Monday, September 13th

A driver from Safeway car service took us to Newark airport. I was sick to my stomach because of the way he drove, which was not an auspicious start to our trip.

It was the first time that we were flying with the airline Openskies. It’s the successor to L’Avion, the all business class airline we had flown with on our previous trip to Paris and which we had liked very much. British Air bought out L’Avion and Openskies is now one of their subsidiaries. The seating and the service are just as good as before, but the food (while still very good) is not as great as it had been on L’Avion. Still, we will be very happy if they stay in business and we can continue to fly with them!

Tuesday, September 14th

We landed at Orly airport at 10 AM and the arrival procedure went very smoothly – the customs officers practically ignored us. The driver that the hotel had sent was waiting for us in the arrivals area and took us to the hotel. He drove very, very carefully (no car sickness at all), but he seemed to be taking a really round-about way of getting there. I saw signs to Versailles and we crossed the river Seine, both of these things indicating that we were way out of the way. After we re-crossed the Seine and were at least in the neighborhood of the hotel, he seemed to be completely lost. I know that it’s complicated with all the one-way and narrow streets there, but we figured that a driver sent by the hotel would know his way around – apparently he didn’t. With the help of my directions he was eventually able to deposit us in front of our hotel, but it took an hour and a half instead of the usual 3 quarters of an hour! He seemed to be a nice guy and we felt sorry for him – it didn’t cost us any more (than the time involved) because it was part of the package from the hotel.

The Millésime hotel on rue Jacob (and its employees) was as charming as we had remembered. Our room on the fourth floor pleased us very much with its views of the rooftops and the sky. It was even better than the room we had the previous time because the bathroom had a window with a view of the top of Saint Germain church. There was a lot of sunlight everywhere in the building, in the elevator (with glass walls) and in our room.

We were both completely exhausted and after unpacking I used our international cell phone and called our son David at home in the U.S. and our friends in France, Susan (and Michel) and Nathalie (and Bernard) to tell everyone that we had arrived safely. Then we took a three hour nap. We were awakened by a chambermaid with a half bottle of Champagne (on ice) and a small plate of macarons (from Ladurée), which were both part of the hotel package.

After all that we had eaten on the flight, we weren’t really that hungry, so we looked for someplace to have a relatively light dinner. We went to the Boulangerie Paul on rue de Buci and sat outside. We had grilled tartines of ham, goat cheese and tomatoes with salads. Al had coffee and I had a hot chocolate.

We went back to our room where we knew we had the half bottle of Champagne (on ice) and the small box of macarons (from Ladurée), awaiting us. We ate the macarons and drank the Champagne with great enjoyment and then went to sleep.

Wednesday, September 15th

We woke up at 10:15 AM, which didn’t give us enough time to shower, dress and have breakfast in the hotel before they stopped serving at 11:00. So, we wandered over to café Jade on rue de Buci and had some very well made omelets and coffee there.

We took a walk down to the Grande Épicerie (Grocery) at the Bon Marché department store and looked at all the gourmet products. My knee was starting to hurt, so we took the métro back to the hotel. When we returned to our room one of the maids knocked on our door. She was standing there with a large bowl of fresh fruit for us – we figured it was to make up for us missing breakfast.

The Delacroix museum is located just around the corner from our hotel in the picturesque little square called rue de Furstemberg. The entrance to the museum isn’t very obvious and we were lucky that the door to the courtyard was open. It had once been both the residence and the studio of the artist Eugene Delacroix. There’s The museum contains a collection of both his paintings (and sculptures) and those of others that he collected. My favorite among these was the portrait of Madame Riesener painted by her husband Léon Riesener who was a cousin of Delacroix. My other favorite was one by Delacroix himself, called ‘The Polish Man’. We also visited Delacroix’s studio in an adjacent building and sat for awhile in the quiet little back garden. By the time we left the museum was closing and the door to the street was locked. We had to ring a bell so that someone from the museum could open the door for us.

We ate some of the fruit and rested in our room. Then we went in search of a place to have dinner among the many to be found in the streets that surround the Saint -Germain market. On our way there we passed the chain restaurant ‘Léon de Bruxelles’, which serves only mussels and fries. Because I like mussels and was curious, I stopped for a few seconds to look at the menu in the window. When we turned the corner a young French man holding a clipboard asked us (in French) if we would be willing to take a few minutes to answer some questions. Ordinarily in New York I wouldn’t, but this was a chance for me to speak French, so I agreed. It turned out that he was taking a survey for the restaurant chain Léon de Bruxelles’ and I explained to him that we almost never eat in chains either in Paris or in New York.

