Saturday, May 30, our last full day in Paris came way too early as always happens on a great vacation. The day was just perfect, cloudless with a warm sunny sky and a beautiful little breeze. Den had noticed that there would be a tennis exhibit near the fountains at Hotel de Ville, which was almost across the street from our apartment. The exhibit was a celebration of the French Open, which was on during our trip. There was a full size red clay court set up for exhibition matches and a giant TV screen to watch the real matches. Den stayed almost 2 hours watching and taking pictures, while I shopped rue Rivoli one last time. We wandered over to rue Montorgueil because I really wanted to have lunch at Les Petit Carreaux after hearing rave reviews from Luc and many posters on OPF. Den ordered Caesar salad and I had a planche campagnarde. Den's salad was beautiful, with lots of lardons (bacon), a perfectly runny egg, spinach leaves, anchovies and shards of parmesan. My planche was a huge board filled with slices of spanish ham, a grilled slice of brie, a very fresh side salad and crunchy delicious fried potato slices. We shared a half litre of Sancerre and enjoyed eating on such a busy, people filled market street. We also saw another little restaurant that had been on my list, Les 3 Petit Cochons on rue Tiquitonne.........yet another reason to come back! We sat and people watched for over an hour and then slowly meandered back to the Marais, going through many little streets we hadn't yet explored. We stopped at the Place du Marche St Catherine for a drink and another little rest and were back at the apartment a little after 6pm. We had dinner reservations for 8:30 at Le Vieux Comptoir, a little restaurant in the 1st which we had really enjoyed last week.

We had debated going somewhere new and out of the area (Le Florimond was our first choice) but decided that we wanted to stay close by on our last night and just enjoy walking along the Seine one last time and not worry about taking buses, metros or cabs to where we wanted to go and back. We changed for dinner and left the apartment a little before 7:30. We walked towards the river and enjoyed the sun sparkling off the water and lingered on 4 or 5 of the bridges joining the right bank to Ile de la Cite. Den took his last pictures of the Eiffel Tower in the distance and we walked over to the restaurant, where we enjoyed our final dinner of our May 2009 trip.

Both the chef and the female server recognized us and gave us a great table. We had a nice little rose to start our evening and then made our dinner choices. I had the spectacular roasted figs with ham in a balsamic reduction that Den had had last week and that I had dreamed about since. Den had the duck foie gras, which was melt in your mouth tender. Den chose roasted chicken for his main dish and I had the pavee of rumpsteak, served blue, of course! My steak was perfectly cooked and so delicious and Den really enjoyed his chicken. We asked our server to choose different wines for each of our appetizers and mains and she picked great compliments to our meals. Den had the chocolate moelleux cake for dessert and I chose the tiramisu with armagnac. Den's cake was all melty chocolate goodness and my tiramisu was good but not the out of the ball park hit that our desserts had been last week (in all fairness, our waitress tried to get me to order the fromage blanc again, but I wanted to try something new. I should have let her have her way, she knew better!)

Halfway through our meal, we started talking with the young couple at the table next to us. They were on a lover's weekend, enjoying a break from their 2 young kids. They were from Lille, just an hour north of Paris. They were very cute and sweet and we talked about many things and time just flew by. The chef offered all four of us a digestif and we finally left the restaurant a few minutes before midnight. We walked back to our apartment one last time, enjoying these fleeting moments that signalled an end to our 17 days in Paris. Funny how something that can be so long in the planning (over 8 months) and anticipation can be over so quickly.

We were up early on Sunday, had a last pain au chocolat from our Marais bakery, packed and were downstairs waiting for our airport shuttle a little before 9:30am. CDG really isn't as bad as everyone says it is, it's just another airport where you have to wait in lines several times as you check your bags, get your boarding pass, go through security and finally buy your duty free alcohol! Our flight was uneventful and we were in Montreal by 3pm and home by 6.

We had another wonderful trip and so many great moments...........meeting Jim and Pat by happenstance at Jacques Genin (where we bought the world's most expensive caramels ~ LOL!), having lunch with Luc in the Bastille and getting to see his gorgeous little piece of heaven in Paris, going to the ballet at the Opera Garnier, sharing a cooking experience with Daniel and Marie from Spring, seeing one of our favourite bands in one of our favourite cities (now I can add........"hey, remember when we saw Simply Red in Paris" to last year's "hey, remember when I met Robert Plant in Paris), meeting Annette and her sweet hubby Darryl and sharing a meal with them and Luc, having David Lebovitz sign his new book for us at WHSmith in Paris, discovering some new great restaurants and sharing time with locals over our meals, getting a tour from one of Paris's top chocolate and macaron makers, and so many other moments. Most importantly, I got to share all of these wonderful memories with my hubby of almost 27 years. We both know how lucky we are to be able to experience a trip like this.

During the trip, we kept talking about going to either Greece or Italy next year, comparing plans with people we met and getting suggestions. By the second to last day of our trip, we had started saying, "next year, when we come back to Paris, we'll........." Paris has such a hold on our heads and our hearts! We don't know why, but we get such a thrill while we are there and it's hard to imagine going anywhere else. So who knows where we will end up next year? We'll just have to wait and see what happens.

Thanks to all who had the patience to read my long winded account of our 2009 trip to Paris. See you next year!

We decided we wanted to see the Andy Warhol exhibit at the Grand Palais on Friday, so we walked over to the FNAC near the Bastille and bought tickets for later that day. We took the metro over to the Grand Palais and got off one exit too early so Denis could take pictures of the Obelisque and fountain at Concorde.

There was no line up at the Grand Palais, so we were able to get in relatively quickly. We spent almost 2 hours looking at the many examples of Andy Warhol's genius and ingenuity. We are not really big art buffs, but it was really cool to see how Warhol changed the concept of art and commercialism. There were so many examples of his pop culture art and we were surprised at how many celebrities, politicians and business bigshots he had access to. We were a little disappointed that we didn't have access to see more of the Grand Palais, but that just gives us another reason to come back next year!

We left the Grand Palais and walked over to the 7th. I wanted to check out Le Florimond to see if we wanted to have our last dinner there tomorrow night. The little restaurant looked very inviting and the menu very interesting, but we were too late for lunch, so we walked back to Blvd Tour Maubourg and had lunch on a terrace of a bistro on the corner of Maubourg and Motte Picquet. Food was what you get when you don't do your homework and settle for location over substance. Den's Veal Moreno was OK, but my moules frites was horrendous, skimpy little mussels in a bucket of dishwater........yuck! Oh well, one bad meal in 17 days and it was my own fault for not having more options chosen beforehand. We walked over to a tiny park across the street called Square Santiago de Chili, right behind Invalides and had a little rest (ok, maybe a little nap) on a bench in the sunshine. We walked a little bit more after our break and took the metro back to our place late in the afternoon. We had dinner reservations with Luc and another member of the OPF board who had flown in from California with her hubby just that morning. Luc had made reservations at Le Zimmer in the 1st at 1 Place de Chatelet. We met Luc outside the restaurant a few minutes before 8pm and Annette and her hubby Darryl joined us a couple of minutes later.

Le Zimmer is a beautiful old fashioned brasserie which has been in operation for over 100 years. We had a lovely table in the back and started with champagne and got to know each other a little better. The internet is such a wonderful thing in its ability to bring different board members from all over the world together. We had a wonderfully leisurely dinner and shared many stores and laughs. Den had a vegetable millefeuille as his appetizer and a Gambas (shrimp) risotto for his main. I had the pate as my starter and a wonderfully moist and delicious salmon steak for dinner. Everyone enjoyed their meals and especially the company and Annette and Darryl were real troopers for staying up so late on their arrival day, after a 10 hour flight and a 9 hour time difference! We all walked over to the nearest bridge and Den took his pictures of the group overlooking the Seine. We said goodnight to our new friends from California and Luc walked us back to our apartment where we hugged and promised to see each other soon. This was the perfect end to another wonderful day in Paris.

We had a 10am visit of the Gerard Mulot location on rue de la Glaciere in the 13th, which we had booked through the Meeting the French website. Let me tell you, this is a steal at 10 euros per person. We took the metro to the Glaciere exit and the outlet is about a five minute walk from the metro station. We met our charming guide and the other people who would join the tour with us outside the store and we went in right at 10am. We were given a great tour which lasted about 1 hour. Mulot has 3 stores in Paris, but everything for all three places is made at this outlet in the 13th. First, we were taken to the back room where they make the famous macarons de Gerard Mulot. We met Patrick, who has been making macarons for M Mulot for over 20 years. It's only in the last few years that the process has become somewhat automated, with a new machine spewing out the macaron shells about 40 at a time. It's still a very labour intensive process and all the fillings are hand squeezed onto the shells. We learned that the shells themselves don't have any different flavourings, they are all made from the same almond paste dough, just the colouring is different. It's the fillings that are flavoured and what flavours they are ~ almond, coffee, caramel, lemon, raspberry, chocolat, nougat, pistachio, coconut, and then the seasonal ones depending on what's appropriate for spring/summer or fall/winter. There are endless flavours and I hope to one day be able to taste them all! We were given samples of the ones they were making at the time, which were grapefruit and nougat. Yum, yum, yum.........

