to rain lightly. We stopped at a gay clothing store (rue de Temple is reputed to be the western edge of the Marais, which is very gay). I bought a neat metal belt and Robb bought another shirt. We continued our walk, stopping at a small place to get a couple of cheap, but serviceable, umbrellas. We walked as far as Square du Temple, then started back to Hôtel de Ville. We stopped at a small bistro for a sandwich and coffee. While we were eating, the weather took a turn for the worse. Métroed back to the apartment area and stopped at FranPrix to pick up a few things for dinner.....just in case it was too miserable to go out.

It was a good thing we prepared for the worst, because that's exactly what happened and we spent the rest of the night in the apartment. It was so cold. I slept for an hour or so, then we watched a little TV but mostly listened to the radio. We ate dinner around 10:00PM, after which, I took a few thousand mg's of vitamin C with juice. Went to bed around midnight.

5 Mai - Got up about nine. It appears to be a continuation of yesterday - cold, windy and miserable with a light rain. We had our morning coffee and I consumed some more vitamin C. Robb, in a moment of supreme confidence, decided to walk to FranPrix alone. I made certain he had memorized the address, but for once, he had no problem.

When he returned, we métroed across town to Springfield to pick up the stuff we had bought on Monday. I bought two shirts, like T-shirts, but not. Robb wanted to go to Au Printemps to get perfume for his mother, so we walked up there. While he was doing that, I strolled around and found a cute set of Swarovski penguins and bought it. Robb got the perfume, then while browsing, he found a beautiful multi-blue sweater, which he bought. On the way to a pharmacie, we stopped at a Habitat (a home accessory store). They have a lot of really nice stuff. Robb bought some candles because, at home, we dine by candlelight every night. At the pharmacie, Robb got some stuff for his contacts.

We caught a taxi back to the apartment. We tried on all our new clothes and had tea and cookies. Have I mentioned the wonderful butter cookies they have over here?

We hung out till about 9:00 PM, then took the métro to Corvisart and walked to La Touraine for dinner. Robb had Salade de Coquille St. Jacques (salad with scallops), I had Salade d'Asperges (salad with asparagus). My main course was Saumon avec Champignons et Pommes de Terre (salmon with mushrooms and potatoes), Robb had D'Agneau de Cordon Bleu (Lamb Cordon Blue). We both had the Chevre fromage (cheese) course. For desert, Robb had Crème Brulée and I had Crème Caramel. We split a bottle of Sancerre. Finished with a cup of Café Colombe.

We checked out Brasserie Au Bureau several times. It seems to be lunch only.

6 Mai - Robb jumped out of bed around 7:00 AM thinking it was past nine. Métroed to Boulevard Montmartre and Musée Grévin. It is a wax museum. What I thought was going to be a few wax figures, turned out to be so much more, and from the lack of people while we were there, very unknown to the average tourist. There are wax figures from just about every period in history. All costumed expertly and placed in settings in which you would expect to see them. Napoleon, Josephine, Marie Antoinette, Louis XIV, Joan of Arc, Voltaire, Molière, Dubya, Tony Blair, Putin, Clint Eastwood and John Wayne, Laurel & Hardy, Marilyn Monroe, Elvis, Julia Roberts, Ghandi and, yes, even Michael Jackson. They are all so very lifelike. At one point in the display, which takes you through room after room, up stairs and down stairs, there is a special surprise, but I'm not going to tell you what it is. You will have to go and see for yourselves.

After the Musée Grévin, we walked to Place Vendôme. Robb was hoping to get a parasol for his aunt, but evidently, they no longer make them. Place Vendôme is where you will find Van Cleef and Arpels, Chanel, Dior, Bulgarie and the Ritz Hotel, among others.

We left that area and walked down to rue de Rivoli, stopping at Regent and B, where Robb bought another nice shirt and a cashmere scarf. We finally made it to rue de Rivoli and turned to the east, past all the souvenir shops to rue de Richelieu, where we checked out the Palais Royal. There was an art class there, apparently completing an assignment. As you would expect, some were rather good while others should perhaps think of a different vocation.

We métroed back to the apartment and had some tea and cookies while Robb tried on his new stuff.

We were going to go to one of my favorite oriental restaurants for dinner, but Robb decided, because I sneezed a couple of times, that it was too cold for me to be outside. So, we had dinner in the apartment - a very nice salad, prepared by Robb, then Quiche Lorraine, washed down with a few glasses of lovely Saint-Emilion wine.

7 Mai - After morning coffee, we walked down to Pont de Bercy, crossed the river and walked down to Marina Bercy to check on the prices of a Seine cruise. They only have lunch and dinner cruises. The prices are very reasonable, but we didn't want a dining cruise. Perhaps we can take the cruise and just have a glass (or two) of wine. We'll think about it.

After, we re-crossed the river and got the métro to Place d'Italie, cause Robb wanted to go to one of the nice pharmacies there to get throat lozenges and more vitamin C tabs. He got his stuff and we stopped at Le Canon de Tolbiac for lunch. We both had the Omellette Mixte (sort of a Western omelette). Robb had the salad, I did not. We split a demi-carafe of red wine. It was so nice sitting in the bistrot drinking our wine, that we had another demi-carafe and just sat there enjoying the wine and the bistrot and the crowds of people walking and driving by.

A couple of hours later, we decided to go to the Monoprix, just to remind ourselves of what we were missing in the new neighborhood. While there, I bought a pair of heavy socks to wear like slippers in the apartment and Robb bought some conditioner. We stopped at a patissierie and I bought a couple croissants.

We went to Italie2 because Robb was going to buy some cologne, but he changed his mind and bought nothing. We métroed back to the apartment.

9:30 PM we left for dinner at Limelight but it turned out to be a bar with a DJ. We decided to go to L'Avenue again. I had Spaghetti avec Sauce Bolognaise, Robb had Spaghetti Carbonara. We split a bottle of Saint-Emilion. For desert, I had Darquoise Fruit Rouge (three kinds of red-fruit sorbet) and Robb had the Panna Cotta I had had last time. Of course, café to end the meal. We had a different waiter this time, but on the way out, the cute guy we had last time, stopped us and stated that next time we came, he would like us to give him a few more pointers in English and he would help us with our French. I think we've made another friend.

8 Mai - The day the French celebrate the end of World War II.

What a lousy day it has turned out to be - cold, wet and windy. I can't handle this kind of weather. I can take cold and windy. I can take cold and wet. But all three is too much; I become like a bear, I look for a nice cave where I can hibernate until warm weather arrives.

Robb (bless his heart) told me I couldn't go out to play today. And I did not. I spent the whole day either sleeping, watching TV or listening to the radio. There are no English-language channels on the TV in the apartment, but I guess that's a good thing from the stand point of learning real French.

For dinner, we had sandwiches of roast pork and cheese, a salad and wine.

9 Mai - Because of his continued success, Robb has decided to venture even further from the nest today. He wanted to go to the pharmacie which is in a different direction than the FranPrix. I explained the directions a couple of times and he took off. He returned a while later. The pharmacie was closed, but he had continued his walk all the way to Gare d'Auzterlitz. I'm so proud!

While he was gone, I got myself ready to go.