After taking the survey we chose the restaurant called ‘Le machon d’Henri’. The last time we were in Paris we had enjoyed eating in ‘Le bistrot d’Henri’, which is around the corner and has the same owners, so we figured that we’d give this one a try. We were disappointed neither by the food nor by the friendly ambiance and knew we would return there. We wondered if the two restaurants shared the same kitchen as their relative positions seemed to make this possible. I had a leg of pork with sauerkraut – it was the absolutely delicious and the pork melted in my mouth, but the portion was much too big and I couldn’t finish it. Al had his usual calf’s liver, which he thought was a little too thick to be tender. We shared a carafe of red house wine. For dessert we both had apple tarts.

Thursday, September 16th

We woke up early (7 AM) and had plenty of time to enjoy the breakfast buffet in the hotel’s breakfast room in the basement. There was a lot to choose from – fresh fruits, yogurts, cold cereals, various cold cuts (both meats and cheeses), fresh breads and pastries, milk, fruit juices, coffee and teas. The waitress was very nice and efficient – after the first day, she remembered both our room number and the fact that Al wanted café au lait (served as a pot of coffee with a smaller pot of warm milk) and that I wanted a pot of hot water for tea. Like all the staff of the hotel, she spoke English, but I spoke to her in French (Al did a little bit too) and I think that she appreciated the effort.

I noticed that my watch had stopped and I asked the concierge at the reception desk if she knew where I could get the battery changed. She looked it up for me and gave me the address of a watch store on rue St Andrè des Arts. We found the store and I was able to get the watch up and running both quickly and inexpensively.

We had decided to re-visit the Garden of Plants ‘jardin des plantes’ by walking along the Seine. We had done this on a previous trip and it had seemed an enjoyable way to get there. Unfortunately this two mile promenade, although quite interesting, absolutely killed my knees! As soon as we entered the park I sat down at one of the tables at the snack bar near the entrance. We weren’t really that hungry, but we were thirsty, so Al had a coffee and I had an orange juice and we shared a ham and cheese sandwich on a baguette.

There was an English speaking family (mother, father, small son and baby) sitting at the table next to us. We got into a conversation with them and found out that they were from New Zealand and were on the last lap of a three week, 5 country trek across Europe.

Despite my knee pain, we walked all around the park and there were a lot of nice very colorful fall flowers to see. We also visited the newly renovated greenhouses, which I might have appreciated more and been impressed by if I hadn’t been so exhausted and in so much pain.

We really felt the need for toilets, which, up until this point, we hadn’t been to find. I asked one of the park guards and he directed us to the side entrance of the museum of Natural History. We had thought that the museum was closed because the large doors of the old building which faced the park were all locked. There is a new (very modern glass) entrance to the museum (on the side – out of sight from the park), but there are no signs to that effect either in the park itself or even on the museum.

We had to pay to enter the museum in order to use the toilets, so we also took a look around the museum. Apparently, they gutted the inside of the old building and only kept the old facade. Luckily for us there were plenty of working elevators - we started our tour with the top floor and never got any farther than that. I enjoyed reading all the signs (in French) describing the insect collections, but Al said that I needn’t read them aloud for his sake because of his already vast knowledge of entomology. On the ground floor there’s a large collection of stuffed animals (in a sort of parade) and we took a quick look around at them before leaving the museum.

We walked another half mile to the nearest metro station and took the train back to the hotel where we took a long, long rest.

We tried a new (for us) Italian restaurant called César on rue Dauphine. The tables weren’t that comfortable to sit at, but I thought they had an interesting menu – Al didn’t agree with me. I had pasta with pesto and Al had a veal cutlet bolognaise. We both had glasses of Chianti.

Friday, September 17th

When I awoke I was in so much pain all over my body that I didn’t know what to do. I was so discouraged that I thought that I would never be able to take another vacation trip! One thing was certain, I would have to take it as easy as possible and rest a lot that day.

