Thursday, May 10

The moment that the Eurostar train left the Chunnel (channel tunnel), I telephoned my friend Susan on my cell phone to let her know that we were in France. The train was going so fast that we really couldn't see the countryside. Al took some short digital videos, but I don't think they'll come out that well.

After getting off the train we went to the taxi stand and waited in a line which moved relatively quickly. Al was excited to spot the British CNN reporter Richard Quest a few people ahead of us in the line. The taxi driver was a native Frenchman and he easily took us straight to our hotel ‘The Hotel des Marroniers (Chestnut Trees)' on rue Jacob. The young man at the desk was very nice, but he didn't have the room that I had reserved (with a bathtub, a view of the garden, on a high floor). We were sent to a room without a bathtub, on the garden side, (but not much view) and on a very low floor. He apologized, admitted that it was his fault and offered us another room on a higher floor. The room we finally settled on was charming, with a very nice view, but was very tiny and had a shower, but no tub.

Al had a very bad cold by now and he was coughing a lot. Despite the fact that it was 4:00 PM and we were supposed to have dinner with Susan at 7:00 PM, we were really hungry (no lunch) and we went out to search for a little something to eat. We found a small health food store with a few tables on rue de l'Abbaye which was called ‘La santé par l'alimentation' (Health by nutrition). It was later than the time they usually serve soup, but the owner was nice enough to see if there was any left and we were given bowls of very good tasting vegetable soup, which was just what we needed. The soup was served with roasted sesame seeds, which added a special something.

We returned to the hotel room and Al slept until I woke him up so that we could meet Susan in the lobby. The moment that she arrived Al said ‘Hello Susan. Excuse me, but I have to go back to bed. You two go out and have dinner without me'. (Susan's husband Michel was still working) I was worried about Al, but Susan and I had a very good time together. We had dinner at the Brasserie Saint Benoît, two short blocks from the hotel. I had a kir aparatif and Susan had a dry martini. Then I had lamb chops (bien cuit or well done - big mistake) and Susan had steak. We talked and had fun for two hours and it was very nice. Even though we speak on the phone almost every week, after 3 years it was great to see each other in person again. I walked back to the hotel and Al was still sleeping.

Friday, May 11

We slept well - the bed was very comfortable. (Taking showers in the stall without doors, which was in the corner of the tiny bathroom, was a logistical problem) At 10:00 AM we had a very nice breakfast in the garden room of the hotel - orange juice, cold cereal, yoghurt, croissants and tea. I called Susan so that she could give me detailed directions to get to her town Louveciennes by suburban rail and I told her that I would call her from the train sometime between 2:00 and 3:00 PM.

Al and I then wandered around the area, on rue de Buci, rue St André des Arts and rue Git-le- Cœur where we stayed the last time we were in Paris. We wanted to find another hotel in the same neighborhood for our next visit, but with larger rooms than the Marroniers. We found the ‘Hôtel du Vieux Paris' (Hotel of old Paris) on the same street (rue Git-le-Cœur), but closer to the river and farther away from the noisy Irish pub that had kept us awake last time. I asked the desk clerk to give us a brochure and price list and to show us some rooms. She was very happy to comply and we looked at two very nice (and expensive) rooms. We walked along the Seine to the Citadines hotel (big, fancy and more expensive) where the desk clerk gave me a brochure, but couldn't show us any rooms.

We went back to our hotel room to rest and recuperate before having lunch and traveling to Louveciennes. We ate at a café called ‘Le Rouquet' which is at the corner of Boulevard St Germain and rue des St Pères. I had the ‘salade St Germain' (a chef salad), a glass of rosé wine and a decaf coffee. Al had fried eggs with ham and a café creme (His cold was still pretty bad).

We walked along the Boulevard St Germain to the rue de Bac metro station and took the metro to the St. Lazare train station where we caught the suburban train for Louveciennes. As soon as the train left the station, I called Susan and told her the time we should arrive and she said that she'd meet us at the station. We only had to wait a few minutes before Susan picked us and drove us to a beautiful park in the next town Marly-le-roi. The park was originally a hunting preserve for the king and now part of it is reserved for the President. There was no-one else there and we took a short, very relaxing walk through the woods.

Then Susan took us to her house where the front garden was in full bloom. She gave us a tour of house, including the bedrooms of their 3 sons. Only the youngest son Martin was home and he was sitting in the living room, playing a computer game with headphones. During the 3 years that had past he had really grown up and was now more of a young man instead of a child. He speaks more English now, but still can't understand me very well when I speak in French.

Michel, Susan's husband, came home from work and we (the two couples) sat in the living room, where they served us a very refreshing aparatif called Old Nick's Peach (and rum) Punch. It helped Al's cold a little, but he was still using a lot of their tissues. We were given hors-d'œuvres of nuts, cheese, eggplant confit and delicious sausages in puff pastry. We moved to the dining room table and had scallops in puff pastry, baked salmon and vegetables. We drank wine and talked for hours. After a dessert of cherry pastries, Michel and Susan drove us back to our hotel in Paris. On the way we had a passing view (too fast for photos) of the shimmering Eiffel Tower at night.

Back in our room we could see the tower of the St Germain des Près church lit up. After about 10 minutes, at midnight, the tower went dark and we fell asleep.

Saturday, May 12

We woke up early and had another pleasant breakfast in the hotel. Then we packed our bags, checked out, put our luggage in the lobby closet and arranged for a taxi to take us to the train station ‘Gare du Nord' (North) in the late afternoon.

We explored two more hotels nearby - the hotel Millésime on rue Jacob and the hotel de Seine on the corner of rue de Seine and rue Jacob. The two respective desk clerks were both nice and showed us different rooms. Al and I both preferred the Millésime and I think that we'll stay there the next time that we're in Paris. (I hope that's next year)

Then we walked along the river and across the ‘pont Royale' (royal bridge) to the Tuileries gardens next to the Louvre. We sat on a bench and watched the water birds in a pond and also the people passing by. We crossed back to the Left Bank and looked for a restaurant to have lunch. We kept walking until we wound up at the former ‘Meza Luna' Italian restaurant on rue de Buci, which was now called ‘De Papa'. It was still the same owners as before, but they had recently changed the name. In fact, their other restaurant on Boulevard St Michel was still called ‘Meza Luna'. Despite the name change, the food was still good. I had the veal limoni and Al had veal bolognèse. We both had rosé wine and to finish, decaf cappuccinos with the wonderful chocolate covered almonds that they always serve with coffee.

After lunch we crossed the ‘pont Neuf' (new bridge - now the oldest bridge in Paris) halfway to the ‘Ile de la cité' (island of the city) and walked down to the square ‘du vert galant' which is a little green park at water level at the western tip of the island. This is one of my favorite spots in Paris for views of the river and the bridges. The weather was very nice and there were a lot of people there. It was hard to find an empty bench, but we managed to find one and we relaxed there for a while until it was time to get back to the hotel in time for the taxi.

When arranging for a taxi I had specifically told the desk clerk that we wanted to go to the ‘gare du Nord', but when the taxi driver (another "authentic" Frenchman) asked where we were going and I told him, he replied that it was impossible to reach the station by car because of all the fires in the surrounding streets. We thanked him and gave him a small tip for his trouble. Then we proceeded on foot to the nearest metro, which we took to the train station. The metro car was very crowded and Al had to drag around the luggage, but we arrived at the Eurostar train without incident.

I called Susan one last time in case she had heard about the fires on the news and was worried about us, but she didn't know anything about it. We returned to London.