Then we were led to the temple of decadence, the chocolate room! The young man there was very proud of his art and was willing to show us how they made all the different kinds of ganaches, chocolate bars, fruit jellies, marshmellows ( which I don't usually like, but these are nothing like the Kraft marshmellows we are used to back home! They are infused with all kinds of different flavours and are just melt in your mouth delicious) Again, the process is all hand made and very labour intensive, which helps explain the high prices of these little pieces of heaven. The ganaches take up to 2 days to make!! Again, we were given samples of what they were working on at the time and then at the end of the tour, we were given a little goodie bag of different kinds of chocolates and a macaron. I'm sure that the price of the tour was amply covered between the samples we ate on site and what we were given to take with us.

The tour ended a little after 11am and we rolled out of the store in a chocolate-induced haze of happiness. We decided we needed to walk off our goodies and so we started walking down rue D'Alesia. We crossed from the 13th to the 14th almost immediately and took D'Alesia all the way to Didot, stopping a few times at the destockages and degriffe places along the way. We had come shopping on this street known for outlets last year (Sonia Rykel and Cacharel both have stores on the street and there are many places selling last year's Diesel, Marlboro Classics, etc jeans, shoes, and shirts). No luck with the shopping this time but it was cool to explore another area more completely. We ended up at the Montparnasse Cemetary and saw a few of the "famous" graves, including Larouse (the dictionary guy), and Serge Ginsbourg, along with many other less famous, but no more less impressive tombstones. We walked around in the peace and quiet for over 30 minutes and then hunger started to rear its ugly head. I had told my friend Diane at work that I would check out the location of the hotel she is staying at in September, the Hotel Royal on Blvd Raspail and it turned out to be a few minutes from the cemetary, just past the Lycee Paul Bert. We took pictures for her and then headed over to Blve Montparnasse to find lunch. We saw all the famous places like Le Dome, La Coupole and Le Relais de L'Entrecote, but I had looked up my Pudlos for a lunch place in the area and had found Parnasse 138 as a good bet. It was just a little off the more heavily trafficked part of Montparnasse, but it was worth the walk. There was no English being spoken and obviously a few regulars having lunch. They have several lunch specials available from a large menu, ranging from 12.90 to 18.90 for either 2 or 3 courses. You just get more choices with the higher price ranges. I had an old fashioned blaquette de veau and Den has a rumsteak. Both were very nice, nothing exciting but good value for our lunch $$. Den had an iced nougat for dessert, which he really enjoyed. Fortified once more, we strolled over to Jardin de Luxembourg and then over into the 6th. We leisurely walked around, enjoying going down some different little roads until we crossed over the Seine and walked back to our Marais apartment. We did quite a lot of walking today, but it was at a nice slow pace.

We freshened up and had a quick supper of leftovers and decided to walk to the Oylmpia on Blvd des Capucines in the 2nd for our Simply Red concert. We got there with minutes to spare, but we could have been late since there was an opening act. Once Simply Red took the stage, the place went wild (well, as wild as aging Baby Boomers can go!). Den and I both love this band, with their jazzy/bluesy songs belted out by the golden voiced Mick Hucknall. We had seen them in Montreal about 15 years ago and his voice is still as strong and clear as it was then. They sang all their hits and did 2 encores. The concert ended a little before 11 and it was such a clear cool night, we decided to walk as long as we could. We walked past Opera Garnier all lit up like a birthday cake and down Avenue de L'Opera and down off a bunch of little side streets, always toward the Marais. We found a little sports bar called the Sous Bock and sat down for one drink, which turned into 2 and then even into 3!! We sat outside and people watched for almost 2 hours and stumbled home from our latest night out this trip. We laughed and giggled and drank our mohitos and were silly middle aged people who were having a great time. This was a long, long day but it was also one of our best days. Between chocolate and great live music, we had great food, dead people, lots of walking and drinking and just enjoying being in this great city.

We had a wonderful dinner at Le fils des Saisons to end our day. The restaurant is on a tiny street called rue des Fontaines du Temples, almost across the street from Square Temple. There is no sign on the door indicating the name but there is a chalkboard menu in the window.

The restaurant is very intimate, with about 8 tables. Wood beams across the ceiling and stone walls give it a very cozy air. This is a nice place for a quiet dinner, there is no loud music or shouting going on, just a nice refined atmosphere without the stuffiness. I had never heard of this restaurant until we were recommended it by a local we met in another restaurant last week, but when I googled the name, it came up on several Paris sites and blogs and got universally good reviews. It remains off the main radar screen of tourists, but that's OK, that's probably why we were able to get a reservation on 1 day's notice.

We were served a very fresh tomato soup as an ameuse guele . Our charming waitress helped us chose a nice wine to go with our dining choices and served us a spear of 3 little breads, all homemade by the chef/owner. We told her who had recommended we come here and she recognized the name immediately and said that he was a very loyal customer and lived right around the corner.

Den had the home made duck foie gras served warm over sliced sausage in a beautiful cream sauce. I had the St Jacques (scallops) simply and barely sauteed in a butter sauce. Both entrees were delicious, but Den's foie gras was just decadent,a melt in your mouth wonder. We followed up with 7 hour duck confit served with foie gras for me and andouillette for Den. My duck was one of these French classics I dream about when I'm not in Paris! The skin was crispy, the meat was fall off the bone tender and the foie gras on top was like winning the lottery. The chef makes his own foie gras, as well as his bread and even his ice cream. This little place is a real authentic gem with very reasonable prices (36 euros for 3 courses and I think our wine was 24 euros for a very nice red that stood up to the heavy food, sorry, I can't remember the name!) Den loved his andouillette, this was the second time this trip he had ordered this French classic. Dessert was the palette of ice cream for Den and the creme brulee for me. The ice cream is actually served on a plate that looks like an artist's paint palette, with 5 different flavours (and colours, of course) spread out like paint colours. I had 3 little pots of different flavoured creme brulees, which were nice and crisp on top and yummy and smooth inside. Den has a jasmine tea infusion and our total bill was less than 100 euros.

The owner came out to talk to us as we were finishing up our dessert. We chatted about 20 minutes about how we came to be at his place, our love of Paris and our trip so far, Parisians in general, and his love of his restaurant. We were the last ones to leave and we were very happy to have met that well-informed guy last week who so far has steered us to two of the best meals we've had so far!

We decided to explore a few undiscovered areas today. We took the metro to Place Charles de Gaulles and walked down Wagram Avenue to Place des Ternes. I wanted to visit the tiny Poncelet market and see some of the side streets in the area. We also found the Russian Orthodox Cathedrale St Alexandre Nevsky, but it wasn't open to visitors today. We walked over to beautiful Parc de Monceau (thanks, Luc!) and ate our takeout lunch of foccachia and cannoli we had picked up at a little Italian place on Poncelet.

We sat and strolled around the park for almost an hour, Den took lots of pictures of little kids enjoying the park, lovers oblivious to everyone else and the wonderful gardens and trees which fill this beautiful oasis. We then walked over to the Batignolles area, enjoying the neighborhood feel of the little streets with many bakeries, wineries, cheese shops, cafes, bars, restaurants, etc. We sat at Square des Batignolles for a little while. Even the smallest parks are so well kept and maintained in Paris, they are a joy to sit in and enjoy. We walked down Brochant and found the bus stop for the 74 going back to Hotel de Ville. As we were waiting for our bus, Den spotted a tiny little creperie across the street on Avenue de Clichy called Le Bouquet. We scurried across the busy intersection and enjoyed freshly made crepes and cafe cremes. We were the only 2 people in the tiny place and we talked to the owner about Northern Quebec, of all places! Every year, he and a group of like minded crazy people go snowmobiling in the wilds of Chibougamou in the middle of winter. He said they travel about 2000 kilometeres during the 2 weeks that they are there! I told him that in January and February, I try to minimize my time outside and just run from my house to my car to my work and back every day. We finished our perfect little pick me up and caught the bus back to the apartment. I really like taking different buses and seeing different streets and views.

We have reservations at Le Fil des Saisons in the Upper Marais. This is another recommendation from the Parisian man we met at the little Italian restaurant early in our trip and the first place he sent us to, Au Vieux Comptoir, was so good, we decided to try his second pick.

A demain...........

Well, we had our cooking class with Daniel Rose and his very lovely sous chef, Marie, today at Spring. To call our afternoon with Daniel simply a cooking class is to call the Mona Lisa simply a painting. This was, so very clearly, the highlight of not only this trip to Paris, but ALL our trips to Paris!

