The Best Trip Ever

Friday was a full day, with two things planned and a few unplanned extras.

First, I got my metro stops on the way to the Rodin Museum confused, so when we accidentally got off at Le Vaneau I got to visit Le Grand Epicerie, which must be the most spectacular grocery store in the universe. I could have spent days there, just browsing.

The Rodin Museum has always been one of our favorites. I love the sculptures in the beautiful garden more than those in the house. It was a little disappointing that all the Camille Claudel work was away in a special exhibit in Spain, but it’s not as if we hadn’t seen it before.

Our next planned stop was the W.H. Smith bookstore on Rue de Rivoli, since Frank as usual blasted through all the books he brought with him and needed more. I like to shop there because I always find British authors I like with new books published long before they’ll be available in the U.S.

The surprise was just how many times we were targeted as we walked from the Rodin to Rue de Rivoli by the scam artists who pretend to find a gold ring on the sidewalk and then sell it to you “cheap.” We were approached three separate times, and I warned off two grandmotherly ladies who were falling for it.

We had a great lunch at a brasserie full of lunching business people off Rue de Rivoli, then spent way too much money on books.

The final big surprise of the day came as we were walking along the bookiniste stalls near our apartment when we looked up and saw Kathy, Charley, and Kelly (Kathy is my fellow French forum moderator on the Slowtrav message board) walking toward us. I knew they were arriving in Paris Friday, but it was still great fun to just run into them like that!