Our Journal
I took yesterday and today
off so we could finish getting everything together and down to the hotel. First thing Bryan went and got some boxes to
put the favor boxes in. Our favor boxes
are 8x8x3 and have purple seashells and a silver lighthouse stamped in the
middle. Over the stamps is a clear
label with the guest’s name and their table name below, which is one of 18 New
England lighthouses we picked. Inside
sits a sailboat candle, 11 pieces of salt-water taffy and a CD of songs to be
played at our wedding. We chose to put
11 pieces to not only signify the day of the moth we get married but also for
the number of days we will be in Paris on our honeymoon. I will also be handing out roses to each
woman as she walks off the boat. This
morning I also had to finish the seating charts for the boat. It poured cats and dogs just as we started
packing the car so my dress had to go the next trip tonight. After stopping a few times for a few
different things we finally arrived at the hotel around 3:30pm. My mom had arrived an hour earlier. Bryan went right back to the house after the
bellhop got the car unpacked. Everyone
began to arrive from then till 7pm when we went down to the Intrigue Café to
join the rest of the group, and then headed to the Pavilion to meet with
Danielle Storella, the event coordinator.
We got everyone lined up and did the recessional. Then we went through the processional just
as Kathy, our Justice of the Peace arrived.
She went over how things were going to go for the ceremony then we all
went through the recessional once more.
Though Kathy, my dad, Sue and Rachel left, the rest of us (Bryan, his
parents, my Mom, Hailey, Tris, Jen, Chris, Andrew, Tim, Deb and I) all headed
to Kitty O’Sheas. We all had some wine
while Chris and my mom said a few short things then we handed out the gifts to
our wedding Party. The guys we gave a
magnifying glass and letter opener set from Bombay Co. The Bridesmaids we got tussie mussies with
stand, candle, lotion, bath salts, jewelry box and a necklace to wear on the
wedding day. The flower girls we gave a
few flower girl books, a tiara, a Barbie, a backpack and a necklace to wear as
well. After the wonderful meal and
dessert we headed back to our suite (Harbor View Rotunda Suite #1514), had a
few drinks then the guys headed off.
The girls stayed with me that night (Tris, Jen, Hailey and my Mom). I didn’t fall asleep till 3am and then woke
up at 6am not being able to get back to sleep.
So there I was awake at
6am looking out at the harbor watching the sunrise. So I got up, took some pictures of what looked like the start of
a beautiful day. I decided to lie back
down and wrote Bryan a note in the card I got him and let my mom read it over
(she got up as I was writing the note).
By 7am I gave up on trying to go back to sleep and had coffee sent up to
the room. 8am came around and I started
realizing things we had forgotten and called Bryan at home, we went over the
things he needed to bring in that day and to pick up for after the
reception. Everyone slowly got up and
showered and we were downstairs just before our 10:30am reservations in the
café for breakfast. We had just enough
time to eat then off to Maksou on Broad Street for hair and makeup. Tris, Jen and I all got our hair and makeup
done and I got my French manicure polish fixed up as well. We were up to the room by 2:45pm and ready
to get on the boat. We waited for the
boat to be where it needed to be, but gave up waiting at 3:15 and brought
everything down and just as we get to the dock the boat was pulling
around. My Uncle Dale, Rica’s boyfriend
Jeff and Tris’ friend Jerry came with Tris, Jen and I. We put everything in its place and were up
in the room just before 4pm as everyone showed up and we started getting
ready. The videographer and
photographer were there and got some wonderful pictures. They also helped calm me down, as I was a
little nauseous from not really eating enough food. At 4:30ish they headed down and I stood there with my girls and
dad waiting for Danielle to come get us.
We went down, got lined up and started at 5pm sharp. There were so many people watching me walk
down to the Pavilion it made me even more nervous then I already was about passing
out. We get to the Pavilion entrance
and I took a moment to catch what my eyes saw and I almost lost it. There up the aisle were these two rows of
petals so evenly placed it was incredible how perfect my two five year old
flower girls did and at the end was Bryan with a smile I will never
forget. Everyone lost it during the
rose ceremony where we gave roses to our parents then after when he gave me a
rose and I gave him a vase for it. We
will now hold this as an annual tradition, he gives me a rose and I fill the
vase with water every anniversary.