Therefore, after breakfast, we took the cruise on the Seine (Vedettes de Pont Neuf) which was also part of the hotel package. The boats leave from the Square du Vert Galant on the Ile de la Cité right next to the Pont Neuf. We had taken that particular boat trip before, but it seemed like a perfect way for me to rest and see things at the same time. There was almost no-one on the boat, the weather was beautiful and I could relax and enjoy it. There was a young British couple there with their baby. We talked with them a bit about London and Paris. The husband took some photos of us with the banks of the Seine as background. After the cruise, we sat on a bench in the square and watched the world go by.

I was feeling much better after all that rest, so we walked over to the bookstore Gilbert Jeune on Boulevard St. Michel. I bought four novels (one each of Marcel Aymé, Eric Holder, Romaine Gary and Anna Gavalda) and also two hard cover collections of Simpsons cartoons. I was tired after that, so we went to café Malongo on rue St. André des Arts to sit and enjoy some cappuccinos and pastries. I took advantage of the free wifi and checked my emails on my iPod.

We went back to the hotel and I took another long nap. After I awoke, I got a telephone call from my friend Jan who had just arrived from New York that morning with her husband Rob. They too had taken long naps that afternoon.

As arranged, we met Jan and Rob in the lobby of our hotel and we all went around the corner to have diner at our (Al and my) favorite restaurant in the neighborhood ‘Temps Perdu’. I had the confit de canard (preserved duck) and Al had the foie de veau (calves liver). We hadn’t met Rob before this, but we all hit it off and had a very pleasant evening eating and talking with them.

Saturday, September 18th

Having rested most of the day before and sleeping very well two nights in a row, I woke up feeling much, much better, but I knew that I would have to be more careful from now on – walking shorter distances and taking more busses and taxis.

After breakfast I called my friend Susan. We decided to meet in front of the Luxembourg Palace (which is in the Luxembourg gardens and which houses the French Senate) at 2 PM for the guided tour of the Palace and the Senate rooms. We were lucky to be in Paris at this time because this weekend was European Heritage days, a time when official buildings usually not open to the public welcome people to tour inside.

Al and I walked around the area and bought a tie as a gift for our son David. Then we had a light lunch at City Crêpes Café on rue de Seine, right across the street from Temps Perdu. I had a crêpe filled with sour cream and walnuts. Al had what the menu called the ‘crêpe complète’ which is filled with ham, cheese and a fried sunny side egg. Both the crêpes and the cappuccinos were delicious.

We met Susan at 2:00 in the long waiting line for the tour. The line moved along very quickly and we were inside the building in a few minutes. It was wonderful ! The rooms inside are glorious and very impressive. We saw the offices of the president of the Senate and the offices of a few vice-presidents. In one of the more opulent rooms we were able to hear a half hour lecture (in French) about the history of the building with an emphasis on Maria de Medici. I understood everything the lecturer said and it was very interesting for both Susan and me, but not for Al. As usual, he waited patiently for us. There was a large statue of Achilles and his mother in this room and the lecturer explained the story to us. I had known about his famous heel, but not the whole story. Apparently his mother hid him (disguised as a woman) in the women’s quarters of the king’s palace because she was afraid of his vulnerability in war. Achilles took this opportunity to seduce the daughter of the king, and this obviously blew his cover, He was sent off to war and to his ultimate death. The statue showed the dead Achilles being cradled in the arms of his mourning mother.

After the tour, Susan walked back with us to our hotel. We all rested there until it was time to meet her husband Michel for dinner at his favorite restaurant ‘La Rose de France’ on place Dauphine on the Ile de la Cité. Michel was waiting for us when we arrived and we were shown into a tiny side room with one table for four. The whole place only seats about 16 people inside and 12 outside.

I had a kir to start with and then escargots de Bourgogne and a wonderful salmon fillet. Al had goose foie gras and lamb cubes with dry fruit. Susan had a steak and Michel had a whole fish. Al and Susan shared a half bottle of red wine and Michel and I shared a half bottle of white wine. For desert I had a crème brûlée and Al had an apple tart. The conversation flowed easily and we all had a very enjoyable evening together. I had found my newest ‘favorite’ restaurant in Paris. We retired quite late, but also quite happy.

Sunday, September 19th

We woke up late, but not too late for the hotel breakfast.

Our friends from Marseille, Bernard and Nathalie arrived at our hotel at 11:30. The four of us took a walk together in the neighborhood and stopped for lunch at the Bistrot St. André on rue St. André des Arts. Bernard and Nathalie both had grilled rib steaks with béarnaise sauce. Al and I were still full from breakfast, so he only had a cup of onion soup and I had a glass of kir and some fresh bread. We had passed this restaurant many times before and never tried it, but we liked the ambiance and intended to eat there again before we left Paris this time.