We métroed to Place de la Bastille where we checked out the Opéra de la Bastille and the Colonne de Juillet (July Column). The opera building is a relatively new structure built in 1989 by Canadian architect Carlos Ott and very modern in appearance. There was nothing being presented during our brief stay but the next program was to be Don Quixote. The Colonne de Juillet is a huge column in the center of the Place which commemorates the storming of the Bastille - an event that never actually took place, at least, not in the way it is commemorated (although the date, July 14, marks the beginning of the French revolution).

We walked from there to Place des Vosges, which is a park surrounded on all four sides by very old, very expensive apartments, one of which was formerly occupied by Victor Hugo of "Hunchback of Notre Dame" fame. For a fee, you can go in and have a look around. We did not.

Around 8:30, we métroed to Place d'Italie where we changed trains to rue de Tolbiac. We walked down to Au Village de Choisy for dinner. We started with some delicious spring rolls. Our main dish was Coquille St. Jacques Imperiale, accompanied by a bottle of Sancerre. They used some very hot chilis in this dish. Desert was a Mocha Parfait with alternating layers of mocha ice cream, cream coffee sauce and whipped cream. It was sooooooo good! And café.

10 Mai - We awoke to what appears to be a carbon copy of Saturday - except it's not quite as windy.

We said, "The hell with it," and métroed to Etoile-Place Charles de Gaulle. Before you even get all the way up to the sidewalk, l'Arc de Triomphe looms before you. It really is an imposing, massive structure. We hadn't been here since our second time in Paris, and the weather had turned really nice, so we decided we would walk the length of the Champs-Elysées (see it HERE and HERE) to the Place de la Concorde. Then we walked along rue de Rivoli to rue Royale. We walked up rue Royale to the Madeleine. Just across the street is a store that sells nothing but Maille Moutarde (mustard). We stopped in there because Robb wanted to get a jar of Moutarde à l'Ancien, which is a mustard that is very spicy, but it's difficult to find in the US. We had a nice chat with the salesgirl. got the mustard and left to pick up Robb's pants at New Man on Boulevard des Capucines.

After getting his pants, we stopped at a brasserie for a late lunch. Then, we walked to les Galeries Lafayette so Robb could get a nice scarf for his cousin (who is quite a bit older than he). She was married to a Frenchman and still has relatives in Paris. We did not visit them because the French are very formal and don't appreciate "strangers" popping in unannounced.

He found a nice scarf, we left and caught a taxi back to the apartment. We deposited all of Robb's packages and went out to go to the pharmacie and FranPrix for wine. We met our "landlord", Michel, as we got off the elevator and made a date to have drinks on Wednesday evening at seven.

Because of the big, late lunch (we'll try not to do that again anytime soon) we decided to just have a sandwich for dinner - with wine, of course.

About 11:00 PM, we decided to go to L'Avenue for desert. Boris, the cute waiter from the other night, was our waiter again. I keep saying that he is cute, so let me try to describe him. He is about 5'9", early twenties with jet-black hair and a swimmer's body (though we only saw him wearing clothes). He is half-French, half-Russian and lives in a hotel because he cannot yet afford an apartment. Comparative look-alike? Dean Cain (or maybe Rob Lowe when he was a lot younger), but Boris is much better looking. Robb and I had desert with champagne. After we called for the check, Boris gave us each a glass of champagne, compliments of him.

11 Mai - The original plan was to take the métro and, after a couple of changes, we would arrive at the Sully-Morland terminal from which we could cross the Pont de Sully and walk around Ile St-Louis, the island east of Ile de la Cité and Notre Dame. But before we got to the métro station, we decided the weather was nice enough that we could walk along the Seine. We weren't certain exactly how far we could go and once we reached Port de Plaisance de Paris Arsenal, we had to leave the river and use Quai Henri IV. We walked down the quai to the Pont de Sully. We crossed over and walked about the island for awhile. Other than a lot of very old buildings, some nice restaurants and one famous ice cream shop (Berthillon), there isn't much of interest - unless you happened to have read a book titled, "The Married Man" by Edmund White, since most of the first third of the book takes place on this very island. What a unique and magnificent experience!

We left Ile St-Louis and walked to rue de Rivoli. We strolled down past BHV to rue du Renard where we turned north toward rue de Rambuteau and the Centre Georges Pompidou. We thought we would go to the restaurant on the top floor for lunch. Sadly, the Centre is closed on Tuesday. We continued down rue de Rambuteau to the Forum des Halles and found a nice place. Since the weather was so beautiful, we decided to eat on the terrace. We each had a ham and cheese baguette with a glass of wine.

After, we stopped at a parfumerie and Robb bought some for one of his co-workers. We continued down rue de Rambuteau to L'Église Saint-Eustache. We had passed it many times in previous trips, but had never gone inside. We did that today. It is quite large inside and, while not on a par with some other cathedrals we've seen, was interesting in its own right.

After, we walked back past the Forum des Halles and the Fountaine des Innocents to a fountain conceived as a physical representation of Stravinsky's music. The fountain has a lot of ultra-modern sculptures. Some are stationary and some spin around due to water pressure.

We left there back down rue du Renard to Hôtel de Ville, where we caught the métro back to the area of our apartment. We stopped at Djoon and made a reservation for dinner. Then we walked to MK2 so Robb could see if there were any books or CD's he couldn't live without, but he bought nothing.

At 9:45 PM, we left for dinner. They had told us while making the reservation, that they were expecting a large party of people, but when we arrived there were no more than ten people in the place. During the course of our dinner, that changed and the large group showed up in pairs and more, until there really were a lot of people. Evidently, it was a birthday party.

Dinner began with a great entrée: Croustillant de Chevre (Chevre cheese in a puff pastry with a wonderful salad). That was followed by Curry de Lotte (a white fish in a delicious curry sauce, with sides of Saffron Rice and a combination of Baby Corn and Okra). We had a carafe of red wine with the entrée and a carafe of white wine with the fish. For desert, we asked the waitress to choose something for us. She brought out two fantastic dishes. The first was Champagne Sorbet in a Vanilla Sauce with a brulée-like sugar crust. The other was a wonderful, molded chocolate-mousse-like confection. There was a guy and a girl at the table adjacent to us and Robb remarked, to me, that she was very beautiful. As soon as she turned, I had a look. She was indeed beautiful. Then, her bag fell to the floor and a magazine fell out. We were somewhat amazed to see that she was the girl on the cover!

We left the restaurant once again stuffed and very happy.

12 Mai - Robb rushed out to the store to buy coffee. Then we gathered a bunch of stuff together and left to get soap powder with which to wash them in the laundromat across the street from FranPrix, but when we got there, we found that the place was closed on Wednesday. So we lugged all the stuff back to the apartment.

We métroed to Place d'Italie because Robb discovered that the shirt he had bought at Armand Thierry was flawed. They gave him a bit of a hassle at first, because he had lost his receipt, but eventually gave him a replacement (because the manager happened to stop by and recognized Robb from all our previous shopping excursions there).

We were left with most of the afternoon to go, so we decided to go to Montmartre for lunch. After several train changes, we arrived in Montmartre only to find that neither of us was hungry. We figured as long as we were there anyway, we might as well go up and check out La Basilique du Sacré Coeur (click on the picture and move your cursor). As can be seen by any exterior shot, it is a really beautiful thing. What can not be seen, since interior pictures are prohibited, is that it is just as beautiful inside. They have changed the website since I first wrote this. Somehow, they have included a 360-degree video of the interior of the basilique.