After the ceremony we went right over to the ramp for group, then family
pictures. We got through most of them
on the long list I have for the photographer.
Just as we finished we went back over to the Pavilion, setup the
receiving line and after going through it the guests were directed onto the
Majestic Princess. We left right on
time with everyone we expected. Bryan
and I got to get out on the bow where we took some more pictures and relaxed a
little. They announced us then came
speeches. Chris, Ron then my mom,
pre-ceded by Kathy’s blessing. They
served us and everyone else got to go up and help him or herself to the buffet
while Bryan and I tried to eat as much as we could. The food was so good and many went up for seconds. Bryan and I, after eating went around to
some of the tables chatting a bit before going up for the cake cutting and our
first dance. We did the cake cutting
and behaved quite well, except I put frosting on his nose after he was done
deeding me, I had fed him first. “Dream
a Little Dream,” sang by Dean Martin was our first dance song. During it the boat swayed quite a bit during
this song making us feel like drunken sailors as we danced. After Bryan danced with his mom, then
everyone else got on the dance floor and danced the night away. Later we did the bouquet toss, I threw it
aiming for Stuart’s girlfriend Lisa and when I turned around to look there was
my mom practically fighting over it, but Lisa held on and was the victor (I was
a little worried about my mom being the next to marry). Then came the garter toss, I kept telling
Bryan to sling shot it to Stuart, and sure enough he got it. Then the party continued, more dancing,
drinking and enjoying the views of Boston at night. Last dance came, “Good Riddance” by Green Day and I told the DJ
we wanted everyone dancing to it. So we
danced alone for thirty seconds then everyone else joined in. Once done, Bryan and I headed down to the
door so we could thank everyone as they got off the boat and I could hand out
roses to the women. After, Ellen, John,
Chris, Andrew, Mike, Ronnie, Mary Kay, Nancy, Steve, Janet, Danny, Tris, Jerry,
Robin, Dale, my Mom, Hailey, Bryan and I headed up to our suite for
drinks. When we got up to our room,
Danielle had had a bottle of champagne sent up to the room with chocolate
covered strawberries. We all hung
around chatting, drinking and relaxing.
My aunt Robin rubbed my feet and put ice on them to help cool them
down. Around 1am everyone had left and
gone back to hotel rooms or went home.
Bryan and I decided to open our cards and gifts. We got so many wonderful cards I was
surprised my tear ducts hadn’t drained from all the tears that day. By 3am we were in bed completely exhausted
from the long day.
We were up, showered and
down to the café by 10:30am. We met up
with my mom, Hailey, Nancy, Steve, Dale, Robin, Tris and Jerry for
Breakfast. My mom had given us a
certificate for 2 for breakfast. After
breakfast we headed up to the suite to get the flowers together for Bryan to
bring to the florist who was doing the preservation. Hailey went with him to hold the basket of flowers. That gave my mom and I time to clean up,
pack our room and bring her stuff down to mine and relax. Ron showed up at the same time as Bryan and
Hailey, just before 3pm and we loaded my mom’s car, then Ron’s and checked
out. Ron was going to bring our stuff
home and return Bryan’s tux for us. We
got on the water shuttle on time at 4pm and headed over to Logan Airport. We were checked in and stopped at the
airport pub for a chowder bole and chicken sandwich, which we shared. We headed to our gate, got settled and I
started to write out thank you cards.
We did about two dozen of them, got stamps and sent them out just before
boarding the plane. We took off just
after 9pm. The crew was wonderful, when
we requested champagne because we were on our honeymoon; they brought some and
kept filling it and checking on us.
They even gave us the flight chart for a souvenir. We made sure to get their information so we
could mention them in a thank you.