We crossed Boulevard St. Michel and walked along rue de la Huchette, searching for the Caveau de la Huchette (a very famous swing dance club). We found it and checked out the opening times and the entry price for later that night.

Al and I had wanted to take advantage of the European Heritage days to take a tour of the Sorbonne, which usually is only open to students and teachers. Unfortunately the line to get in was very long (around the block) and Bernard and Nathalie weren’t willing to stand and wait that long, so we turned around in the other direction and went into the Cluny museum of the Middle Ages, which had a much shorter line. It was a good thing that there was free admission that day because all four of us quickly got bored and agreed to leave.

The weather was so beautiful that we decided to skip any more of the Heritage sights and headed straight for the Luxembourg gardens. When we arrived it was absolutely packed with people, but despite that, it was really pleasant because everyone there seemed to be having such a good time. We were lucky to be able to find four free chairs in the shade in front of the Medici fountain. We rested there a while until the sound of the music coming from the park bandstand was too temping to resist and we followed it. There was a brass band playing very lively music and there was a group of dancers in Catalan costumes dancing to the music. The music was very enjoyable, but the steps that the dancers were doing were very simple and very repetitive – they seemed to do the same thing no matter what the band played.

After the concert ended we parted ways and each couple returned to their hotels to refresh and rest up for the evening ahead.

A few hours later Bernard and Nathalie met us in the lobby of our hotel. We had dinner in our favorite Italian restaurant in Paris, ‘Del Papa’, which previously had been called ‘Mezza Luna’ although it’s still the same owners and the same food. After all the meat I’d eaten since I’d been in Paris, I really felt the need to eat some veggies and therefore I ordered minestrone soup and eggplant parmesan both of which were delicious! Al had tomatoes with buffalo mozzarella and tagliatelli bolognaise. Bernard had mussels with pasta and Nathalie had a pizza. We all shared a bottle of Valpolicella red wine. For desert, Nathalie and I had ice cream and Bernard had a cheese plate. Al and I both finished with cappuccinos.

It was near the opening time of the Caveau de la Huchette swing dance club, so we walked over there. The box office is on the street level and the entry fee is 12 euros per person. The bar is also located on this floor, but there’s no drink minimum. We went down to the lower level (caveau) where all the action took place. There’s a bandstand, a dance floor and banquets on different levels all around. The band was playing New Orleans style music in homage to the saxophonist Sidney Bechet. There were many excellent swing dancers on the floor and they all seemed to know each other and be regulars.

Bernard knew the bassist in the band and they caught up with each other during the breaks - they had known each other from the music conservatory. Al and I did a few swing dances and I even did one with Nathalie (I led). Al and I tried to dance a foxtrot to one of the slower dances, but because (this being a swing club) everyone else was doing the swing, it was impossible to navigate around the floor and we gave up. I really wanted to keep dancing, but neither Al nor Nathalie wanted to dance anymore. I was enjoying the music so much that I couldn’t prevent myself from moving to the music, so I stayed in a corner and danced by myself. The music and the dancing made me so happy that, as if by magic, I had absolutely no pain in my knees – probably thanks to endorphins! We left the club after midnight. Bernard and Nathalie walked us back to our hotel before they got into a taxi to return to theirs.

Monday, September 20th

After breakfast we had planned to meet Bernard and Nathalie at their hotel near the Montparnasse train station. What a disaster that simple trip turned into. Taking the métro to Montparnasse was easy, but getting out of the gigantic station (with many train lines meeting there) was an absolute nightmare! We kept following the signs (supposedly) leading to exits, but we had to go up and down stairs to cross over the various trains and this seemed to go on forever with no progress in reaching any exit at all. Eventually we did find an exit – at this point we didn’t care which exit, on whichever side of the massive complex.

When we finally emerged, I was exhausted, frustrated and we were late for our agreed meeting time. We looked at a street sign to get an approximation of our location and then I used the offline map application on my iPod to find our exact location and the way to get to our friend’s hotel. Then I called Nathalie to let her know where we were and why we were late.