We got to the restaurant a few minutes before 10am. The restaurant was set up with 4 place settings and all kinds of goodies were on the kitchen counter. Daniel offered us coffee or wine, and although it was 5pm somewhere in the world, we decided to start slowly and each had a very strong cup of expresso. Daniel went through the ingredients he had chosen for us and what he had in mind for the different courses. There were 2 different whole lobsters, North American and European. There was lots of delicious looking strawberries, some asparagus,little round potatoes, lots of fresh herbs and greens, lemons, limes, oranges, onions, ginger, garlic.......well, you get the idea.

We got a little more comfortable with each other, talking about many different things, including Daniel's trials and tribulations re: getting his new place in the 1st ready and up to code, how Daniel and Marie met, the "must eat" foods whenever they visit Montreal (bagels and smoked meat sandwiches), the crazy chef at Au Pied de Cochon in Montreal who puts foie gras on just about everything, including poutine, their recent visit to Thailand, our beautiful grandson Sebastian and how we want to bring him to Paris in a few years, the cost of living in Paris (sob,sob) and so much more. I found it amazing that we could feel so comfortable with such relative strangers, but they both made us feel like old friends and put us at ease from the moment we came through the door. Daniel mentioned that because of time constraints with trying to get the new place off the ground, they are only able to have these cooking classes a few times a year these days! We felt like we had won the lottery just by being here.

We did a little chopping, a little hulling of strawberries, Den shelled some tiny crevettes grises, and Daniel and Marie explained what they were doing and why every step of the way, but it really wasn't a conventional cooking "class". Den and I have been cooking for over 30 years each, so we were very happy that this was more like friends cooking together in a kitchen at home than a teacher/student type of environment. Daniel and Marie made us feel like we were guests in their home (which we actually were, if you think of it) and there was lots of laughter, story telling, wine drinking and great tips on sauces, broths, mayonnaise, hacking live lobster, making lemon creme, keeping things simple, but using the very best ingredients and making sure they shine.

We cooked and prepped, drank and chopped, laughed and sliced for a couple of hours. Time flew by and it was time to sit down and enjoy the fruits of our (mostly their) labour. Daniel and Marie sat with us and nibbled and sipped wine, but they only plated 2 servings of each course. They explained that they really couldn't stop completely as they still had to finish and serve each course. And what courses they were!!

The first plates were 2 different types of lobster salad, made with the North American lobster. They were served with blanched asparagus, roasted potatoes, the seafood mayonnaise and the vinegar based mayonnaise that Daniel whipped up from the same base of egg, mustard and oil right before our very eyes. I really can't do justice to the delightful, delicious food that was served to us since I'm not a food writer and I just don't have the right adjectives and descriptions available to my limited vocabulary. Just know that this was the best meal we have ever had, and we are both 49 (OK, Den isn't 49 until September, and he doesn't let me forget it, either). Daniel served us a nicely chilled Chablis which seemed to disappear rather quickly! We went back to the kitchen counter as he prepared the next course for plating and we just ate it standing up at the counter, just like old friends. It was the tiny crevettes grises that Daniel and Denis had painstakingly shelled earlier that morning, served with freshly shelled petit pois and those great roasted potatoes, served in the broth that the shrimp shells had simmered in, along with a bouquet garni. The shrimps themselves were pan roasted with lots of aromatic vegetables and spices and deglazed with white wine. We slurped up every drop and drank more wine and sang Daniel's praises. He is so happy when his guests enjoy his food and his eyes and face show his pleasure over our pleasure!

Marie then began to prepare the Brittany lobster, which was still alive and kicking. She hacked off his claws and pan fried them in a little butter and hacked the rest of him right down the middle and fried him up in a very hot pan with more butter. Daniel wilted some greens I had never heard of, but I would gladly give up sex for, and I've forgetten the name but not the taste (Den googled it for me, it was French sorrel). They were very lemony in flavour and he spooned them over each half lobster and we sat back down at the table to devour this feast. To say we were in ecstacy would be an understatement. The lobster was so fresh, so delicate and so flavourful, with the simple butter sauce, the greens melting into the lobster meat and the lobster innards (which we ate and didn't think too much about, since they were so damn good) that I was moaning and swooning with every bite. I lapped up every delicious drop of meat and toppings with my bread and I would have licked that lobster clean if I had been alone!

Next we had a wonderful fresh chevre with a white Burghundy Graves, which went perfectly with the cheese. Daniel and Marie then went back into the kitchen, where they plated fresh blueberries, raspberries and strawberries swimming in the strawberry juice that Daniel had made first thing this morning, with some freshly whipped up creme fraiche and some toasted brioche for some crunchy contrast. It's amazing how fast this disappeared, along with more of the wine, but that's OK, because there was still more sweetness and deliciousness to come (you can tell I'm running out of adjectives here!) Our last of 6 unbelievable courses was more of those sweet strawberries served with the lemon creme we (he) had made earlier and another version of the lemon cream made airier with some whipped eggwhite and sprinkled with chocolate shavings. Can you say orgasm on a plate? I probably shouldn't, but dammit, that's what it was and we spooned up every last drop and drank the last of our wine. Daniel and Marie had an appointment with their architect and were very apologetic about rushing us out the door. (after almost 5 hours of being there, 3 bottles of wine, 6 courses of fantastic food, great, friendly conversation and opening up their kitchen and giving up one of their precious day offs ~ yeah, that's really rushing us!)

What did this most wonderful afternoon cost us? 150 euros per person!! We had an unforgettable experience with one of the most talented chefs in Paris for less than half the cost of a meal at one of the Michelin starred restaurants in the city. We got to know 2 of the sweetest, most charming, unassuming, funniest people you would have the privilege of ever meeting. We sat around and learned, absorbed, inhaled, Daniel's brillance and inventiveness as well as Marie's charm and warmth, and her expert technique. We felt welcomed and comfortable, which is more important to us than almost anything else, but we also experienced a level of cooking that most people will never have the joy of knowing.

Thank you so much to both of you for giving us an experience we will never forget. We will treasure the memories and tastes of this afternoon for a very long time. We look forward to seeing you again next year, and hopefully toasting you at your new location! Merci beaucoup!!

We finished up our afternoon by walking to Denise Acabo's L'Etoile D'Or, a shrine to French chocolate. We spend a little while talking to this well known Parisian icon, who still proudly wears her pigtails and schoolgirl attire at the young age of 73! She is the only retailer in Paris who can offer the famous Lyon chocolate bars made by Bernachon. We bought a small ransom's worth of goodies and decided to walk home through the 9th, 2nd, 3rd and 4th arrondissements. It was much cooler and more comfortable for walking than the last 2 days and we got home a little after 5pm. Dinner will be takeout and leftover market goodies tonight, we are still full from our unbelievable lunch. Wine and chocolates for dessert end another great day in the most wonderful city in the world!

We were going to take it easy last night, have a light dinner and just stay close to home, due to the heat. We walked over to a little pizza place on St Antoine that we had been to last year, Pizza Momo. It's not fancy, but makes good pizza in a wood-fired oven and it's just what I was in the mood for. We sat at one of the outside terrace tables and enjoyed the people watching once more. I had a vegetarian pizza with artichoke hearts, eggplant, mushrooms, onions, peppers and cheese. Den went with the daily special, which was beef meatballs served with pasta in gravy! Sound weird, but it was actually really good. Dinner was only 32 euros, including beer and wine, and we were out of there within the hour.

As we were walking back, I felt a little energy coming back to me and asked Den if he wanted to go to the 8th and take some night pictures of the Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triomphe. It was such a beautiful night for a stroll, so we went back to the apartment to get our camera, hopped on the #69 bus (I just love this bus, I think first timers to Paris are better off taking this route, than a regular tour bus. The bus can bring you all the way from Pere Lachaisse through the Marais through the Louvre courtyard, past D'Orsay and Les Invalides and right in front of the Eiffel Tower, where we got off. We walked under the tower, the crowds were much less than the other day, but there was still lineups to get in. We walked across the bridge to the Trocadero again and Den took some pictures while I enjoyed a group of young guys playing some Arabic music on drums and some other instruments while people danced and enjoyed the show.

We walked down Avenue Kleber to the Arc, where my old legs barely made it up all those stairs (remember we did Montmartre this afternoon!). Den was in all his glory and we were up there until they threw us out, me resting and trying to get my breath back and Den snapping away.

We caught Eiffel in all her twinkling glory once we were back down and we walked a little bit down the Champs Elysees, enjoying the breeze and the throngs of people out for an evening stroll. We took the metro back to the apartment and just made it in when a thunderstorm rolled in and got rid of all the heat and humidity. Oh, I also witnessed a miracle on the Champs!! There was a gypsy woman all hunched over, barely able to straggle around, begging for coins. We saw her walking straight up with a group of friends a few minutes later in the metro!! Paris is so miraculous, anything can happen :)

We got up nice and early this morning, had a light breakfast of yogurt and strawberries and are ready for our cooking class with Daniel. It's much cooler today and the forecast is calling for rain, but since we will be inside most of the day, it doesn't matter. We will also try to find Denise D'Acabo's chocolate shop, A L'Etoile D'Or after our lesson since it is in the same area. Oh, and we want to hunt down some of that butter we had at dinner on Friday too! It's a food centered day today. Tata for now.........