Monday August 13, 2001
By the time we landed it
was Monday morning in Paris. We landed
just after 9:30am local time. Customs
were a breeze, much like Barbados was.
Our entire luggage arrived safely and we went to the American Airlines
Vacation desk, there was a guy holding up a sign for us before in the
crowd. He gave us our information, our
museum and metro passes, and introduced us to Fred our driver to get us to the
hotel. Him and Bryan chatted about
economy and the Internet while I enjoyed the view, trying to deal with jet lag
and hardly any sleep. We got to the
hotel before 11am and our room was almost finished, they let us check in early. We decided to lie down and have a nap. We were up, showered and out the door by
3ish. With our maps in hand, we headed
off to find food. On our way we went by
the Arc De Triomphe, then headed down Avenue D’Iena where we came upon a
Lebanese restaurant called Noura. I had
the Kafta Grille Fattouch that was minced lamb with a mixed greens salad. Bryan had the Grande assittede hourdoerves
that was 8 different hourdoerves such as hummice, tobuli, flawful, stuffed
grape leaves and a few brochettes. Bryan
had Lebanese beer and I had limonaid.
It all came out to 270frank and we were both quite full. From there we continued on down to the
canal. The Eiffel tower is even grander
than in pictures. We decided to wait
before heading over and didn’t cross the canal. Instead we headed down Ave De New York, along the canal. We saw many house barges and tour
boats. We passed the muse De Art
Moderne, Musée des Arts Décoratifs and Petit Palais. We headed over to the Place De La Concorde and rode La Roué de Paris
just in time for some sunset pictures.
After we picked up some postcards and glace vanilla, then walked up
Boulevard Malesherbes to our hotel on Rue Jouffroy d'Abbans. Our hotel, Pavilion Monceau is a quaint
hotel, just about 50 rooms. We are staying
in room #22, which has a balcony and two twin beds pushed together. The bathroom is a good size with a deep tub
and adjustable showerhead. The room
even has a small fridge and safe for us to use. We were asleep by 12am.
We were up before the
alarm, showered then changed and down to breakfast by 8:30am. We had croissants, cheese, salami, warm
hard-boiled eggs, muesli, coffee and juice.
Right across the street is a grocery store and we picked up water,
chocolate, chips, fruit bars, cookies and fruit cocktail to keep in our
room. Up to our room, to write in here,
transfer pictures to the camera, and then by 11:30am we were out to look
around. We headed up Rue Jouffroy
d’Abbans and stopped at a luggage store, where I got a backpack purse and a
small Chinese fabric purse. Over on
Avenue de Clichy we found a Chinese style dress that will be perfect for
Stephanie and Dave’s wedding in late September. For lunch we went to Le Moncey on Boulevard des Batignolles. Bryan got a ham, cheese, egg, pickles and
lettuce sandwich with a beer and I got steak and fries with a Vodka Orange all
for 211frank. The prices seem pretty
reasonable for a big city when we figure the conversion rate. We have been dividing by 6 because the rate
ranges between 6 to 7 franks to 1 US dollar.
So that meal that cost 211Frank, plus a 9 frank tip is about $36US, not
bad considering how full we were after.
After lunch we headed down Rue La Boetie over to the Eiffel tower. On the way we found this area of grass
shaded by trees right on the canal. We
decided to stop and lay down. An hour
later we realized we had fallen asleep and it was now 4pm. We walked over to the base of the Eiffel
tower and looked around. Due to the
long lines we decided to wait till tomorrow to head up to the top. After a while we decided to head back to our
room for one more short nap before heading to dinner but ended up sleeping for
3, waking up at 11pm. We had some
snacks we picked up earlier in the day and watched most of Cast Away on the
laptop.
We were down to breakfast
around 8:30 this morning. I am still
getting use to their breakfasts. They
put out fruit, coffee, juice, croissants, baguettes, white bread for toast,
cereal, yogurt, warm hard-boiled eggs, biscuits, different cheeses and
salami. At home Bryan and I rarely do
breakfast, but because it comes with the room, we are taking advantage of
it. When we got back to the room I
looked at the money information we had, I wanted to make sure what coins were
what and how many centimes were in 1 frank.
