We landed safe and sound. Took the shuttle to our hotel, the Henry IV Rive Gauche on the Left Bank and luckily they let us check in right away. To nap or to hit the streets? We decided on the latter and headed out to get our bearings. We walked and walked and walked (which, of course, became our daily pattern) and stopped for some lunch.
Where, you might ask? Well, we just happened upon a chic little spot run by Guy Savoy (if you don’t know who he is, you probably don’t really care). The atmosphere was lovely, the waitstaff were flattering and flirtateous, and the food was totally yummy. Foam!!!
We journeyed on to our first museum: Musee D’Orsay, which was previously a train station and delivered soldiers back from the front during WWII. I think we admired the building more than most of the art. Really spectacular, particularly the tremendous gold clock high up on the wall overlooking the Seine. Then back to the meandering streets.
Headed back in a very zig zag manner to our hotel. Definitely checked out Blvd. St. Germain, inumerable windows and…bien sur… a patisserie. Yes, I got a mille feuille, which I’d spoken about to a few of you. Bit into it and it brought tears to my eyes and joy to my heart. Who says that emotional issues tied to eating are all bad? We all got a good laugh out of that, but my moaning, critiquing and stream of little noises left my companions with no choice but to try themselves. YUM! And not until much later did we find out that we had stumbled into the patisserie of the gentleman voted the best baguette baker in all of Paris, and as a result, provides bread to the President daily.
Quite often you would hear escape from one of our lips “can you believe we’re in Paris?” Back for a much- needed two hour nap. Could we muster the energy to go out again? Indeed, our heroines rallied to the cause and hit the streets again about 8:30. Stopped into a cute little bistro for a bite to eat and continued exploring past Notre Dame at night (just about 3 blocks from our headquarters), the Hotel de Ville (city hall) and even the local police station.
Back over bridges (and through the woods) and, yes, it’s true that that crepe stand looks mighty good. Shall we? Nutella and bananas? Why not, said Henry B. Swap?
Only a block from our hotel, so we headed up and bedded down for the night in our cute little triple. Bon soir!