Monsieur Malaval was late for his 7:00 PM meeting with us because of the Parisian traffic, but he did call to let us know that he was on his way. He arrived a bit after 7:30. We sat chatting and drinking wine until after 8:30. Then he offered to show us a couple of restaurants that he prefers when he is in the city. We chose Au Bon Coin (the Good Corner). He asked if he could join us and we were more than pleased to have his company. The restaurant was crowded when we got there and we had to wait, behind the bar, until a table (there were only ten in the place) opened and we could be seated. Michel seemed to be on excellent terms with the owner. When we were shown to a table, we asked him to chose the meal and he, in turn, asked what we liked. Then he ordered. The entrée was: Michel - Herring with Potatoes, Robb - a Charcuterie (cold cuts), me - Escargot (even though they were prepared in the traditional garlic-butter sauce, they were excellent). The main courses were: Michel - Roasted Duck, Robb - Sea Bass, me - Sole (it was the whole fish). For desert: Michel - Crème Brulée, Robb and me - Crème Caramel. After desert, Michel ordered three different kinds of brandy - Calvados, Alignac and Vieille Prûne. We all had a sip of each.

During the course of the meal, we talked at length about a lot of subjects and, of course, we eventually got around to Bush and Iraq. Now, I think, is a good time for a bit of background on Michel, He is an engineer who works for an American company and spends a lot of time in the US (mostly in California). He likes the people (Americans) but he, like most Europeans, thinks Bush is totally lacking in understanding what and how the world outside of the US conducts their affairs. Bush is perceived as a bully and a typical American christian who wants to shove his beliefs down the throats of everyone else. Michel told us that all of Europe was surprised when it was announced that Bush had been "elected" President. He asked how we could have voted for someone like that. Robb and I tried to explain the election hi-jinks that had occured, but it is difficult to understand at best and I don't think we did much better. I asked him about the European opinion of Bill Clinton. He brightened at the mention of the name and told us that Clinton had been highly regarded in Europe and the "scandal" of his sexcapades, only made him appear more realistic to them. They thought the whole affair was terribly funny because their view of sex is so totally different than the Puritanised version practised in the US. The only thing they found disagreeable was that he found it necessary to lie about it.

After dinner, as we walked back to his car, he introduced us to another French innovation. They now have a device which is about the size of the average credit card, that locks and unlocks the car doors and turns the lights on and off. The new thing is that once it is set, it does all that automatically. When one is a certain distance from the vehicle, it shuts off the lights and locks the doors. As we approached his car, and got into range, it automatically turned on the lights and unlocked the doors. What a super handy device, especially if your arms are full of packages.

Michel drove us back to the apartment, where we said our goodbyes and promised to keep in touch. He also suggested that since we now have his phone number and email address, if we wanted to rent the place again, we could just contact him and avoid the agency fee (which is about 25%).

Back in the apartment, Robb called to have a taxi pick us up at 8:00 AM. The company was represented by an answering machine, so I suggested that perhaps he should try to get one where he could speak to a real person, just in case, so he called another.

It was a bit after one when we finally crawled into bed.

13 Mai - We arose at 6:30 AM. We were supposed to leave about 8:00. Robb was worried that both taxis would show up, but in fact, neither showed up. Since we had left the key in the apartment as per Michel's request, we had no way to call another. As luck would have it, Monsieur Caulier was working in the atrium and I asked him to call for us. He tried several numbers, but none of them would send a taxi. We still do not know why! He suggested we walk down to the corner where, maybe, we could flag down a passing taxi. So, off we went, luggage in tow. We saw a lot of taxis, but they were all occupied. It was getting late and I was beginning to think that we were not going to make the plane.

Just as things looked pretty hopeless, I saw an empty taxi heading in the opposite direction and waved him down. He made a U-turn and picked us up. He was a Greek who was born and raised in Marseille. About five years ago, he moved to Paris. He was a walking bibliothèque of French history. He also talked the entire trip to the airport, which took quite a bit longer than usual because the traffic was basically stop-and-go the whole distance. But he somehow got us there with over a half-hour to spare.

The flight home was long - about ten hours, but a lot better then the one going. 747's are nice, but I think I prefer the Airbus, which I remember being a bit roomier plus the added bonus of having individual TV screens with which you could choose what you wanted to see.

When we got back to Miami International, the customs people gave Robb a bit of a hassle because he honestly reported that he had bought about $1,000 worth of clothes. They did not make him open his bags, but still it was obviously just them being assholes because they could. And who would have believed that in an airport the size of Miami International, there would be only ONE ATM machine? I mentioned that to Geoff and he stated that there are at least six ATM machines in the airport. But every time I asked directions to one, I always got the same advice. So, until I see for myself that there are more, I will assume there is only one. And that was so small and badly placed that I nearly did not find it. To add insult to injury, the taxi home cost twice as much as we had paid in Paris.

I think we have decided that we will never fly out of Miami again.

I hope some of you liked all the picture links I tried to include. I feel it definitely adds to the experience.

A bientôt, mes amis.

Paris 2002

21 Décembre, 2002 - Our trip to Paris got off to a bad start. We went to the Olive Garden for dinner last night and ate way too much again. We were up all night with indigestion. It was all we could do to drag ourselves out of bed in time to get ready. I was pretty much ready to go, but Robb had a ton of things still left to do. I finally had to call him and tell him to get back to the apartment because the taxi would be there to pick us up in fifteen minutes. I took my luggage downstairs but his wasn't closed so I thought he still had more to pack, but when he finally got home with about five minutes to spare, he said he was ready to go. Of course, he forgot to close his large suitcase and tried to pick it up. **SIGH**

We got a really nice taxi driver this time. He didn't try to rip us off and he helped with the luggage. I tipped him good.

Because we were leaving the country, we had to check our bags inside the airport, but it was no problem at all, and we found ourselves with about an hour and a half on our hands. The plane to Philadelphia (an A320 Airbus) was right on time and we got there with no incidents. Once in Philadelphia, we had over three hours until the plane boarded. We found a place that sold decent Philly Cheese Steaks and that was our breakfast, lunch and dinner for the day. Even though we hadn't eaten all day, we both were still stuffed from the night before. The plane to Paris was late boarding because one or more passengers failed to show up, and with the new security measures, they will not take off until the luggage and the passengers match. We did notice, while waiting to board the plane, that most of the passengers were French people (mostly young, university students and mostly cute guys). By the time the plane finally took off, I was feeling the lack of sleep and I'm sure Robb was too, but neither of us could sleep during the six and a half hours to Paris. I tried, I really tried, but I just couldn't. C'est la vie. I did get to see "Road to Perdition" and some French cooking shows. "Road to Perdition" was pretty good, though a little gruesome. Tom Hanks is such a great actor!

22 Décembre - Even though the plane took off almost a half hour late, we arrived at Aéroport de Paris Charles de Gaulle a few minutes ahead of schedule, at 9:30 AM Paris time. It was a looooooong walk to the Immigration passport check point, but a very short wait to get through. Then we were supposed to pick up our bags and go through customs, but Robb had to stop and put his cosmetic kit back into his carry-on bag. We tried to catch up with the rest of the passengers from our flight. We came to a huge group of people standing in a rather ill-defined line and joined them. It was several minutes before we realized that they were passengers waiting for a plane to Isreal. We finally made our way to the baggage claim area, got our bags and took off for the customs inspectors. We could have been carrying bags full of drugs and no one would have been the wiser, because we simply walked through an area under a sign stating "Nothing to Declare", and we were in the airport public lobby area.