When we managed to get to the block of the hotel we found Bernard and Nathalie waiting for us on the corner. As I was in no shape to walk any further we sat down at a sidewalk table outside a café to have something to drink. I had a kir (my new favorite alcoholic drink), Al had a small coffee, Bernard had a beer and Nathalie had a ‘bière panachée’ (a ‘shandy’ in Britain), which is beer mixed with either lemonade, soda or apple cider.

After a nice long rest (and drinks), we took the métro train (from a station other than Montparnasse) to the place of the Bastille. This is the site of the original Bastille, which no longer exists, but there is a towering monument in its place. We exited the station in front of the exceedingly modern Bastille opera house. We walked along Daumesnil Avenue until we found the stairs leading to the ‘Promenade Plantée’, which is an elevated promenade bordered with trees and flowers, built on a defunct elevated train line. It was the model used for the ‘High Line’ in Chelsea. Even though I haven’t seen the ‘High Line’ in person, I have seen photos of it and the ‘Promenade Plantée’ seems much prettier. Nathalie and I had each seen the ‘Promenade Plantée’ in the film ‘Before Sunset’ with Ethan Hawke and Julie Delphy and had wanted to see it in person. It looked just as it had in the film, but after a while it got to be a little boring. As the day was becoming hotter and Bernard and Nathalie were getting hungry, we took the first available stairway to descend to the street. There was supposed to be a so-called ‘Viaduc des Arts’ of stores selling ‘artisan’ creations below the promenade, but all we saw there were ordinary stores selling furniture and clothing.

Bernard has a very good instinct for picking good restaurants on sight and this time he chose an Italian restaurant on Daumesnil Avenue. It was almost 3 PM and the owner was in the process of closing between lunch and dinner, but he very nicely agreed to serve us. Bernard, Nathalie and I had the special of the day, ‘tagliatelles gorgonzola’ (pasta with cheese and walnuts) and Al had ‘cannellonis bolognaise’. We all shared a bottle of red wine.

After lunch we walked along the edge of the pleasure boat marina, which forms the southern part of the Canal St. Martin. The promenade was made of cobblestones, which really killed my knees and there was no shade available to escape from the hot sun. I was completely exhausted and in pain. As we had mutually agreed to go back to our hotels to rest, Bernard and Nathalie were in front of us heading toward the métro station. I stopped them before they entered and told them that I couldn’t face taking the train, (which included changing lines) and had decided to take a taxi back. Back home in New York I almost never take cabs because I hate the way they drive (fast and jerky) - it makes me nauseous. At this point I felt I had no choice and we found a taxi right away at the nearby taxi stand. We had arranged with Bernard and Nathalie to meet us at our hotel at 7:45 that evening. I was very pleasantly surprised by nice, calm way the driver took us through Paris and deposited us near our hotel. He easily found his way to our neighborhood, but once there, it proved too difficult to find his way to rue Jacob, so we told him to drop us off on a nearby street.

I again took a nice long nap – it was getting to be a habit with me. When we went down to the lobby, Bernard and Nathalie were waiting for us. They had been shopping in the area around our hotel and Nathalie had many shopping bags with her. We went around the corner to ‘Le temps perdu’ restaurant, where we met Michel and Susan at about 8:00 PM. The four French people (Susan has dual French-American citizenship) had previously met each other in Marseille and Al was the only person among us who didn’t speak French. He told us all to go ahead and speak in French and he would just enjoy his meal. Susan volunteered to give him a running commentary of the highlights and that worked out fine.

I forget what the other couples had to eat (sorry), but I had a ‘travers’ of pork, which was scrumptious and Al had a smoked salmon appetizer and a veal cutlet. I do remember that Bernard and Michel each ordered cheese platters for desert and shared the cheeses. The waiter took a photo of our little group with my camera and we sat there talking until 11:00 PM. We finally said ‘Goodbye until the next time in Paris’.

Tuesday, September 21st

After breakfast we headed toward the number 63 bus stop which would take us near the Palais de Tokyo which houses the Museum of Modern Art of the city of Paris. On the way there, on rue Saint-Sulpice, completely by chance, we bumped into Jan and Rob. It was their last morning in Paris and they took advantage of the nice weather to take a last walk around the neighborhood before it was time to leave for their flight home to New York. We chatted a while and finally said ‘Goodbye until the next time in New York’.

We found the bus stop (across from the Saint-Sulpice church) and I sat down on the bus stop bench next to an elderly woman. I asked her (in French) about how to use the bus tickets and she told me. Then we had a discussion about Paris and about New York City. She told me that she had only been in New York one time and that although she was very impressed, she also felt fearful that one of the skyscrapers would fall down upon her!