I picked up on the money thing pretty quickly and know how to convert it
quite well. I also looked at the metro
map because we are going to start taking it today. Each line is numbered and it shows where the canal is so you can
figure out which stop to get off for the Eiffel Tower very easily. We got on line 3 at the Wagram station, then
switched to line 9 at Harve-Caumartin and got off at Iena. It was just a short walk, through the park
and over to the Seine to the tower.
Pilard Sud we were able to walk about halfway up for only 20F each, then
another 20F to get to the top via elevator.
It was so breathtaking; we loved every minute of it. Bryan was proud of how well I did walking
up. We decided to take the elevator the
whole way down. By the time we got down
it was close to 3pm and we were hungry for lunch. Right around the corner we found Le Royal Tour on the corner of
Ave De La Bouatonnais and Rue De Monttessuy.
Bryan had an egg, bacon, tomato, leeks and lettuce salad with Grimbergen
Beer. I had sirloin steak with a
wonderful bleu cheese sauce and French fries.
We started out with shrimp cocktail, which were petite shrimp with mayo
and ketchup-like-sauce. It was amazing,
the whole meal was, Bryan loved the sauce so much on my steak he used some
bread to clear it all off my plate, the fries worked well for that too. The convenience of being able to use credit
cards is wonderful, the meal came out to 279F so it was easier to charge it than
to spend our cash and have to pay 35F for a fee to have them convert our
American dollars to franks. We went
over to the canal to use the tour for the Seine we had gotten with our American
Airlines Vacation package. Our canal
tour was with Bateaux Parisians and was an hour long, it was beautiful, we even
got to see Notre Dame from there. I
think we went under about 18 bridges.
Once off the boat we wanted to go over and see Notre Dame. So we hopped on the metro at Iena, off at
Strasbourg-Saint Denis onto the 4line and off at Cite, which was only two
blocks from Notre Dame. By the time we
got there it was after 6pm and the tours had just closed, but we got some great
pictures. We decided to hop back on the
Metro and back to our hotel to shower and change for dinner. We went to Thai Siam for dinner and had
fried spring rolls, which they gave us lettuce and mint leaves to wrap them
in. Bryan got beef salad that had a
great kick in the sauce and I had stuffed crab that was amazing, so much crab
it was incredible, all for 228F including a beer for Bryan and Orangina for
me. While we were eating someone came
over with roses and Bryan bought 4 red and 1 yellow for me. When we went to leave, outside was a heavy
thunderstorm, we started to walk it anyway, but then jumped into a phone booth
due to how wet and cold we were. After
quite a few attempts to hail a cab we finally snagged one. The gentleman did not speak any English and
we forgot to bring our maps not realizing we would be doing anything other than
dinner and walking back. After many
tries of trying to tell him what street we were on we got there. We watched the rest of Cast Away then headed
to bed.
We woke up to our alarm at
8am but both decided to sleep in. We
didn’t get up till 12pm, but it felt good to sleep in. After walking around we found ourselves on
Boulevard De Batignolles where we stopped at Sparticus, a little Franco-Italian
place. We had carpaccio, a carpaccio,
leeks, corn, tomato, olive and lettuce salad and a pizza with shrimp, calamari
and muscles. It all came out to 245F
with 2 Heinekens and 2 Oranginas. We
were out of there by 3pm and decided to go visit Sacre Coeur which was not far
from there. We decided to walk this one
and came across Rue Lepic that had some shops with original paintings and tons
of shops with some of our favorite french posters. We decided to come back another time so we didn’t have to carry
them around. The Sacre Coeur was
beautiful and we took quite a few pictures of it. Before hitting Ave Lepic though we hit an Internet kiosk to find
out exactly where Jim Morrison’s grave is.