As we always do, we found an ATM machine and each got a couple hundred euros. It is very pretty money. As pretty, if not more so, than the former French francs. While we were getting money from the ATM, a woman approached us and asked how to say, in French, that she wanted to make a collect telephone call. I consulted my handy-dandy-ready-for any-situation-book-of-French phrases and supplied her answer. I admit I was surprised that Robb didn't know right off the top of his head. Then it was off to get a taxi into the city. If you read my entry about our last trip to Paris, you know that we got ripped by the taxi driver that time. It was a totally different story this time. Evidently, the Parisian authorities have clamped down on the taxi rip-off artists, because when we overtly tried to hire a guy to take us to Paris, he replied that he could not because each driver had to be authorized to drive into Paris and if they were not, they would be fined and/or jailed. We went to the legal taxi stand and asked what it would cost to get to our apartment and the driver gave us an excellent price (about 40�). He was from Martinique in the Caribbean. Before we were inside the city, I readily recognized landmarks all around us and I felt like I had come home.

After getting settled into our apartment, we walked to Monoprix to get some toilet articles and an umbrella for Robb. It was raining when we went out and, once we turned the corner to Monoprix, it was very windy, driving the rain into us. It was freezing! By the time we got out of the store, the rain had stopped. We got back to the apartment, deposited our purchases (wine and cheese and pâte) in the fridge, and went out for a walk, since the sun had made an appearance and the sky was clear. We took our umbrellas just in case, but didn't need them. We went to Italie2, a shopping mall near Place d'Italie. It was almost wall to wall people. People everywhere, spending money like it was going out of style. I was in heaven! Then it was back to the apartment and I had to crash.....I was exhausted. We had now been up for two days with very little sleep. In spite of that, I slept fitfully for only a couple hours. Robb had no problem and fell asleep easily.

Around 8 PM, we dressed and headed out for a walk and to see if I could find a restaurant (La Touraine) that I knew to be in the neighborhood. According to the internet, the address was 30 rue de Croulebarbe. Throughout the city, there are local area maps called "plan de quartier". The 13th Arrondisement is no different, so I consulted the map and took off to find the restaurant. We walked and walked and walked, but we could not find the street, nor the restaurant. We passed a group of policemen just going on duty, so we asked them, but when we tried the directions they gave us, we still did not come to the right street. At last, I decided to go back for one more consultation with the "plan de quartier" and, with the map's help, we found the street, but the address was non-existent. It was getting late, and we found that we were hungry after all that walking around. We were in the area of Leon de Bruxelles, where we had had our first taste of "moules" (mussels), so we went there for dinner. It was now about 10 PM. We couldn't remember the name of the dish we had last time, so we ordered "Moules a la Provençale" and two small bottles of white wine. Excellent!

We walked back to the apartment and, after watching a little French TV, went to bed. I should mention that even though it had been freezing earlier when it was windy and raining, when we went out looking for La Touraine, it was very comfortable. Not warm by any stretch of the imagination, but not really cold, either.

23 Décembre - We awoke just in time for the delivery of our breakfast (coffee, orange juice, croissants, baguettes, butter, jam and cheese) at 10 AM. We did not hurry through breakfast and the "femme de chambre" (maid) showed up to do our room before we were ready for her. Robb was in the shower and I still had to do my toilet things, so we asked her to come back later. We were both still very tired and if I had not made that plan to be on the webcam, I don't think I would have gone out at all. As it was, we left for Cour St. Emillion later than I had originally planned, and then I forgot that we should have gotten the métro at Place d'Italie and we boarded at Tolbiac, which meant we had to go to Châtelet and transfer to the train to Cour St. Emillion, instead of going to Bercy and then to Cour St. Emillion, which is a little shorter. We got off the métro having about a half hour to find the appointed place for our appearance in an area to which we had not yet been. Luckily for us, the métro lets out right in front of the place and we were in front of the camera with time to spare. Okay.....a show of hands, how many actually looked in to see us? Come on, be honest.

After the webcam thing, we spent a couple hours wandering around the various shops. Prices were surprisingly low for what is basically a tourist attraction, though I did notice that a lot of the visitors were French speakers. Robb and I decided that most of them were from other areas of France and were tourists just like us. Around 4:30, we stopped at a restaurant named Chai33. I wasn't really hungry and ordered the cheese plate and a cappucino. Robb had the same. To my surprise, it came with a salad. Given the choice, I would not have ordered the salad, but it turned out to be the best salad I have ever had. Even Robb, the salad connoisseur, was impressed. The cheese (there were four varieties) and the bread was wonderful. We ordered a glass of wine when we had finished our cappucino, and that too, was great. I mean, after all, we are in Paris, why wouldn't it be?

We caught the métro back to Place d'Italie and strolled leisurely from there back to our apartment, stopping at a pharmacie for toothpaste that Robb insisted he had to have, and then grocery shopping at Monoprix.....again. More wine, some nice cheese and a few other odds and ends. It was late when we returned to the apartment and I remembered that I had three days of travel to put into words, so while Robb prepared a light dinner of cheese, pâte, bread and wine, I began writing this. Time flew by while I was writing and soon it was 11 PM. I had, earlier in the day, called Altitude 95 at la Tour Eiffel to confirm our reservation and they had insisted I tell them whether we would be two or three for dinner. Geoff had advised us that he might not be able to get a trip on the 25th and it seemed no one else was going to join us either, so I made the reservation for just the two of us. A little after 11, I called Geoff at home and he told me that he was now certain that he wouldn't be able to make it.

24 Décembre - We were late arising. Still tired and no relief in sight. The overeating on Friday night has proved to be our undoing and will probably result in us doing a lot less this time than ever before. We just can't seem to overcome the tiredness. Whatever.

We putzed around for a couple hours, showering and all that, and then we went to the Banque Populaire to exchange 300 francs for Euros. To get into the bank, you have to push a buzzer and wait until the door is opened. To get out of the bank, you stand at the other side of the door and wait until it is opened electronically. The bank teller informed Robb that to exchange the francs, we must go to the Banque de France and supplied the address. We caught a taxi and took off on what turned out to be a really great, though short, tour of the city. We drove north to the Seine and followed the quai to "le Pont du Carrousel" to cross the river and that took us through the Louvre right past the Pyramide. The Banque de France is located very near the Opéra area. It is quite a large, open space inside and there were no more than six or seven people doing business there, including Robb and me. The banque process is; you take a number and watch the display until it shows your number and the number of the teller who will see you. Our business concluded, we asked directions to the nearest "plan de quartier", which was located on the corner about a half block away since the bank takes up almost the entire thing.

We went to the "plan de quartier" and I got my bearings and we walked to the Hard Rock Cafe which is at 14 Blvd Montmartre, passing in front of "le Bourse", the French stock exchange. We almost got there, but Robb spotted a men's store, and we spent about an hour or so, there. He bought a pair of jeans. I almost bought a leather jacket, but as I was standing on line to pay, I noticed that it was messed up on the back. Then it was off to the Hard Rock right across the street. I bought a bunch of pins for my niece and we left, heading in the direction of les Galeries Lafayette. Starting about a half a block away, it was wall-to-wall people until we got inside the store, where there were even more people. It was the main store, so we had to leave and go to the men's store, across the street. I bought a hat for which I paid way too much, but it is neat and my head was cold. By the time we came out of the store, it had started raining. A very light rain, but we decided to take a taxi back to the apartment instead of the the métro. Once again, it was a great sight-seeing experience.