We took the (very pleasant and scenic) bus ride to the place de l’Alma. This is the location of a lovely statue called ‘The Flame of the Statue of Liberty’, which is dedicated to the friendship between France and the United States. Unfortunately, now it’s better known because of its proximity to the overpass, under which Lady Diana had her deadly car crash.

We walked along New York Avenue, which borders the river Seine and after a few blocks we arrived at the back entrance to the Palais de Tokyo and the museum. The front entrance is located at the top of a hill and I had known that I didn’t want to climb it. Unfortunately there was no open entrance on this lower level and we had to climb half way up to get into the museum. The outside of the museum (which must at one time have seen much better days) is pretty disgusting – cement walls and steps falling apart, covered with graffiti and smelling of urine. It was not at all an inviting place, but we had come to see the art, so we climbed the steps and went in.

After paying the admission and consulting the floor plan, it still wasn’t evident where to find the exhibits. There were elevators between the floors, but they were all out of service. So we climbed down the interior stairway and tried to follow the floor plan. The first painting that caught my eye seemed to me to be a Modigliani, but there was something very strange about it – the colors were all wrong (too shiny) and the drawing was too primitive. Next to the painting there was a round pink sign with the words ‘Seconde Main’ (Second Hand). The explanation (which accompanied it) said that this was part of a special exhibit of fakes and forgeries, which were scattered among the ‘real’ works of art. We really didn’t appreciate anything in this exhibit, except perhaps for the small round can labeled ‘Merde d’artiste’ (‘Artist’s Shit’), which at least was funny. It was very annoying trying to ferret out the real masters from this pile of junk. We did find some true works of art that pleased us, especially those by Utrillo, Matisse and Modigliani.

We left the museum and walked down the smelly steps, being careful to avoid the skateboarders. We then walked along New York Avenue towards the Trocadero fountains. On arriving at the Trocadero gardens, we bought some cones from an ice cream truck parked in front of the fountains. The man serving us the ice cream dropped a napkin and I caught it on the fly – he told me that I had ‘des bons reflex’ (good reflexes). We sat down on a park bench and ate the ice cream cones.

We had only been to the top of the Trocadero hill before, where the Palais de Chaillot museums (and the famous statues) are located. We had seen the crowds down below in the gardens next to the fountains and I thought that it would be nice to see the gardens and the fountains up close. How wrong could I be? Although the buildings at the top of the hill are well maintained, the one below is in an advanced state of decay. In a French film that I had seen called ‘La Doublure’ (‘The Valet’ in English), there appeared to be a fancy restaurant located in the building just behind the fountains, but in reality, if it ever existed, that was a long time ago. The cement is crumbling and the decorative metal is all rusted on the doors where a restaurant might have existed a long time ago.

We took a bus back along the river and got off on the right bank side of the Pont des Arts footbridge. While crossing the bridge we noticed that there were a lot of padlocks attached to the metal fences of the bridge. On closer examination, we found that some of them had hearts on them and that almost all of them had pairs of names written on them. We hadn’t seen this on previous trips to Paris and I later learned that this fad of ‘love locks’ was very recent and that the city was planning on removing all of the locks from the bridge.

On the way back to the hotel, when we were walking down rue Bonaparte and looking at the works of art in the windows of all the art galleries on that street, Al noticed a black Rolls Royce limousine with Monaco license plates parked in front of one of the galleries. Out of curiosity we looked inside the gallery. Al noticed the group of muscular looking young men dressed in black leather and chains, but I spotted the famous high fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld amidst them. He was dressed just the way I had seen him on French television: with a high, starched, white collar, a flowing black tie and his long, white hair in a pony tail, tied at the nape of his neck.

A black man standing nearby head me say the name Karl Lagerfeld and said the word ‘Bravo’ to me for having recognized him. We had a short conversation with this man (in English) about his native land of Senegal. At this point we noticed that a growing crowd had formed across the street and everyone was staring at the famous man, his entourage and his limousine.

