A Late Start!

Well, I know we changed places because our first was so cold, but it was cold in this room as well when we returned from dinner last night. Finally, Robert called down to reception and they actually brought up a space heater! Who knew? At some point during the night, I remember waking up and asking R to open the window – it was a bit warm, actually, but boy, it sure felt better than cold! At any rate, we passed a very, very comfortable night, and as we had really no where to go at any specific time this morning, I didn’t bother to set an alarm … with the result, from jetlag and a difficult first night, we didn’t wake up until after 9 am – unheard of for us, actually. And truthfully?? It felt GREAT!

So, finally out of bed, cleaned up and ready to go out. We stopped first for some breakfast at a small café across from the Luxembourg Gardens. Very good – hot chocolate for me, and café for R, glasses of orange juice, and then croissants with strawberry jam. Just perfect, as we had definitely eaten well at dinner the night before and didn’t really need a big breakfast at that point!

Breakfast at a bistrot near the Luxembourg

As inveterate bus riders, we decided to take an old friend – the 82, from Luxembourg, and head over to the Right Bank and through some lovely areas heading toward Neuilly. Our friends, Jay and Tommy, were in Paris for 10 days in October and had told us that there was a great deal of activity going on surrounding the upcoming Olympics in July/August, and boy, they weren’t kidding! There is construction – both new, re- and clean-up everywhere. We’re not sure the Porte Maillot will ever recover! Fortunately, we had a kamikaze bus driver who didn’t seem to mind or even know the meaning of the words “grid lock” or we would still be there. And that was both getting through it and then coming back through it on our return! At any rate, we went once around the Eiffel Tower (which is now surrounded at its base entirely by plexiglass wall, which seems very odd…) across the Seine, and past the Arc de Triomphe and Musee Guimet (which is a wonderful museum of Asian artwork, by the way…) On our return, we got off in front of the Eiffel Tower so that R could take photos, crossed the Seine (didn’t see any bateaux mooches on the river today, although it was lovely and sunny!) and then reboarded the faithful 82 in front of the Tower. Back, then, to the Luxembourg.

Look what we found!

Gare Montparnasse

Part of Napoleon's Military Academy

Arc de Triomphe

No boats on the Seine!

Freezing tourist!

Loved the countdown clock to the Olympics this summer!

Construction also underway at the Trocadero across from the Eiffel Tower

Decided to head to Saint Sulpice Church, as we hadn’t visited there in quite a while. Saint Sulpice, which Dan Brown made famous, as the location where the monk killed the nun who was guarding one of the secrets on the sun line in Di Vinci Code. The sun line is still actually in the Church, as it has been for generations, but at least the signage telling people that the Dan Brown story had never taken place there was gone. I’m sure they were very relieved when he published another book! I had forgotten that Saint Sulpice, while a very large church, isn’t really very attractive. Their glass is really plain and other than the sun line, there really isn’t anything wonderful about the place. It was heated, though, which was nice!

Les Invalides in the sun (burial place of Napoleon)

Not too many people in the Luxembourg Gardens today!

Maria de Medici knew how to build a palace!

Eugene de la Crois fountain in the Luxembourg

Oh! Which brings me to a small but important point! I found the HOT spot on the buses! Turns out that there are heaters on the busses, on both sides, located under the seats facing forward directly over the back wheels! Whee!! And boy, not only were the seats warm – at one point, Robert actually changed seats, it was too warm! Imagine a car with a seat heater on full – whose purpose was to heat an entire bus! It was great!

Saint Sulpice fountain

Sun line inside Saint Sulpice

That is quite an altar!

Saint Sulpice from outside, with tent going up in courtyard

From Saint Sulpice, we decided to head back to the Pantheon and thence to our hotel for a rest before dinner. But that’s when I remembered our friend Anna’s comment from earlier today about St. Etienne-du-Mont! It’s a beautiful small church right next to the Pantheon – and from its rear steps, Owen Wilson was picked up by the limousine in the terrific Woody Allen movie “Midnight in Paris!” If you haven’t seen it, it’s definitely worth finding and watching. Paris has never been so beautifully photographed, and the story is both funny and sweet and – of course, if I’m watching it, has to have a happy ending!

Pantheon from the front!

So, an 84 got us over to the Pantheon, and we were quickly at “the” steps (which are around the immediate side of the church, by the way). From there, we toured the inside of the church. It’s really incredibly beautiful. I’d forgotten quite how lovely it is! Thank you so much, Anna, for the tip! It rounded out a lovely afternoon!

St. Etienne-du-Mont

Street up which limo comes to pick up Owen Wilson

Steps he was sitting on in Midnight in Paris!

Inside beautiful church

With stunning glass!

Once back outside, we decided to walk back to Relais Saint Jacques. It wasn’t far; about 8 minutes or so, past the Curie Institute and Hospital, and voila, our lovely hotel! I do have to credit our iPhones, though. With the mapping feature, it is so much easier to get around these days than when you had to use paper maps. Not that I’m faulting paper maps, which I’m not … it’s just really convenient when you’ve got a visual map to keep you on the right path to get you to your destination!

Now back in our lovely (and warm!) and nicely cleaned hotel room. R resting a bit, and we will probably be going out for dinner in about an hour or so! I’ll finish up the blog and post then – and hopefully get to bed earlier than last night, as we need to be up and about tomorrow and at the Louvre at 9 am tomorrow!

So, more later and lots of love!

xxx

So, dinner! We went back to the lovely Bistrot L’Oree du Parc, to the same great staff and wait person from last night. SO glad we did, as we enjoyed a fabulous meal! For starters, we shared “shredded” serrano ham, which is one of R’s very favorite things. It was served with French bread and a few cornichons – it was excellent!! All washed down with a great bottle of Cote du Rhone wine. My idea of a great meal! We both ordered basically the same dinner this time – the velouté of pumpkin soup to start – incredible! And their farmer’s chicken with frites and salad for the main course. Again, French chicken is truly like no other. No hormones or anything else, just chicken! For dessert, Robert had their tarte au pomme with rhubarb, and I had their Mille Feuilles (thousand sheets) filled with rum flavored cream. Truly, there are no small portions in this country…also had a small scoop of R’s vanilla ice cream that he didn’t want with his tarte – it was yummy! So, to end a wonderful meal! Then, back a couple of doors down to our lovely (and now really warm) hotel Relais Saint Jacques, and we are definitely in for the night!! So, until tomorrow and the Louvre – will we at last make it through the door, we ask ourselves?!