We had a light snack of sliced apples and rested for a while. Then we walked up to Monoprix so Robb could get some mousse for his hair.

When we got back to the apartment, I found a telephone book and looked up La Touraine. The address in the book was 39.....not 30 as on the internet.

We rested until around 9 PM and started out to find the Café de France. It was closed. Not surprising, after all, it is Christmas Eve. But there are a lot of oriental restaurants near the apartment, so we went back and entered one in which we had eaten on our last trip. I had fish in a sweet and sour sauce, Robb had some kind of scallop dish. For desert, which we usually pass, we had Parfait Café. It was sooooo good! During dinner, we noticed an oriental couple (straight) at the next table who were speaking English, so I asked them what country they lived in and they answered that they were from Malaysia. They were staying in the République area where we had stayed on our first trip to Paris. They were a cute couple.

After dinner, we walked down rue de Tolbiac looking for L'Artishow, a "Cage aux Folles" kind of drag bar. I couldn't remember exactly where it was, and we didn't find it though we walked for five or six blocks in the attempt. So it was back to the apartment and some TV, during which we both fell asleep on the couch. We transferred from the couch to bed around 1 AM.

25 Décembre - The incessant knocking on our door awakened us a little after 10 AM. We had awakened sometime during the night and one thing led to another and.....well, you know what I mean. Afterwards, we fell into the best sleep we've had since we got here. Every morning at 10 AM, we have our breakfast delivered to our apartment. I do not normally eat breakfast and it was all I could do to drink my coffee. Robb gobbled down a croissant with his coffee. Then it was off to Banque Populaire to reline my pockets with cash. From there we caught the métro to Gare de l'Est to get our tickets to Frankfurt. That was accomplished with ease and we decided to walk to the neighborhood near the Place de la République where we had stayed on our very first trip to Paris.

Once in that neighborhood, we passed Bistro Ma Tante, where we had had the best boeuf bourguignon we have ever had and discussed the possibility of returning there for more of the same. Having made that decision, we decided to walk to Hôtel de Ville (Paris City Hall) to watch the ice skaters. We got within a few blocks but it was getting late and we had a dinner reservation at la Tour Eiffel at 7 PM, so we grabbed a taxi back to the apartment to get ready. We were feeling the need for something to eat, so we had a light snack of dark bread with cheese and tea. Then we walked up to Avenue d'Italie and caught a taxi to la Tour Eiffel.

It wasn't until we were there that I remembered the girl on the phone had said something about getting tickets for the lift, but I could not remember what it was that she had told me, so we just got in line with the rest of the tourists and bought our lift tickets the same as them. Standing in a line waiting for anything in Paris is an interesting situation, because invariably there are people from all over the globe, speaking in their own language and with whom you can exchange pleasantries as you move toward your destination. When we got into the restaurant, we had to wait to be seated and we saw a table for two at the window, so when the host attempted to seat us, we asked to have that table, but he insisted we follow him and we did. Well, boys and girls, the table at which he sat us, had the most spectacular view of the Trocadero and western Paris for which anyone could ask. We were very happy campers.

We checked out the menu and decided on the special "Menu de Noël" which consisted of five courses, including desert and coffee, the wine we ordered was extra. I'm sorry to report that I can't remember the names of the courses, but I'll try to describe them as best I can. The first course appeared to be Salmon Tartare and when I saw it, I sort of cringed because I'm really not fond of raw fish, but I figured what the hell, I'll give it a shot, and it was delicious. So I learned a lesson. When served something in Paris, don't question, just eat and it will be great! The second course was duck on potatoes. Not your ordinary roasted duck and not regular mashed potatoes, they were kind of purplish. Excellent. The third course was the cheese course and it was two kinds of white cheese (fromage blanc) with a side salad. Wonderful. The fourth course (desert) was a kind of chocolate mousse cake with vanilla sauce. If you like chocolate you would have thought you had died and gone to heaven. Last, but by no means least, was the coffee. I had a cappucino and Robb had café (the French way of saying espresso). We were supposed to be out by 9 PM because the second seating was due to arrive, but it was 9:30/:45 before we left and there were still others who had come at the same time as we, who were lingering over coffee or after-dinner drinks. Of course, no one made any attempt to get us or the others out, and that's another thing I love about Paris.

We caught the lift to the ground where we ran into the many vendors hawking their wares. One guy approached me selling scarves for €8, I offered him €5. He said 'non'. and I started to walk away. He ran after us, saying, "Cinq, monsieur, cinq." So I bought four because I had intended to buy them anyway and I was expecting to pay about €15 to €20. We caught a taxi back to our apartment.

I got out my laptop and started writing today's events. Then we decided that we should go to L'Artishow, so I consulted my ever-ready 'plan de Paris' and discovered that it was only a few blocks from the apartment. We bundled up and set out. But we only got a couple blocks when it started to rain, so we decided to call it a night and returned to the apartment.

26 Décembre - We got up a little before 10 AM after a pretty good night's sleep. I slept nude this time, as I usually do at home, and I got the best sleep I've had since we arrived. Robb jumped into the shower and I awaited the arrival of our breakfast. I guess I should mention that in our apartment, we have a small bistro-type table with three chairs, a couch, a double bed, a TV, several lamps, a small kitchenette with a tiny fridge, a two-burner stove, a toaster oven and a sink over which there is a counter to store things. There is a cabinet under the sink where the dishes and stuff are stored and where some non-fridge food can be stored. There are dishes, cups and saucers, a couple glasses and a couple pots and dinnerware. The bathroom includes the usual sink and tub with shower, as well as a hair dryer, and the potty, of course.

On the TV we get stations in French, English and German. I just noticed today that German is easier to understand than French because a LOT of the German words sound like English. In French, even the words that are spelled the same, are pronounced differently.

After breakfast, we thought we would walk down to L'Artishow so we would know where it is and how to get to it without a lot of problems. I had gotten the address from their website but when we got to the corner where it was supposed to be, it was not there. That makes two internet addresses that turned out to be wrong. But all was not lost, because on the walk we discovered the most magnificent church on the corner of rue de Tolbiac and rue Bobillot.....Sainte-Anne de la Butte-aux-Cailles. We went inside and looked around and it was beautiful. We also discovered a store that sells cheese. Any kind of cheese you would want. There are a lot of stores like that in Paris, but that was the first we had found in 'our' neighborhood. We had a wonderful time just walking around a new area of 'our' neighborhood!

Then we decided to catch "l'autobus" to the Châtelet area where Hôtel de Ville (city hall) and BHV (Bazaar de la Hôtel de Ville) are located. Robb wanted to buy an electric razor. Well, actually, I suggested that since we were going to be spending a lot of time in Europe, it only made sense to buy appliances that we could use that didn't require a special electricity converter (those damned things are heavy!). We caught the #27 bus at Place d'Italie. Let me just say that if you ever come to Paris, you must ride the bus at least once. They accept the same ticket that you use for the métro and you get to see so much more than you can see any other way.....including walking. On our short bus ride, we got to see the Panthéon, the Curie Institute, the Luxembourg Gardens and Notre Dame. We got off at Saint Michel and walked across the Seine to rue de Rivoli, passing the Palais de Justice, Sainte Chappelle, and Hôtel de Ville with the outdoor ice skating rink. There must have been hundreds of happy Parisians of all ages skating. The city had even supplied music for the skaters. There was a place at the north end of the rink where skates could be rented. I didn't check the cost. We stopped to watch for a few minutes and then continued on to BHV, which is right across the street.

