A Paris

Nous sommes ici! A bit of trouble once we arrived (late — 10:30 a.m. instead of 8:30, since we were late getting out of Mont’l.) due to a ‘manif’ which meant the RER B-line from the airport stopped at Gare due Nord and we were a bit worried about having to walk from there to our hotel which is as south of Paris as the Gare is Nord! But we were able to find a train going as far as Chatelet, not a bad walk at all. And as soon as we got out of the underground couloirs of the Metro and into the sunny streets near the Seine, my exhaustion retreated. We walked through the Rue Mouffetard, happy to recognize familiar sights, and had a lovely lunch with a Leffe beer on the terrace of a Brasserie not far from our hotel. Checked in to find that the wonderful Jennifer had left us a welcome note, Phillippe greeted us warmly, and upstairs we found that our room had been considerably upgraded to the larger one across the hall from the one we’ve occupied the last few visits. Last night we had a great meal at Le Petit Vatel, and we got to warm up our French chatting with the charming occupant of the next table and with the lively owner.

Today we’ve just got back from visiting two expositions, one at the Musee Maillol where we saw the famous urinal of Marcel Duchamp, and the other at the Fondation Cartier pour l’art Contemporain — an exhibit of Patti Smith’s art, films, and photographs. Fun lunch at Le Martiganc, I’ll tell you about later. We’ve walked many kilometres today and now we’ve got to rest up a bit before heading out for dinner at L’Avant-Gout, which has become a favourite.
Better run.

6 Comments

  1. Anonymous
    23 May 2008 / 5:36 pm

    sounds like you’ve settled in already! i guess that’s part of what’s so nice about staying at the same place 😉

    Bronwen

  2. La Belette Rouge
    23 May 2008 / 7:03 pm

    So great to hear from you. I wasn’t expecting a post so soon. The art exhibitions sound great. But, hey “great meal” doesn’t cut it.;-) What exactly did you eat???

  3. Anonymous
    24 May 2008 / 1:09 am

    I second LBR – this post is a great bonus, and what DID you eat?? Enquiring minds and all that…. Patricia

  4. Anonymous
    26 May 2008 / 6:22 am

    I hope you will be fleshing out the details for us when you get back and these posts are just ‘teasers’. It all sounds wonderful and make sure you get us a picture of your upgraded room, please.

  5. materfamilias
    26 May 2008 / 8:54 am

    just very quickly, as the computer available to hotel guests has been out-of-service for the last day or two, and I don’t want to be a hog when others need to use it — but I want to thank you all for checking in and to assure you that I’ll tell you more when I get back. We’re having a great time, lots of pics, feeling comfy, etc.

  6. Duchesse
    26 May 2008 / 4:34 pm

    Take lots of notes and send us some food love when you can! Amities!

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