After a rest in our hotel room, we had dinner in the Bistrot Saint-André, where we had eaten the other day with Bernard and Nathalie. We both started with the onion soup, which was pretty good. Al chose what Bernard and Nathalie had had, the grilled rib steaks with béarnaise sauce and he enjoyed it a lot. Maybe next time I’ll have that because I really didn’t like the chicken breast with raspberry sauce that I chose. We had red wine with the meal and small coffees after. Then we took a walk around rue Saint-André des Arts and looked at some of the interesting things in the stores on that street.

Wednesday, September 22nd

After breakfast we walked to the Pantheon. I had tried to plan a route which didn’t have too many streets with steep inclines as there are many such streets in the area of the Pantheon. This route took us down some very interesting streets that we had never been on before like rue Monsieur le Prince. We saw a very beautiful building, which seemed to be an apartment house. On it were plaques indicating that both Camille Saint-Saëns, the classical composer and Richard Wright, the American ex-pat black writer had at one time lived there.

We walked up the front steps of the Pantheon and what a magnificent edifice it is! There weren’t that many people visiting at the time and we could easily look at the wonderful architecture and the ubiquitous works of art. It reminded me of Westminster Abbey, but it really was more enjoyable for three reasons: It was much less crowded, there was much more natural light inside and the fact that it was no longer a church meant that we could stroll around without bothering anyone.

We walked all around the edges of the large main room under the dome and carefully studied every detail of each and every painting and statue. We then realized that (unlike Westminster Abbey) the tombs of the famous people were all on the level below. I walked downstairs with Al, but by the time we got there I realized very quickly that I wouldn’t be able to walk any further. So, I went back upstairs to the main room and rested on a bench, waiting for Al while he looked at all the tombs downstairs.

We had lunch at a café across the street called the Comptoir du Panthéon. We both had croques provençaux, which turned out to be almost identical to the grilled tartines of ham, cheese and tomatoes (with salads) that we had had at Paul’s bakery. I drank a kir and Al had a glass of red wine. Then we took the bus back to the hotel for another long nap.

We had dinner at the Italian restaurant Del Papa again. They served us complimentary glasses of kir as aperitifs. I had a delicious plate of risottos noix de Saint Jaques (rice with scallops and sauce) and Al had his usual linguini bolognaise. We shared a carafe of Valpolicella red wine and finished with cappuccinos. We took a stroll around the area before turning in for the night.

Thursday, September 23rd

After breakfast we took another walk on rue Saint-André des Arts, but this time we bought a few things in the stores – a package of chocolate covered almonds and three necklaces. We had cappucinnos at café Malonga and I used the free wifi there to check my email on my iPod.

We rested back in our room for a while and then had ice cream cups at Gelato Amorino on rue de Buci, sitting at a sidewalk table and watching the world go by. Then we walked over to the square du Verte Gallant on Ile de la Citè, sat on a bench and did some more people watching. After that we headed on over to Boulevard Saint Michel and at the corner of Boulevard Saint Germain, we discovered the tail end of the ‘manifestation’ (demonstration / parade) against the government’s new ‘reform’ of the retirement plan, which was going to raise the minimum age to 62 and the full pension age to 67 (just like the U.S.). The parade was very lively and noisy. They had loudspeakers and kept chanting ‘No to the Sarkozy plan – don’t touch our retirement – 40 years is already enough!’.

We went back to our room and packed our bags for our return flight to New York the next day.

On our last evening we had dinner at Temps Perdu. I had my favorite dish, the confit de canard and Al had the ‘travers’ of pork, which I had recommended to him. We shared a carafe of Côte de Rhône rosée. For desert I had rice pudding with caramel sauce and Al had a caramel brûlée.

On returning to our room we found a half bottle of white wine (also part of the hotel package) and we drank it with some squares of dark chocolate that we had saved. It was the perfect end to a perfect day and a perfect vacation!

Friday, September 24th

During the night it rained cats and dogs and for me it was as if all Paris was crying at the thought of our leaving!

The driver (that the hotel arranged for) arrived right on time and drove us straight to Orly airport. He drove well (I didn’t get sick) and the route he took was direct and quick. The business class lounge at Orly was pleasant, there was no problem with the flight and we enjoyed the service given by the flight crew as well as the food. On arrival at Newark airport I called the 777 limousine service and after we got through customs the car was waiting for us. The ride home was much, much smoother than the ride to the airport with the Safeway driver and even though it’s more expensive, I think it’s worth the price to use 777.

For Al and me, this vacation was so wonderful that we decided from now on, we’ll only travel to Paris and stay at the Millésime hotel on rue Jacob!