In BHV, Robb bought some kind of body lotion for one of the girls with whom he works, an electric toothbrush, an electric razor, two sweaters and a corduroy jacket. We left BHV and Robb bought a nice watch from one of the vendors outside the store.

Then we walked down the street and across the Seine to the Notre Dame area, where we both bought some postcards, I bought some more scarves, and Robb bought a neat fur hat (think Russian Cossack). We crossed the river again and continued down the quai to the Latin Quarter. We had never really spent much time in the LQ before, but tonight it afforded a unique experience. I had discovered a website named "Anthony's Home Page" in which Anthony presented a lot of beautiful pictures of Paris and a good bit of Parisian history and insight into various quarters of the city. He mentioned that the LQ was an area where one could get super inexpensive meals (because most of the students of the Sorbonne eat there), naming, in particular, rue de la Huchette and rue de la Harpe. We walked down both of those streets and let me tell you, you will be hard pressed to find a place where you can dine so magnificently, so inexpensively. We're talking full meals from 7.50€ to 15€! And the restaurants! You name it and it was there.....French, Latin, Greek, Vietnamese, Tunisian, Indian, Italian, et al. And they all looked and smelled sooooooo good. There was jazz coming from a few and I remembered reading that there are a lot of jazz clubs in the Latin Quarter.

We caught the #10 métro to the Jussieu station where we transferred to the #7 which took us to the Tolbiac station and home. We stopped at the pharmacie on rue de Tolbiac because Robb needed a pre-shave for his new electric razor, but they didn't have it. We had also checked when we were at Monoprix, but they didn't have any either. We're thinking it may be an item they don't sell in Paris.

Once we got to the apartment, Robb tried on all his new clothes while I opened our last bottle of wine. As soon as we realized it was the last bottle, we bundled up and headed for Monoprix to get a couple more bottles. After we got back, Robb prepared our dinner.....frozen pizza. It was great! I've never tasted frozen pizza that was so good. We followed the pizza with slices of apple and a glass of wine.

A little TV and it was time for bed.

27 Décembre - We awoke a bit before 10AM. Our breakfast arrived and we ate. Robb wasn't feeling good and I was still tired, so we just hung about the apartment for a couple hours. But we couldn't stay in bed all day (although I was ready for that) because we had to go across town to pick up Robb's jeans and I needed to go back to the Hard Rock to get the T-shirts I had promised my co-workers but had forgotten when we were there the other day. It was raining. But I've noticed that raining in Paris usually means just a light drizzle. It seldom pours like it does in Fort Lauderdale. After getting the jeans and T-shirts, we caught the métro back to Place d'Italie and went into Italie2. Robb wanted to go to Armand Thierry (a clothing store) to buy more pants. He bought a pair of black brushed-denim jeans and a pair of brown cords.

Then it was back to the apartment and much needed rest. We watched the French version of "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire". The show originated in France and then spread to other countries. We slept off and on for a few hours and then went out to eat.

We decided to give Café de France one more chance and walked up to Place d'Italie, where it is located (12, Place d'Italie, 75013 Paris, France (+33 1 43 31 19 86)). It was smaller than it appears from the outside. but warm and cozy and it had that neighborhood friendliness that is prevalent in so many French restaurants. As usual, I was not hungry. I had the "plat du jour", filet de Persche. Robb had a "salade de coeur de l'artichoke" (heart of artichoke salad) and the same fish 'plat' as me. We ordered a bottle of Sauvignon Blanc. The perch came with a side order of vegetables which was delicious. Then Robb had a desert of "fromage blanc avec sauce de fraise" (white cheese with strawberry sauce). I forced myself to help him eat it. After desert, we both had café.

After dinner, we strolled around the area on a street we had not taken before. I like to do that because you get to know the area better and you sometimes come upon things that are really neat. There was to be no really neat things this evening, but it was still a lovely walk.

Then it was back to the apartment to get our suitcase ready for the trip to Frankfurt tomorrow afternoon.

28 Décembre - We barely got out of bed by 9 AM as we had planned. We got ourselves ready and trekked up to the métro that would take us to Gare de l'Est (the train station). We got there with not quite a half hour to spare, found our rail car and our seats (92 & 98 - yes, they were together, but don't ask me why - something about the French/European numbering system). Unfortunately, we had seats in a smoking car since the train was very nearly sold out when we bought our tickets. The train was scheduled to leave at 12:46 PM and left on the dot. Three hours later we had made only four of eleven stops and I was convinced that we would be late getting into Frankfurt

, but at 7:14 PM, as scheduled, the train pulled into the Hauptbahnhof in Frankfurt. So here's some advice if you ever plan to travel by train in Europe. If the schedule indicates 7AM, do not arrive at 7:01.....you will have missed the train! It was raining and cold as we walked out to go to the hotel, so we decided on a taxi, even though it was only about five or six blocks from the station. We checked into the Steigenberger Frankfurter Hof, got our key and went up to our room (258). You don't get a room key anymore, you get a plastic card that works electronically. Mine didn't work. The Frankfurter Hof is a world class hotel and as soon as you enter the room, you understand why. The appointments were top of the line. We had a king-sized bed with separate mattresses (under one sheet) and separate duvet covers, which was great for me since Robb has a tendency to end up with all the covers on his side of the bed. We also had a TV, mini-bar (fully stocked with juice, water, soda, whiskey, wine and champagne), and desk with fax and high-speed internet connection (damn, I didn't bring my laptop). If you weren't convinced by the room itself, you would have been by the bathroom which had white marble walls, black marble floors and a separate compartment for the toilet and bidet.

Robb called down to make a dinner reservation but immediately forgot at which restaurant and there are five in the hotel. We went down to the front desk, got our new 'keys' and found we had a reservation at 'Oscar's'. It turned out to be one of those places in which you feel immediately comfortable and welcome. Our waitress was Caroline. She was charming, funny, cute and quite attentive. We both had the fish (filet de Loup de mer - don't ask about the French name in a German restaurant, I have no clue). After dinner, we went back upstairs to try our new keys (evidently when someone loses a key or whatever, they change the locks and issue a new key) and get our coats. We went out (in the rain) and took a short walk of six or seven blocks, which re-confirmed our original impression when we first walked out of the bahnhof, that Frankfurt had changed a LOT since we were here last (though each at different times). We got to bed around 1 AM. Oh, that bed!!

29 Décembre - When I woke up, I checked the clock and was somewhat shocked to see that it was past noon. I had a sore throat and figured it was from sitting six and a half hours in the smoking car of the train. I checked the weather outside and it was still raining. Damned rain! We went down to the lounge and had breakfast of cappucino and an assortment of rolls. What a lovely way to start a day. The lounge is so luxuriously appointed and there was beautiful classical music playing softly in the background. We sat in wing-back chairs at a small brass and glass table in a corner of the room, surrounded by books and lovely art and sculptures. It was like breakfasting in a rich man's private library.