We decided we would give Montmartre another shot today. When we first visited Paris 2 years ago, we were less than impressed with the very touristy Place du Tetre and have not been back since. I had read that there was another side to La Butte and we were determined to find it.

Today was a very hot, humid day with a projected high of about 30 celcius. I know that I could never spend my vacation time in the summer in Paris. Pounding the pavement in this type of heat is not our idea of a good time, but since we are here today, we have to make the best of it.

We took the 67 bus to Pigalle metro station and walked up (and I do mean up, that's the only way to go in Montmartre, unless you're going down, of course!) a little street called Andre Antoine across from Place Pigalle and all the cute little sex shops (not!). We found rue Abesses and decided to walk towards the Cimetiere de Montmartre. We spent a very peaceful 90 minutes wandering around the cemetary, looking for famous dead people and enjoying the shade from the numerous trees. There was a light breeze blowing and the heat was not hampering us so far. When we came back out onto Rachel Avenue, we walked back onto Clichy so we could hook up to rue Lepic. We happened upon the infamous Moulin Rouge and Den took his obligatory pictures of this tourist haven. We climbed Lepic, passing the house that Van Gough lived in for 2 years and then further on, the one Toulouse-Lautrec lived at at rue Tourlaque and Caulaincourt. We stopped at a little bar cafe called Autour du Moulin across from the Moulin de la Galette for lunch and a rest from the heat. The steep hills and the strong sun were starting to get to us. There were only 6 little round tables at the top of a street called Tholoze and one of them called our names. The waitress was very funny and warm and we joked with her throughout our leisurely lunch. I had a "planche mixe" of cheese and sliced meats, served with tiny cornichons and crusty Poilane bread. Den had le cheeseburger avec frites. His fries were obviously homemade, lightly herbed and delicious. Beer, wine and water completed the meal and we munched happily away, watching Paris below us. Den ordered a lemon sorbet as part of his 2 course menu and it was the perfect dessert on a hot sunny day. The sorbet had plenty of tiny crunchy lemon bits and it was cold and just bitter enough. Our charming waitress brought us some complementary digestifs, rum mixed with different fruit, a house specialty. She chose mango for me and ginger for Den and the drinks provided a little kick for us to continue our tour. Lunch was 39 euros, which was priceless for the view, the fun conversation with our server and the rejuvenating meal we enjoyed.

We continued on rue Lepic where we passed the Moulin de la Galette club, which inspired Renoir's Le Bal du Moulin de la Galette. We turned left on rue Girardon and saw the "Walker through Walls" sculpture. We were then told to wait a few minutes as there was a scene from a movie being filmed along Girardon (Den asked, and it will be called La Raffle). There were actors in WWII dress, soldiers and people wearing the yellow Star of David cross on their clothing, so it must be a film about the occupation of Paris. Den took a few clandestine pictures before being told to stop!

We finished our walk on rue des Saulnes, where we saw Paris' last remaining vineyard and the Lapin Agile, an old cabaret where artists used to hang out. We had been walking for almost 4 hours in the blazing heat and decided to call it a day. We really enjoyed our time in Montmartre and will have to explore another part of it on another, cooler, day! We took the metro home and had a little well needed rest. We had thought of going to the 7th for dinner at the Florimond tonight, but it's so hot and we just can't face going across town right now. Den wants to take some night pictures from L'Arc de Triomphe, but that will have to wait for another night. I love being so close to so many little cafes, bars and restaurants, where we can decide on something light and easy later on.

Tomorrow is our cooking lesson with Daniel Rose from Spring ~ stay tuned!

Yesterday was a hot sunny day in Paris and we thought we would spend it wandering down the little side streets of the Lower Marais and into Ile St Louis. We didn't have any set places to see, we just wanted to explore a part of the Marais we hadn't seen before. The area was full of tiny little streets filled with beautiful stone apartment buildings, little squares, private schools and not too many retail outlets. Den found some fig trees growing in the middle of Paris and we also happened upon part of the wall which surrounded Paris over 1000 years ago. We also stumbled upon Village St Paul, a delightful enclosed area full of little cafes, antique dealers and apartments. Den read that this had been the private garden of King Charles V and you can still see the arched doorways that would have led into the garden.

We continued walking slowly, enjoying the fountains, squares, and tiny cobbled streets. We eventually made our way to the Pont de Sully and crossed over into Ile St Louis. I had the naive idea of treating ourselves to some Berthillon on this Sunday afternoon, but unfortunately, half of Paris had the same idea. Rue Louis en L'Ile was packed wall to wall with tourists and Parisians enjoying the sunshine and the lineups at Berthillon, Amorino and any place that advertised "Berthillon" ice cream were at least 30-45 minutes long. I don't like ice cream that much! We finally made our way to the end of Ile St Louis and found a place to sit at one of the very touristy cafes just before the Pont St Louis. We ordered some ice cream and sorbet and some tap water. We sat for about half an hour, enjoying our break and just watching the masses of people out for a Sunday stroll.

We then walked across the bridge onto Ile de la Cite but we decided not to face another wall of people at Notre Dame, so we walked along the edge of the Seine on Quai aux Fleurs. We came across the Sunday bird market but lots of clucking and chirping is not really our thing, so we continued onto Place Dauphine where we sat a little while and watched some young guys playing boule. These guys were all decked out in their Sunday best, tight jeans or white pants, pointy shoes and tshirts or collared shirts and a few were even sporting deconstructured blazers. Only in Paris do you find such stylish young men playing a game in the park!

We walked back to the right bank via Pont Louis Phillippe and strolled along the Seine once more, enjoying the many bouquinistes selling their wares. We passed by Zimmer Cafe where we will be having dinner with friends on Friday night and checked out the menu (looks yummy, but then I wouldn't expect anything less from the person who chose it!) We strolled the little streets of the 1st angling ourselves towards our apartment but staying away from busy rue Rivoli. We stopped for a cafe creme at a cute little bar along rue Renard for a caffeine pick me up and finished our Sunday stroll through Lombard street, de la Verrerie and through Bourg Tibourg to our home away from home. I really love the location of our apartment, it is so central to everything we want to be near to.

We washed away the humidity and grime of Paris and spruced ourselves up for our Sunday dinner at Chez Janou in the Marais a few blocks from Place des Voges. I had wanted to try this Provencale bistro last year and we never made it. A couple we met during our lunch at Chez Prune last week had been and recommended it, so we had made reservations this morning on our way to the Richard Lenoir market.

We arrived a few minutes before our 8pm reservation and the place was packed. There is a cute little terrace outside and a funky bar/restaurant inside, decorated with posters of Provence. The bar is famous for serving over 80 different types of pastis. We passed on this licorice flavoured aperitif and just ordered the vin du mois, a nice little rose from, where else, Ile en Provence! There is no prix fixe, but the carte is very reasonable. Den ordered from the menu du jour and had a salade Nicoise with large strips of anchovies and the pork medaillons served in a cream sauce with endives au gratin. I had the mussels provencales and the thon provencales (when in Rome...........). I think I made my server's day when I asked if I could have my tuna steak served very rare. She smiled widely and made a flipping motion with her hands, indicating that the chef would just sear it quickly on both sides and voila! My mussels were delicious and I mopped up the remaining olive oil and spices with the great crusty bread on our table. Den enjoyed his pork very much and my tuna was to die for, still red in the middle, drizzled with olive oil and some salty spices and served with rice and a tiny ratatouille in the center of the rice. We enjoyed a very nice meal, the restaurant was packed, loud and boisterous, but in a very good way. We opted to share their famous mousse au chocolat when we saw the portions that were being handed out at the other tables. They bring a huge serving bowl and just ladle your plate with as much mousse as you think you can handle. It was just the right end to a great little meal. The food was tasty and satisfying, not hugely inventive or fancy, but very homey ~ a fun little place to have a nice Sunday meal. Our bill was 82 euros, very reasonable for the amount and quality of food we enjoyed.

We strolled back through the very warm Sunday evening and stopped for a nightcap at a little bar on corner of de la Verrerie and Bourg Tibourg, just around the corner from home. It was the perfect end to another perfect day in Paris!

We had another wonderful meal at Spring last night. We did take a cab, since I'm sure it would have been "le divorce" if I had made Den walk anywhere else after our marathon session yesterday afternoon. From Champ de Mars to Bois de Boulognes to L'Arc de Triomphe to Place Madeleine back to the Marais! Oh well, I really didn't have to worry about counting calories tonight!

