Wow. Diane and I have had a great day and night in Paris -so much to
share! I'll try to keep to the highlights :)
French pastries in hand, I walked to the train station to meet Diane
at 11:47am this morning, arriving just a moment before she got off.
Unbelievably, all pastries were still intact when she arrived, except
for the one mini beignet I felt was earned for the 40 minute walk :).
We cabbed it back to the apartment, to help save my feet for the
sightseeing ahead - taxis are actually very reasonable here in terms
of cost.
As we enjoyed the buttery, flaky, ethereal delights, we spread open
the map (thanks Tina!) and planned our attack. I of course already
had all meals planned out and notated on the map, but figured we would
need to sprinkle in some sights. Mission accomplished, we set off.
First, was lunch - after walking by the Les Halles gardens and the St.
Eustach church (had to squeeze in some culture before food). We ate
at Cafe Moderne - I had torn out an article about them from Food &
Wine magazine in 2005 and was finally getting to go! It's a bistro,
doing delicious French food with a modern twist. Except we got there
late, in The Frenchie world for lunch - 2pm. But with a little minor
begging, hands clasped in front of us, and the bargain that we
wouldn't eat a starter, we were let in - hooray! Cod with white
beans, eggplant, bacon, and oven- roasted tomatoes with a buerre blanc
sauce; lamb with chanterelle mushrooms, chestnuts, and a reduced red
wine sauce; two glasses of wine - perfect. As we took photos of our
food, a French diner behind us hammed it up as though we were taking
his photo, too funny! The chef came out to speak to us, and I made a
reservation for Thursday night dinner. On the way out, the "French
ham" was smoking a cigar outside with other gentleman friends and
asked us to join - but we had places to go and things to see!
Next was a taxi ride to the Arc de Triomphe, then a stroll to the
Eiffel Tower - so beautiful! Crisp fall air, warm sun, leaves on the
ground...After surveying the line to go up the tower in the elevator
(too long), and the line to walk up the stairs (short, but too crazy),
we decided that the view from the ground was juuuust right :)
We then hopped on a "Batobus" ride on the Seine - a cruising barge
that stops along many of the major sights along the river. It was a
wonderful way to see beautiful architecture while giving our (my!)
feet a break. We hopped off in the St. Germaine district, wandered
around a bit amongst the art galleries and cafes, and then sat and had
a refreshment as we people-watched and enjoyed the atmosphere.
We then continued on, walking along the Seine, and got to stroll
around Notre Dame and the Hotel de Ville at dusk (my favorite time of
day). There was a pink glow in the clouds, the streetlamps were on,
and all was casting a gorgeous glow off of the arches and swoops of
the buildings...ahhh!
Next, was preparation for dinner at Georges, the restaurant located at
the top of the George Pompidou Center, a movie and art exhibition
center built with extremely modern lines and features (all utility
mechanisms are on the exterior of the building - elevator, heating and
electrical pipes, etc). But, the draw for us was the 240 degree view
of the city of Paris.
This called for the dress and three and a half inch red patent leather
heels that I had worn to Dal Pascatore. Hmm. Except that even though
it was only a block and a half walk to the resturant, it was over
uneven cobblestone streets. With VERY sore feet. What to do? Enter -
Diane's brilliance (I have lots of brilliant friends, huh?). She
suggested I wear my flipflops and then put my heels on right before we
went in. GENIUS! So, I brought my large purse, and tossed the
flipflops in there, thinking I would probably be okay walking there
and would just need them coming back. Yeaaaah, about 20 feet into it,
I realized my foolishness - wobbling, catching the spike heel in a
crevice -they were quickly replaced. And not a moment too soon! The
walkway to the restaurant quickly sloped down (no steps - just a
parking lot sized cobblestoned slope to the entrance). Carnage was
narrowly avoided - there likely would have been tumbling, crying, and
taking everything down in my wake. But instead, voilà! The heels
were popped on right before entering the restaurant.
We had a great table - one away from the window - but still a view of
the twinkling Eiffel Tower and other lovely buildings. Two glasses of
champagne to toast our friendship and good fortune to be there. There
was crispy shrimp, haricot verts salad, and escargot - and I'm so
proud of Diane, as she ate her first half of a snail. Bravo!! We then
moved on to filet with bernaise sauce, and spicy lobster linguine. A
bottle of delicious white pouilly fume. Then dessert (I'm surprised I
hadn't already taken off my belt and slipped on my flipflops, I mean
seriously!!). Warm chocolate lava cake and graham cracker crusted
cheesecake with marscapone ice cream. The quote of the night, as
Diane tasted the chocolate and her eyes rolled back in her head: "I
don't even have to chew. Wooooow." And, two of the biggest glasses of
Sauternes I've ever seen - like, regular wine glasses instead of
dessert wine glasses. Mmmmmm......
We left the restaurant, happy and silly, slightly uncoordinated, my
ear getting scratched but fortunately not scarred by a run-in with
Diane's "bump-it" :). Don't blame the wine! The top of her head is
about lower ear level to me, and we were getting on an escalator! Some
of you will have seen the "bump-it" commercial and will get the
reference, but everyone else will have to google it as it's nearly 2am
here :)
Au revoir to all, and good night!
L & D
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