Afterwards, we walked down Kaiserstrasse to the Hauptbahnhof, just to be sure we were correct in our judgement of where we were located. We noted, with amusement, that Kaiserstrasse is now the center of the red-light district. While at the bahnhof, we checked out the underground mall and, finally, after all those years of yearning, I had a real German bratwurst! It was a bit smaller than I remembered, but it was every bit as good. When he saw how much I was enjoying mine, Robb got one also. We walked back to the hotel and just hung out and rested for a while and then we caught a taxi to the Hard Rock Cafe. I wasn't certain, but I felt it was relatively close to the hotel and it turned out that I was right. In our walk the night before, we had almost walked to it, missing it by only about a block or so. But at the time we weren't sure. I bought some more guitar pins for my niece and we walked back to the hotel to rest before dinner, again at Oscar's. By the way, don't plan on doing much in Germany on a Sunday, just about everything is closed. We had dinner at 10 PM and then retired to the main lounge to just sit and watch the rain for a while. We went back to our room, watched Cabaret (in German) and then to bed.

30 Décembre - I had set the clock for 9 AM but when it went off, there was no way either of us was getting out of bed. Aside from the fact that we had stayed up a little late to watch the movie, we had another of those middle-of-the-night 'things' we do every once in a while. Besides which, it was still raining and my sore throat had turned into a bona fide cold. In fact, it never stopped raining for the entire time we were in Frankfurt and I made the observation to Robb that in Paris, it may rain often, but it always lasts only a short while and then it clears up. It isn't a constant thing like it was in Frankfurt. I would definitely like to return to Frankfurt in the future, because it's a lot better than I remembered it, but I would never do it again in the wintertime.

Since it was so miserable, we decided to collect our things and go to the Hauptbahnhof, even though we had a couple hours until our train left. We spent the time wandering around the underground mall. We came up about twenty minutes before departure time and determined on which track our train would be. We walked to the track and the train was already sitting in the station, so we figured we might as well get on and get settled in for the six and a half hour trip back to Paris.

Well, silly me. I had forgotten the rule about trains in Europe. Just as you cannot be late, neither can you be too early. We had boarded the wrong train. Our only consolation was in the fact that we were not the only people to have done so. There was a German couple who adamnantly refused to believe that they were on the wrong train. Finally, the female conductor told them, "Trains don't make mistakes, only people make mistakes." Still they were not convinced and were complaining bitterly when we got off at the first stop, Friedberg, where the ticket agent was nice enough to prepare a new itinerary for us.

We had to catch a train from Friedberg back to Frankfurt. Then we would take a train to Saarbrucken where would board another for Metz. At Metz we would get the train that would finally take us to Paris. Everything ran quite smoothly until we got to Metz, because they didn't include the track number for the train to Paris and we only had eight minutes from the time we got there until we had to be on the train to Paris. To make matters worse, the train from Saarbrucken was (GASP!!) late! But we got lucky. The conductor got the track information for us and it turned out to be the next track over. We were barely on the train to Paris, when it pulled out of the station.....right on time. Except for our light breakfast, we hadn't eaten all day, so we bought a ham sandwich and coffee on the train. The trains have these guys who pull a cart down the aisle from which you can choose various things to eat and drink (and yes, that does include wine and alcoholic drinks). We did notice that most people brought their own picnic-type lunch.

Even with all that, we got to Paris (around twenty after ten) only about forty-five minutes later than we were originally scheduled to arrive, after a much more interesting trip than we had been expecting. We caught the métro and rode to the Tolbiac station. When we came out of the métro we were pleasantly surprised to find that it was cold.....but dry! We walked to our apartment and put everything away and had a light dinner of tea and cheese, with an apple for desert. We watched a little TV and went to bed.

31 Décembre - We got out of bed around 10 AM, had breakfast, did all the toilet things and walked up to Italie2 so Robb could pick up his pants, stopping at the pharmacie so I could buy some cold medicine and vitamin C for the cold I managed to pick up in Frankfurt. Then he decided to look for a peignoir for his mother, so we went to Au Printemps, but couldn't find anything in her size (she's very tiny). The saleslady suggested that we could try a place called Etam (a ladies lingerie store), so off we went. He found one that was just the right size in just the right color and just the right fabric. We spent another hour or so wandering around the mall checking things out (you know what I mean), and then went back to the apartment to drop off our packages and rest for a few minutes. Between the lack of sleep and now, the cold, I was feeling a little less than wonderful.

Robb wanted to buy yet another sweater, so we hopped on the métro and headed for the Madeleine area to a store named Springfield, in which I had bought a nice black, zip-up, turtle-neck sweater the last time we were here. He found one similar to the one I have and bought it. We left Springfield's intending to return to the apartment, but instead spent another hour or two walking around the area. I spotted Fauchon's (a famous chocolatier) and we went there so I could buy some chocolate for one of the ladies at work who had asked me to get some for her. We left Fauchon's and walked a little further where we came upon a Nicolas wine store. Nicolas is a large chain and there are stores on just about every street in Paris, or so it seems since we were constantly coming across them in our travels. I bought a small bottle of Veuve Clicquot champagne to take to la Tour Eiffel tonight for the event of the arrival of the year 2003. Then we checked out Hediard's, another famous Paris store that sells fruit and spices and chocolates and wine. Surprisingly, we bought nothing and left somewhat hurriedly because we were beginning to feel a time crunch. We still had to return to the apartment, drop off our stuff and get some rest before we went out to eat.

We went to Au Village de Chinois for dinner after deciding against walking all the way to Café de France because we both felt it would be closed anyway, as it was on Christmas eve. We had eaten at the Au Village before and it was very good. We were pleasantly surprised to find that we were not the only gay couple there, although it's sometimes hard to tell if a male couple is gay, or just friends, over here. But soon the clues were overwhelming. Changing our usual eating habit, we both had a bowl of soup before the main course. I had 'chicken with noodles' soup (definitely not Campbell's) and Robb had the wonton soup. I forgot the golden rule of eating fish in France.....if it doesn't indicate 'filet', it's a whole fish. And that's what we had. A whole fish with vegetables in a sweet and sour sauce over rice. We ordered a bottle of Saint Tropez rosé wine. We usually don't drink rosé, but the group at the next table was having it so we figured, why not? It wasn't bad and went well with the fish. We passed on desert and finished our meal with a café. We were cutting it close on our time and rushed back to the apartment to get the champagne and head for la Tour Eiffel and the New Year's celebration.

As we were leaving the apartment building, checking our métro tickets, a woman reminded us that the métro was free all evening. What a happy circumstance, and how very insightful of the Parisian authorities to make transportation available to everyone for free on a notorious night of drunken debauchery. We got the #6 métro at Place d'Italie, which took us all the way to the tower. Holy Humanity, Batman! The train was standing room only when we got on and more people squeezed in at every stop, to the obvious delight of the passengers who let out with a whoop-whoop kind of sound each time. After the third stop, there simply was no more room. We were squashed together like sardines in a can. However, Robb managed to get propositioned by a cute young guy who wanted to fix him up with his friend, who I guess was too shy to ask. Robb turned to me and asked me to say something to the propositioner. I said, "Il est mon amour." That took care of the fixing up, but we still had a nice conversation until they got off at Bir Hakeim, the Tour Eiffel métro stop.