We got to the tiny restaurant in the 9th at about 8:30pm. Daniel asks everyone to come at around that time, he likes to start serving dinner at around 9pm, but won't serve until everyone in his 16 seat place is there. We started with a Reisling for an aperitif, served nice and chilled and neither too sweet or too dry, just right! There was a deliciously herbed butter served with very crusty bread. Butter is not usually served in Parisian restaurants, so we were surprised to see this. Den just about swooned with delight when he tasted the butter. We asked our waiter if Daniel had made the butter, but we were told it was from a little creamerie around the corner. We then spent most of the time before our meal was served trying not to gobble down gobs of butter and bread! It was just so good, but we knew there was so much more goodness to come.

The restaurant was split between Parisians and English speaking tourists. Daniel and his lovely fellow chef Marie were busy in their tiny kitchen getting the first courses ready, tasting and flavouring as they went along. We were served a delightful ameuse guele of cherry tomatoe with a carmalized bottom! Very different and surprisingly good. The first course was a beef broth with little pea-pureed ravioli and meaty chunks of artichoke. The broth was very flavourful and the ravioli were melt in your mouth. We had the same wine as last year, a gamay from the Loire which Den had fallen in love with and spent the year trying to find in Ontario and Quebec, to no avail. It was as good as he remembered it and I think we got the last bottle!

Our second course was lotte (monkfish) served barely warmed over a cucumber and radish cubed salad with a side of pepper-spiced melon. The flavour combinations that Daniel puts together are the things that make you go.........hhhhhhhhhhmmmmmmm, but they always seem to work. The lotte provided a smooth contrast to the crunchy vegetables and spicy melon. It disappeared from our plates before we knew it.

Next came 2 different types of veal, a very pink slice barely sauteed served with its veal marrow and a small piece of roasted veal, very tender and flavourful. This was served with one white asparagus and another fried stalk of asparagus. Again, a wonderful contrast of flavour and texture and there was not a drop of anything left on our plates. Everyone around us ate every morsel of food served to them. This is not dining for anyone who is timid or picky about their food, but if you are willing to put yourself in Daniel's very capable hands, you will be rewarded with such inventive, delicious cuisine.

Dessert was a trio of very fresh berries served with creme anglaise. So fresh and light, the perfect way to end our meal. Daniel also surprised us with tiny slices of pain perdu after the berries, very yummy and just sweet enough. We finished our wine and Den had an infusion de the that Daniel makes himself, tailoring the flavours to the meal he has just served.

We stayed behind a bit and chatted with the young French couple next to us. It was their first time at Spring and it was the man's 31st birthday. What a wonderful way to celebrate! Daniel came over and treated us to some more wine and we talked about the cooking class we will take with him on Tuesday. He asked us if there was anything in particular we wanted to make and we said we would leave it up to him to choose whatever looked good that day at the market.

We headed home a little after midnight, having enjoyed a great meal from a very talented young chef who has great things in store for him in the future. He is in the process of getting a new restaurant in the 1st arrondissment ready for opening in the fall, but like all things in Paris, time and money have kept him from his deadline, which was actually sometime this spring. Dinner is 49 euros for 4 courses and I don't think you will find better value for the money anywhere else in Paris.

I got up late again on Saturday morning. Three late dinners comprising of 3 course meals with lots of wine in a row, combined with all the walking we had done in the previous week was catching up with me. I am a grandmother you know (just remember a very YOUNG grandmother!!) We decided to just take it easy today, wandering the little side streets of the Marais and enjoying the sunshine. Unfortunately, the sunshine didn't stick around and it started to drizzle around 1pm. We found ourselves on rue de Bretagne and made our way to le Marche des Enfants Rouge for lunch. It is a small covered market offering fruit and vegetable stalls, along with fish, meat and cheese counters and several different world cuisines with take out or sit down meals available. We decided on Lebanese and each had a vegeterian plate with different salads and spreads so we could share. We sat outside on shared picnic tables which were covered to protect us from the rain. It was very good and fresh and we enjoyed this simple lunch very much. We walked back to the apartment since the rain was not letting up and I was chilled from wearing sandals and not having a coat. Once back home, I decided to have a much needed nap and slept for almost 2 hours! Den played on the internet and he also fell asleep on the couch for a little while. We decided to keep things simple for dinner as well, and went out looking for some takeout to bring back to the apartment. We walked down Rivoli to where it becomes St Antone, popping into different wine and cheese stores, bakeries and the every present Monoprix. We bought a couple of bottles of wine, including the Tavel Rose we had at the Asian restaurant a few nights ago. We stocked up on chocolate and yogurt at the Monoprix and walked back to put our purchases away, going back out to look for some fresh pasta and sauce for dinner. We found some and picked up bread, cheese and dessert and came back home to relax and eat a leisurely, simple dinner in our apartment. I know it's not an exciting way to spend a Saturday night in Paris, but we just needed to take it down a notch today. Den made a delicious little dinner and we made our way through a nice bottle of Gamay similar to the one we had last night. Dessert was a pear and chocolate almond tart, just the right way to end our meal.

I am sitting here blogging and Den is looking at a real estate magazine, still dreaming about owning an apartment in Paris. We are halfway through our trip and are having the time of our lives. We know how lucky we are to be able to do this and intent to keep doing it for as long as we can, because no one knows what life brings!

Ok, Den thinks I tried to kill him today with all the walking we did (hey, it's the only way I'll get to move to Paris, with insurance $$$). I may have to agree with him that we overdid it a tad today, as I barely staggered back to the apartment without passing out!

As it was a beautifully clear sunny day, we decided to head out towards Eiffel so Den could take some pics. We would decide after which way to go. We took the 69 bus (which has a great route, from Pere Lachaisse Cemetary to the Eiffel Towel). We got off at Champ de Mars and Den took his pictures while I relaxed on the grass. As we walked under the Tower, we couldn't believe the lines of people waiting to enter. I'm sure there was a 3-4 hour wait! We walked across to the Trocadero and Den snapped a whole lot more pictures, from every possible angle (aren't you happy you don't have to see them all!).

Den had wanted to see Bois de Boulogne and when I checked my little L'Indispensable (my Paris bible of maps by arrondissements) it didn't look that far away. We headed down Avenue George Mandel in the 16th and walked down a wide avenue full of leafy trees and very expensive, old apartments. The avenue turned into Henri Martin at one point and I pointed out to Den several apartments that I would be content with. He didn't offer to put down any down payments, unfortunately.

We entered Bois de Boulogne at Porte de la Muette and passed over the Peripherique, the highway that goes around the outskirts of Paris. I have heard that this massive park is not the place to be after dark, but in the middle of the day, it is a beautiful green oasis and was full of people enjoying a very warm spring day. There are several lakes and we were very close to the lac Inferieur (I hope it doesn't get a complexe!). There are rowboats and bikes available to rent and Den took lots of pictures (again!). We had lunch at a small cafe on the opposite side of the lake, splitting a ham baguette, a ham and cheese salad, a plate of fries (more for Den) and a lemonade for Den and a 25cl of rose wine for me (I think my wine cost less than his lemondade ~ I love Paris!) We sat for a little bit and then ambled towards the Porte Dauphine exit, enjoying the quiet and peace and greenery.

I could see on my map that Avenue Foch would take us right to the Arc de Triomphe, so we headed up this very wide and busy avenue, the sunshine streaming down on us with no shade at all. I had to rest a few minutes on a bench, but it just gave Den the chance to take more pictures! There was a huge lineup to go up the Arc but since we had already gone up in the daylight last year, we decided to pass. We will try to come back at dusk (for what else ~ photo opportunities!). We really didn't want to walk down the madness that is the Champs Elysees, at least not in this heat and with this mass of people, so we took Avenue de Friedland, which was much quieter and shadier. It took us to rue de Faubour St Honore and we strolled along this famously rich street, looking at all the luxuries we can never afford, but feeling rich beyond words just for being able to be here sharing this together. We found Place de la Madeleine and went into the Maille store. It was very cool to see all the different mustard and vinegar flavours, but we decided we didn't want to carry anything heavy home with us. We walked towards the Tuilleries, hoping to find a little cafe for a caffein break, but it was not to be, as they all looked way too touristy (read expensive!). We walked down Rivoli across from the Louvre in the sea of humanity and this is where I began to feel like we had bit off a bit too much in our walking. The heat and the mass of people started to get to me, we walked back to rue St Honore to get away from the crowds and the sun, and this worked for a little while, but became a dead end near Les Halles, forcing us back to Rivoli. (for any Cara Black fans, Den took a picture of the detective agency off Rivoli that inspired the location for Aimee Leduc's agency).