I thought we could outsmart the crowd and get off at the Trocadéro. Wrong! There weren't that many getting off there, but once we got outside, it was again wall-to-wall people and all seemed to be trying to go in different directions at the same time. It was lots of fun.

Oh yeah....we were still on the metro at midnight. It was disappointing but c'est la vie. We ended up behind the Palais de Chaillot and I thought we could just walk through it to the front that faces the tower. Wrong again! They had the back entrance closed, so to get around, we had to walk around the entire building, being pushed and shoved and groped the whole way. There was a major traffic crunch at the stairs that led down to the sidewalk along the front of the palais, and it took well over fifteen minutes just to descend about twenty steps. In the meanwhile, a couple of guys appeared on the second or third floor balcony of the building next door with guitars on which they proceeded to play (quite loudly) to the great enjoyment of the crowd. Everybody cheered and applauded and the more they cheered, the louder the music became. It was great! I have no idea what they were playing, but they were pretty good....okay, at least they were loud and in keeping with the mood of the moment. We finally got down the steps to the sidewalk and I popped open the champagne. So we walked around drinking champagne and shouting "bonne année" like everyone else. There were broken champagne bottles everywhere. It seemed to be some kind of tradition to break your bottle once you had finished the champagne.....so we did also. I wouldn't want to be the guys that have to clean up that mess.

We crossed the Seine to la Tour Eiffel and hung out there for a while, but the crowd was starting to get a bit rowdy and some were throwing firecrackers into the midst of crowds of people, so we figured it was time to be somewhere else. We thought we would get a little out of the area and catch a taxi. Wrong! We only saw a couple and they were already taken. We ended up walking all the way to the Tour Montparnasse (several miles in the cold night air) to get the métro which the Parisian authorities had the good sense to keep running all night. As on the ride to la Tour Eiffel, the métro was jammed with people but no one seemed to care.....they were either too drunk or too happy to let it bother them. It was after 4 AM when we got back to the apartment.....cold, tired and happy to have been a part of the celebration of the New Year in Paris.

1 Janvier, 2003 - HAPPY NEW YEAR!! Although we had a great time last night and I would do it again in a New York second, spending that much time in the cold night air did nothing but aggravate my cold. Poor Robb, he can't find his way around the city by himself, and I spent nearly the entire day in bed. I finally got up, ate my croissant, drank some coffee, and did my toilet things. We both agreed that I should not go out into the cold air today so, as much as I dislike the idea, today is just a throw away day. I got out the laptop and proceeded to write about the events of yesterday. But tomorrow, we will definitely be out doing something because we still have things to see and do and our time is quickly running short.

2 Janvier - I got up just before 11 AM, feeling a lot less than great. I forced myself to eat a croissant and drink some OJ and coffee. We had seen an advertisement in the métro stations for an exhibit at Musée de l'Institut du Monde Arabe and Robb was so looking forward to seeing it, that I was determined to get us there regardless of how poorly I felt. From my 'plan de Paris', I knew approximately where it was but I wasn't sure which métro stop to use, so I went down to the desk in the lobby to see if Madeleine could help me figure it out. While we were trying to determine which stop would be best, a cute oriental guy offered to go up and return with a métro.....which he did. We decided the best stop would be Jussieu and I went back upstairs to collect Robb and get under way.

When we got off the métro at Jussieu, it seemed colder than ever, but I'm sure it was just because I was sick. We weren't exactly sure where Musée de l'Institut du Monde Arabe was located and we ended up walking through something that apparently was a school of some sort (we have since learned that it was Université Denis Diderot, a campus of l'université de Paris) and the wind was ripping through the courtyard at about a thousand miles an hour. It was all we could do to stand upright. After determining that we were in the wrong place, we left and managed to find our way to the exhibition.....Chevaux et Cavaliers Arabes. It was an interesting building without the exhibit, but the exhibit was quite interesting.....being a mix of video, paintings, drawings, sculptures and artifacts from very early periods in Arabian history. The most interesting to me were the actual things from the period, like the full-body armor for the horses and the chain-mail and swords for the riders.

After viewing the exhibit, we left and walked down the quai in the direction of Notre Dame. I decided to be adventurous and we left the quai to wander down a side street. I knew that we were in a primarily tourist area, but there were still some interesting, inexpensive shops and bistros to be found amongst the glitz. We were in the St. Germain des Prés area. We had walked for several blocks when it started to rain lightly, so we walked to Boulevard St. Germain and stopped at a brasserie for coffee and cake, but mostly to get out of the rain. I had a café crème and an apple tart, while Robb had a café noir and a fromage blanc. By the time we had finished our coffee, the rain had stopped and we walked down the boulevard a bit further. There were so many beautiful things to see, and some of the shops were nice, too! But it started raining again and we (Robb) decided that we should get back to the apartment, so we entered the next métro station.

Back at the apartment, Robb prepared another of those delightful light meals of cheese, pâte, bread and wine. We supped while watching a French TV show....the Magnificent Seven with Yul Brenner.

3 Janvier - Our last full day in Paris and I was not in a state of physical wellness! How depressing. Quel dommage! I never left the apartment, even though it was the most beautiful, sunny day we had experienced since arriving two weeks ago. Robb was determined to go shopping for gifts for some of his co-workers, so I gave him directions to a local parfumerie and he took off in a grand gesture of self-confidence. Yes, of course.....he got lost. But at least, this time I had made him memorize the address, so he had no trouble getting people to help him find his way back.....the whole three blocks.

Even though I thought it best to remain in the apartment all day, I was not about to eat my last meal in Paris there, so we got ready and made our way to Le Canon de Tolbiac, a nice local little bistro, in which we were the only non-Parisians. We had boeuf bourguignon with bread and wine, followed by mousse chocolat, and then café.

We went back to the apartment and, sadly, packed our bags.

4 Janvier - We got up around 9 AM because we had to be at the airport by eleven. The taxi picked us up at 10:30 and by the time we got to the airport, there was a noticeable drop in the temperature. We both planned to do a little more gift shopping at the airport, but as it turned out that was not to happen. We had to go immediately to the gate and check our bags and wait to board the plane. While we were waiting, it began to snow. Make that, SNOW! We boarded the plane at 12:30 PM, but we didn't take off until after 7:30 PM. That, of course, meant that we had already missed our connecting flight to Fort Lauderdale. Please understand that it was not the fault of the airline, but the Charles de Gaulle Aeroport ground crew. They procrastinated getting out the plows and clearing the runway and the tower would not give the pilot permission to go until that was done. Then when they finally got around to clearing the runway, we had to stop to have the plane de-iced. But we finally took off and the trip to Philadelphia was uneventful, except that I did get to see three movies that I might otherwise not have seen.....Sweet Home Alabama, The Bourne Identity, and My Big Fat Greek Wedding.

We got to Philadelphia around 9:30 PM (Philadelphia time, 3:30 AM Paris time), had to collect our bags and go through customs, although that turned out to be a joke since they just waved us through. Then we had to go to the US Airways counter and make arrangements for a hotel for the night and a flight to Fort Lauderdale the next day. The airline put us up at the Sheraton Suites and the first flight in the morning. We got to the hotel at 12:30 PM but we had to be up at 4:30 AM to go back to the airport.

With very little sleep, we made the plane on Sunday morning and arrived in Fort Lauderdale at 10:30 AM. We collected our bags, caught a taxi and were finally home around eleven.

I already miss Paris!