We managed to straggle back to the apartment a little after 5pm and I realized just how far we had walked today! It seemed like a good idea at the time, but just about wiped both of us out by the time we made it home. I immediately took an hour nap and woke up feeling much better. After a rejuvenating shower, I sit here sipping a glass of wine and blogging about my day. We are getting ready for our dinner at Spring tonight and I have promised Denis that we will take it much easier tomorrow!

Yes, I have been remiss in posting the last few days, we are having such a wonderful time in Paris and walking so much every day that I just haven't had the energy to sit down and blog. I still don't have it this morning, but I figure I should do it anyways before I forget some details.

Wednesday morning was sunny and clear and we decided to walk over to Voltaire to meet Luc, a fellow Canadian who is living our dream and owns an apartment in Paris! He and his spouse live and work in Ottawa but come to Paris 4-5 times a year (I tried to hate him for this, but it's too hard, he's just too sweet a guy). They rent out their apartment via VRBO the rest of the time:
http://www.vrbo.com/103254

We met Luc in front of the Leon Blum statue in the 11th and he proceeded to give us a tour of his neighbourhood. Although not in one of the more well known "single digit" arrondissements, the 11th is a wonderful area full of shops, grocery stores, bakeries, wine shops, florists, cheese shops, pharmacies, etc.......in short, it is a place where people live, not where they "visit". Luc has everything he needs a few paces from his apartment and yet he is a mere 10 minutes from Place de la Bastille and the Marais, for those who want the security of the more well known parts of Paris.

His apartment is on a little side street. It is a delightfully large studio apartment, with all the amenities including free wifi, TV with many English channels, free phone calls to Canada and the US, a washer/dryer, a very cute and efficient kitchen and a large bathroom and separate WC (water closet or toilet to us North American barbarians!) The bed is separated from the living area by a screen and provides privacy for those who may like to sleep in while their partners start their day earlier.

But the piece de resistance is the outdoor garden which provides your own private oasis in the middle of the city. Full of flowers and magnificent greenery, there is a spacious table and chairs to sit at and while away the hours, listening to the birds chirping and just enjoying being in Paris. Although you are in the middle of the city, it is so peaceful and quiet, you feel like you are in the French countryside. It is such an unexpected delight and worth the price of the apartment by itself (the rent is very reasonable for such a wonderful apartment and Den and I have it on our list for our next trip).

Luc offers us a glass of wine and some lovely fruit and we get to know each other for a hour or so. He is a great host and fills us in on what to see and do in Paris. One of his best suggestions is the Visites Conferences which are held all over the city and given by accredited lecturers. They are listed in Pariscope every week and Luc has attended all of them. They are given in French only and so attract mostly locals who want an insider's view of the many well-known Parisian attractions.

Luc then takes us on a tour of the little streets near his quartier and we have a lovely lunch at a little place on rue Charonne. He shows us tiny little rue de Lappe, filled with bars and restaurants and open until the wee hours of the morning. We make our way back to Place de la Bastille and have a drink on one of the many terraces, enjoying each other's company and the great people watching to be had. We have spent almost 5 hours with Luc and time has just flown by in the way it does when you just "click" with someone. Luc is so generous with his knowledge and stories about Paris and we are very grateful that he has given up precious vacation time to spend an afternoon with internet strangers. Merci, mon ami!

After hugs and bisous, we make our way back to our apartment (without a garden........sigh!) and get ready for our big evening at the Opera Garnier. We take a cab and get there about 20 minutes before our ballet performance begins. Den takes lots of pictures of this magnificant building and we find our private box and settle in for "Oneguine". I had read a little about the story, so I was able to follow along, but Den was completely confused by what was happening on stage. I tried to explain what was happening and the second and third acts were very dramatic and I think he was OK with the whole thing. It was our first ballet and I enjoyed it much more than I thought I would. The live orchestra also added to the experience and I came away saddened by the tragedy of lost and unrequited love (ok, so I sound sappy, but I really did like it. Den, well, not so much, but what a trooper for staying for the whole performance. I guess he must like me!)

We walked over to Gallopin after the performance, a traditional brasserie across from La Bourse that had gotten great reviews from several posters on OPF. One of the local posters had graciously made reservations for us so we were expected anytime after the ballet.

This is a wonderful restaurant with friendly servers who seem to be comfortable serving tourists as well as locals. It seemed to be mostly Parisians having a late dinner that night. (we got there at about 10:30pm) Den and I both chose from the menu, 35 euros for 3 courses including 1/2 a bottle of wine each. We had a glass of champagne to start our meal and just enjoyed the beautiful decor. Lots of shiny brass, stained glass windows and low jazz playing in the background. I had the fish soup with rouille and parmesan and Den had a gateau au cepes with a delicious parsley sauce. He had beef for his main and I had a great chicken dish with a mushroom cream sauce. Th waiter kindly suggested we get a half bottle of white and a half of red to complement our dinner choices. Dinner was served at a leisurely pace and we had a nice conversation with our server, whose brother had spent a year in Quebec. Den had creme brulee for dessert and I had the famous Gallopin baba au rum, served with a full bottle of St James rum which you are invited to pour a volonte over your dessert. Our meal was very enjoyable, the food, while not overly inventive or original, was great traditional French cuisine. Dinner was 98 euros but would have been 20 euros less without the champagne. We thought it was great value for the beautiful surroundings, friendly service and satisfying and delicious food.

We took a cab home and were in bed by 1am, tired but very happy with a great day of firsts: meeting Luc, touring a new area, getting some culture at the ballet and ending with a traditional French meal which met all our objectives.

I slept in until almost 11am on Thursday, so we got off to a late start after our typical croissant/pain au chocolat breakfast. We weren't sure where we were headed, the weather forecast was for rain, so we didn't want to venture off too far or to any type of park. We started off rue Rivoli and as we were walking, I noticed one of the restaurants that our new friends at the Italian restaurant had recommended last Sunday. Au Vieux Comptoir is on a little side street called rue des Lavandieres in the 1st. It looked very cute and inviting so we made reservations for later that night.

We did a little shopping at C&A on Rivoli and then zigzagged our way to Montorgeuil. Den wanted to go back to Darius for some roasted chichen. I tried to talk him into Les Petit Carreaux but he was adamant that he wanted to go back to the same place we had so enjoyed twice last year. We both had the lamb with 2 side dishes and water and sat in the sunshine, enjoying our modest lunch and the great people watching to be had on Montorgeuil. We did check out the plates of food at Les Petit Carreaux and I intend to come back and enjoy one of those big salads! We walked over to Frenchies to try and make a reservation for later in the week, but it was closed again. It may not happen this trip, but we have so many places we want to try, I know we won't go hungry.

We then kind of walked wherever we saw a cute little street, aiming towards Palais Royale, where Den took lots of pictures. We crossed through the Louvre courtyard and over the Pont du Carrousel into the 6th, looking for somewhere to have a drink and rest our little tootsies. Again, we just walked this way and that way and ended up on rue Buci again. We found a spot at a corner bar and had a drink and enjoyed a rest for almost an hour. We slowly walked back through the 6th towards the Seine and were back home around 6pm. Another day of going through several arrondissements and taking it all in for about 6 hours. This is how we spend our days, very non-structured, just strolling where we feel like and enjoying new little treasure wherever we happen to go. It's not terribly exciting but it works for us.

We relaxed for a little while in the apartment with some beer, wine and olives. We slowly strolled over to Au Vieux Comptoir and got there a little before our 8:30 reservation. The place was packed, both the little outside terrace and the inside of the nicely decorated restaurant. This is a Bistrot a vins and they also sell their wines to go. There is lots of choice by the glass so you can tailor your wine to your individual entrees. There is no menu at night but plenty of choice a la carte.

We were given some delicious little sliced salami with our aperitif of muscadet. Den decided on the roasted figs with ham and balsamic and I had the white asparagus with vinigrette for appetizers. Den's was the clear winner ~ OMG, the sweetness of the figs contrasted perfectly with the saltiness of the ham, all in a warm sea of great balsamic. This is the type of dish we dream about when we think of Paris! Den decided to try andouilette with home mustard and potatoes and I had the St Jacques (scallops) in an orange cream sauce with mashed potatoes on the side. Both dishes were superb, my scallops were melt in your mouth goodness and Den's sausage was full of texture and flavour. One of our servers recommended a deliciously light white wine for me and Den had a glass of red Langeudoc which he really enjoyed. We were served by 3 different people during the evening, it is a busy, bustling little restaurant and the servers are very efficient but friendly. The only female server was such a sweet warm person and you could tell she was the favourite of the many regulars who were there. She asked if she could pick our desserts and of course, we agreed. She brought us a beautiful dish of fromage blanc with a red berry coulis which I did not see on the menu and a plate of 2 gaufrettes served with a little jar of salted caramel sauce and a plate of Chantilly cream. We were in dessert heaven and we savoured every bite. The fromage blanc was as light as air and the waffles were also very light. The caramel sauce disappeared before our eyes and we were so happy we had happened by this morning and decided on the spur of the moment to make our reservations. We never would have tried this place without the warm recommendation we received from a local and we would have missed a wonderful experience. Our 3 course dinner, with 5 glasses of wine, was 108 euros and we found this a fantastic value. We ambled slowly down Rivoli back to our apartment, enjoying the cool night air and were home at around 11:30.

Den made a delicious egg and St marcellin omelet this morning with our croissant and coffee and we are headed back out into the sunshine in a few moments. We have our dinner at Spring tonight and can't wait to experience Daniel Rose's brilliance once again. Bonne journee.................

We were actually up early yesterday, had a quick breakfast of croissant and pain au chocolat (are you guys noticing a pattern here?) and were out the door a little after 9am.

I had wanted to follow Kerouc's walk of the 13th and go through Paris' Chinatown. We took the metro at Chatelet ~ talk about walking, it must have taken us 10 minutes inside to finally get to the Olympiade line, where we got off. I don't think I read Kerouc's directions closely enough, because the walk really didn't come off as planned. First, we didn't see the signs for the previous Olympic host cities, so we must have come out at the wrong entrance. Then I couldn't temember which street to head towards. I saw a sign for Parc de Choisy and thought it sounded familiar, so we headed in that direction. The park was nice with mature trees and little rectangular ponds, and we exited on Avenue de Choisy. We started walking north (probably should have gone south) and we came across the Tang Freres supermarket. Finally, something I recognized from the walk! We went in for a little while and looked at all the cool dim sum stuff available and thought we might open a Chinese restaurant in Paris ~ great idea, except we're not Chinese and I couldn't even find Chinatown! We decided to cut our losses and head towards Place d'Italie. We still had to pick up our Simply Red concert tickets and there was a FNAC outlet at the Italie 2 mall.

We decided we were in the mood to walk again so we headed north on Gobelins and enjoyed another neighbourhood we had not explored yet. We passed the Manufacture des Gobelins, where they still make tapestries the same way they have for the past hundreds (probably thousands) of years. The building is magnificent and we spend a few minutes admiring the carvings that decorated it. There were no tours until later that afternoon, so we reluctantly kept walking. Maybe next time.

We passed by a tiny destockage place and Den scored some Marlboro Classics shoes for 49 euros and some Thierry Mulger undies for 6 euros each. I love these tiny little places, crammed to the ceiling with all kinds of possible finds. You have to make the time to go through the bins, but you can get lucky if you have the patience. We kept walking north and before we knew it, we had crossed into the 5th and were on rue Mouttefard. As it was almost 12:30, we picked up some pizza squares and drinks and found a little park to eat our lunch and watch some sweet little kids playing and running and enjoying the sunshine. My pizza had eggplant and tomatoes with cheese and was simple but delicious. Den enjoyed his too and we sat for a little while, enjoying the warmth of the sun on our faces.

After lunch, we walked the length of Mouttefard, peeking into the little stores and restaurants along the way. It's a very narrow little street and full of tourists, but it's part of what makes Paris, Paris!

We ended up at the Pantheon and then strolled over to Luxembourg, where we sat at the Medici fountain for a little while. There was too much shade there so we walked over to the area overlooking the small lake and sat for another 15-20 minutes, enjoying our break and just watching all the people taking advantage of a beautiful spring day in one of the most relaxing parts of Paris. I was ready for a little nap, so we walked down Blvd St Michel (talk about touristy!), over Ile de la Cite and back to our apartment for a rest.

As I took a little snooze, Den was looking at our dining options. David Lebovitz was signing his new book "The Sweet Life in Paris" at WHSmith on rue Rivoli at 7:30pm. We wanted to find something in that area since we weren't sure how long we would have to wait to get our books autographed. I had tried to get a reservation at a very new restaurant near Montorgeuil called Frenchies earlier in the day, but they were completely booked. Den had a hankering for some Asian food after our failed Chinatown outing this morning (but we were in Paris and still saw cool stuff, so it's all good!). He found a place in the 6th but I wanted to stay on the right bank to make the walk home shorter and easier. I started looking at the restaurant threads on OPF and found one on Vietnamese restaurants by Happy Going. She recommended Au Coin des Gourmets and when I looked it up on line, I saw there were 2 sites and one was minutes from the bookstore, on rue du Mont Thabor. We made reservations and started our walk to Rivoli.

We wanted to get to the bookstore a little early to make sure we got to see David and buy his book. We strolled down Rivoli, it was packed with tourists and Parisians going home from work. It was a beautiful early evening stroll, just the right temperature and the sun was still shining. A perfect evening in Paris! We took our time and enjoyed the sights and were at the bookstore by 6:45. As I was perusing the Paris restaurant guide section, who do we bump into but Jim and Pat! They were meeting a friend who also wanted to get David's book signed. We caught up and I learned they were also meeting Luc tomorrow. We are having lunch with him and they are having dinner! What a small world it is, even in a big city of millions! We also spotted Heather from the Secrets of Paris newletter and Naughty Paris book fame. I guess she is a friend of David's and was here to support him.

We had a glass of wine in the store while waiting for David (don't you just love Paris!) I had seen him come in and go up the stairs a little earlier and when he came back down about 20 minutes later, we went over and introduced ourselves. We chatted for a few minutes (he is so sweet and funny, Den and I just love his blog), he signed our books and Den took a few pictures (which are blurry, :( ). We were out before 8pm and walked over to the restaurant, which is on the street behind Rivoli. Another recommended restaurant, Le Souffle, was right next door. We looked at both menus and while I was really tempted to try Le Souffle, Den still wanted his Asian meal, so we went with our first choice and entered Au Coin des Gourmets.

The restaurant is very serene, there is a row of tables on each side of the little aisle and it seats maybe 26-30 people in total. There is a little waterfall behind glass at the end of the restaurant and the overall impression was quiet and peaceful. We both opted for a menu choice. I went with the Vietnamese option and Den with the Cambodian one. The dishes were very flavourful but mild, not spicy. Portions were small but everything was very fresh and delicious. We had a very nice rose (I think it was a Ravel, I wrote it down but can't find my notes this morning) and we really enjoyed our meal. Dinner was 82 euros. The restaurant filled up as we dined. There were a few locals and 4 tables of Asian girls, which I took as a good sign. The girls all had soup and tea to start with and then shared some plates of meat and vegetables. I would have liked to be more adverturesome with our dinner choices, but there were so many different options, we stayed with the menu to keep things simple. All the Asian girls (in their early 20's, I think) were decked out in so much Chanel jewlery, purses, tweed jackets and sunglasses to keep Den and I in Paris for the next 6 months! They were all chattering away and enjoying their meals as much as we were.

We left the restaurant at around 9:30 and headed home via rue St Honore, doing some leche vitrine at all the very expensive shops along the way. We were pretty tired when we got back to the apartment and called it a night before 11pm.

It is another sunny morning today, we've just had our pain au chocolat, fruit and coffee and are getting ready to go meet Luc soon. We will spend part of the day with him, visiting his apartment and going for lunch and then will come back to get ready to see the ballet tonight at Opera Garnier! We have dinner reservations at Gallopin after the ballet, so our day is pretty well planned out for us. Another perfect day in Paris.........a bientot!

We took the metro to the Pyrenees stop and walked up Simon Bolivar to Parc des Buttes Chaumont. It was finally a sunny day and the park was full of runners, lovers walking around and kids running everywhere. Since it was almost noon by the time we got there, people were sitting on the grass or benches eating their baguette sandwiches. We just walked down whichever path looked inviting. We ended up at the gazebo overlooking the park and Den was in his heyday taking pictures of Sacre Coeur in the distance. We spent about an hour wandering around, enjoying the peace and quiet, the birds chirping and the sun finally beating down on us! We exited the park at rue Manin near Secretan. We had thought of walking through Belleville but when we saw how close we were to Canal St Martin, we decided to head that way.

We took Avenue Mathurin Moreau and enjoyed walking down this very residential area. We passed the French Communist Party building, which was very modern looking, but Den declined to take a picture (can you believe it!). At Place du Colonel Fabien we turned into tiny rue Albert Camus, through a paved little square called A Hampathe Ba and through rue Haendel, to the Canal. We crossed over one of the many bridges and followed the canal along the bend, stopping at a small park which had many beautiful flowers growing. It was past 2pm at this point and we started looking for a place for lunch. We happened upon Chez Prune, which I had read about a few times and decided to go in. It is a dark little place and was full of both locals and in the know tourists (like us!). We both had the duck magret, served with apples and pears, fried potatoes and onions and a little tart with roquefort and raisin. It was sooooooooo good, I mopped up my sauce with a slice of bread, determined not to leave a drop. The duck was a little overcooked, but very tender and flavourful. The tables are tiny and close together, but that just meant we got to know our neighbours (as I'm sure you've seen by now that I talk to everyone!) We got a few more restaurant recommendations, including Jadis and Le Baratin. Den had a beer and I had a glass of rose, 2 cafe cremes and 1 moelleux au chocolat. Lunch was 44 euros and we enjoyed our little break.

We went over another little bridge and one of the canal tour boats was headed towards us, so Den took lots of pictures. We watched the boat go through one of the locks and strolled a little while longer until the canal disappears under ground at rue du Faubourg du Temple. We decided to walk toward Place de la Republique and into the upper Marais via Rue du Temple. We checked out the tiny little restaurant that our new friends had recommended to us last night called Le Fil des Saision on the even tinier street off Temple called rue des Fontaines du Temple. You would never happen upon this place without very specific directions. It looked very cute, and we may decide to try it later this week or next.

Since we were in the area, we headed back towards Jacques Genin to try and get a refund for our extravagent caramel purchase on Saturday. I was rehearsing what I was going to say the whole way there, but it is closed on Mondays (of course it is!) so I will have to screw up my courage again on anther day. We walked down Veille du Temps back to our apartment and are now relaxing after a great day of walking through new areas, going through the 19th, 10th, 3rd and 4th arrondissements. The sun was rejunvenating and it was so nice to walk around without feeling cold or damp.

Once I'm done with this entry, we will head out around the corner and hit Happy Hour at some of the many Marais bars. After that, who knows............

So it's still cold and rainy in Paris, but as Tony Soprano used to say, "What are you gonna do?" Sit in the apartment and sulk? I don't think so!

We left for the Richard Lenoir market before 11am Sunday morning and spent over an hour walking around, salivating at all the delicious food to be had. We have a tendency to buy much more than we can eat (the old "eyes bigger than our stomach" syndrome) so we tried to be judicious with our purchases but there is just too much good food to be had! We ended up with green and black olives, some basil tapenade (yummy!), 3 types of cheeses, 2 pates, beautiful beefsteak tomatoes, fresh butter and eggs, some type of leek spread, cooked beets and 2 baguettes (one would have been fine if we hadn't eaten most of it while walking around!). So much for being careful ~ we could have had 4 other people over and still had too much! We came back and had a great lunch with wine for me and a beer for Den. We have enough for 2 more lunches or late afternoon snacks.

We relaxed a little while and headed back out at around 3pm. It was cool and drizzling and we weren't sure which direction to head. We started walking towards the river but it was too windy, so we headed up Beaubourg and saw the huge lineup for the Pompidou (not our style of art, so the lineup really didn't bother us since we had no intention of going in). We then headed towards St Eustache but decided not to go in. Den was disappointed that Delherrin (sp?) wasn't open, but I had warned him that most places would be closed on Sundays. We headed up rue du Louvre and turned west on Reaumur. When I checked my little map, I realized we very very close to Gallopin, where we will be having supper on Wednesday, after the ballet. We decided to check it out and also see how far a walk it will be from Opera Garnier to the restaurant. Within ten minutes, we were at Garnier and Den was snapping pictures (he didn't really take his camera out much yesterday because of the rain). We then headed back east on Capucines Blvd. At one point, I looked north on a little narrow street and Sacre Coeur loomed high in the background (yes, Den did take that picture!). We continued on Poissonniere and then into the Sentier district, which was very quiet on a Sunday afternoon. I wanted to check out 2 restaurants I had heard about, Frenchies on rue du Nil and Les Petit Carreaux on Montorgueil. Rue du Nil is a tiny little street which was all closed up for Sunday but we found the restaurant, which was also not open. I had read that the young chef, who has apparently worked with Jamie Oliver, served a market menu with very few choices but extremely good value. I even think I read that Daniel Rose has eaten there! It was dark and tiny inside, but maybe we will check it out later in our trip. We also saw Les Petit Carreaux, which is supposed to serve a really good lunch with equally good looking servers to enhance your meal. We'll have to come back since we are still stuffed from our market bounty earlier in the day.

We stop for a couple of cafe cremes at a little place at the other end of Montorgueil and just sat and people watched for almost an hour. This is a great street to do just that as there are no annoying cars passing by, spewing fumes or making noise. We finally meandered back to our apartment, passing through some little side streets in the Marais that we hadn't seen yet, taking our time, reading menus along the way, trying to decide what to do for dinner. We really hadn't planned to walk so much, especially in this weather, but there's just so much to see in Paris and we just turned this way and that way and had a wonderful Sunday afternoon.

We Skyped our daughter and grandson for a little while and then tried to decide where to eat. We were thinking of cassoulet since it was so cold outside, but the place we wanted to try was way in the 11th and we were too lazy to walk that far or figure out the metro tonight. We called Ambassade d'Auverge for reservations but they couldn't take us until 9:30 (it was about 7:45pm). We decided to head into the Marais and see what we could find. Very chancy, but we lucked out!

We had only walked a few minutes when we passed a tiny little Italian restaurant called Angela Caffe at 5 rue des Ecouffes (just down from L'as du Fallafel on des Rosiers). The menu looked simple and appealing and although there were no diners yet, we decided to take a chance and go in. The place only has 5 tables, seating 16 at the most. The owner/chef, Angellina, cooks from a tiny kitchen behind a counter which is a couple of steps up from the eating area. She was not overly friendly when we came in but told us to take a corner table. After a few minutes, she brought us a menu. There was no prix fixe, everything was a la carte, but it is a very small menu and prices were reasonable. We each ordered an appetizer and main meal, and chose Lacryma Christi des Vesuvio, a red wine from Naples. I had heard my brother in Montreal (who is married to an Italian girl) talk about this wine and was very surprised to find it here in Paris and at such a good price (23 euros). I had egglant parmigiani and Den had some kind of potatoe square. Both were delicious, my egglant was to die for, thin layers of my favourite vegetable in a light tomatoe sauce and barely sprinked with good parmigiani cheese, not drowned in mozzerella like in most North American "Italian" restaurants. I chose the daily special, which was homemade egg noodles stuffed with salmon and ricotta and Den had the Momma's special, which was a sampling of 5 different types of pasta.

At this point, 2 other tables had been taken, and the one immediately to my left was occupied by obvious regulars, who hugged and kissed the cook and the server (who had arrived a few minutes after Angela had taken our orders). There was 2 guys and 1 woman, and the 2 men had been here many times. We were trying not to eavesdrop, but the tables were so close together, it was hard not to overhear their conversation.

Angela cooks everything to order, so the meals are slow in coming, but certainly worth the wait! My pasta was sublime, the noodles tender and perfectly cooked, the filling light and delicious and the sauce had just a hint of sweetness. Den's plate, however, was the clear winner. A fusilli with black mushrooms and potatoes, a medaillon of pasta stuffed with cumin carrots and beets topped by a mint pesto, a linguine vongole, a mushroom lasagna and the same egg noodles that I had, but stuffed with spinach and ricotta. The woman next to us had the same dish and both she and Den were making the same moaning noises!

By this time, both tables had drunk enough wine to make us a little more friendly and we began to talk to our neighbours. It turns out the 2 men are a couple and the woman is a friend from work. They told us that this little place was one of their favourites and since I am not shy, as you already know, I asked for more local recommendations. This is where the fun began.........the 2 guys gave us some names and phone numbers, but every time the woman would suggest something, they would roll their eyes and make choking noises, implying that her taste in restaurants was not up to their standards. One of the guys said she might as well send us to MacDonalds and they began an argument over who had the better recommendations. We then started talking about music, trips to Greece and Italy, apartment rentals in Paris, living in Paris vs the suburbs, etc. We had a great time together and got some great local recommendations, including le Fil des Saisons in the upper Marais and Au Vieux Comptoir, which I think is also in the marais. They did say that we should go to Ambassade d'Auvergne but we had to reserve ahead of time. It was so much fun talking to them and getting this kind of insider information. We asked them about a few restaurants we had read about on the net, but they had either not heard of them or dismissed them as tourist places.

We had lovely desserts (alas, there was no tiramisu left!). I had a canolli and Den had a triple chocolate mousse and we finished our wine. The server offered both tables complementary limencello and so we sat, drank and laughed for another half an hour. Angela came and sat with us and I told her we had so enjoyed our meal, we would come back again before we left (well, I have to, I want that tiramisu!) She is from Naples but has been in Paris for over 20 years. She loves to cook and everything is from scratch, from family recipes. I told her that I had grown up in a very Italian part of Montreal and that both my brothers are married to Italian girls, so I know what home cooking is supposed to taste like and that we had so enjoyed our meal.

Dinner was 90 euros and we were treated like family. We spend almost 4 hours having great simple food cooked honestly and I would recommend this place to anyone who would be happy with this type of meal. It's certainly not fancy, but it was fresh and honest and delicious. Be prepared to wait between courses, but know that she is doing it all and it's not coming out of the microwave!

We were back in our apartment shortly after midnight and fell into bed, tired but so happy with our day and night in Paris!