After Sacre Coeur we hopped on the metro to go over to Cemetery Du Pere
Lachaise to see Jim’s grave. Sure
enough when we got there they were already closed (it was around 7pm) so we got
back on the metro and back to the hotel to drop off our stuff and head to
dinner. We asked the night manager
where a good place to get sushi was. He
recommended a side street over by the Opera, which had quite a few. Rue Gallon is where we found Koba. We had two orders of unagi maki, an order of
tekka maki, eda-mame, the best futo maki in the world, salad, Asahi beer and
two cokes all for 420F. We were quite
full so decided to walk it off. We
walked down looking at the shops and came to La Roué de Paris and took some
pictures of it at night. Then we made
our way through the gardens to the Louver.
By the time we got there we realized how tired we were and made our way
back to the metro station and back to the hotel and opened the bottle of
champagne the flight attendants gave us just before we got off the plane. Then off to bed by 1:30am, by the time we
transferred the pictures off the camera (we have already taken over 200) and
written in the journal.
We got up, went down to
breakfast and were out the door by 10am.
We got on the Metro and headed to the Cimetire Du Pere Lachaise to see
Jim Morrison’s grave. The line our hotel
is on also stops there. This cemetery
is so big and popular they have a map you can buy for 10F. We knew we were in the right spot because
crowds of people were all around his grave.
I guess they replaced his grave because it was clean, the bust was gone
and security was standing an eyes view away.
Where most graves had a long piece of stone, Jim’s just had an outline
of stone with sand in the middle.
Though the cemetery had only been open for an hour or so, quite a few
cigarettes had been left for him, a joint, a few pieces of paper and some
roses. Also someone had poured some
kind of liquid in the sand. We also
looked around and visited Maria Callas and then headed back out to the
Metro. We got off at Opera to look at
the shops, by 2 we got hungry. We
stopped at a brasserie on Boulevard Haussmann called Triadou Haussmann. Like many of the restaurants we have come
across in Paris, once they realize you speak English, they speak it back to you
no matter how hard you try to speak french to them. Bryan had a true french onion soup, it wasn’t salty like so many in
the states and he had veal escalope with a cream sauce. I had a mixed green salad and a rib eye
steak with fries. We took our time
eating and once done we were in the mood for coffee and dessert. Bryan had 2 espressos and chocolate mousse,
I had café o leit and what the English menu called a “Floating Island”. Each time we are surprised at the prices, we
had a beer and 2 Fantas with our meal as well and all of that totaled to 454F. In Boston on Newbury Street a nice meal like
this would cost well over $100US. The
value of a dollar has gone up since we got here, it was at 6.5 earlier this
week and now is up to 7.1. This means
for every 1 dollar you get 7.1 franks.
We have been trying to use our credit card when every possible so we
don’t have to keep exchanging money.
During lunch a girl from Chicago sat at the next table over from us and
we chatted a bit about US vs. Paris and all the things we were told vs.
truth. She has come to Paris before and
she hardly knew any French as well.
After lunch we walked around looking at more shops. We came across this one called Etam. It is 6 floors plus –1(The basement) and the
street level (floor 0). On the 5th
floor they had a great restaurant where we had café frappe, which is ice-cold
coffee but they keep out the ice and it’s more of an espresso flavor and
strength. We looked at the 3rd floor
and just like many stores in the states; my size is the largest they
carry. In the states I’m a 14 to 16,
here in Paris I’m a 42 to a 44. At
least here most of the women are in the 30’s or 40’s so you don’t feel singled
out as much as you do in the states, where if your size is in the teens or
higher the clothes are not proportioned just right. Here I found these clothes to flatter me perfectly and really
bring out my curves. Also dressing
rooms here, they welcome the men coming into the dressing room with you. Bryan had me get this stretchy blue tank top
and a wrap sweater with a matching skirt.
We got all three pieces for 607F.
The store would easily compare to Limited in the states, but the prices
are a little better. We walked through
more stores, sidewalk shops and street vendors till around 8pm where we decided
to head back t our room, shower and go for dinner. We went to El Rancho, the Mexican restaurant right across from
the Wagram Metro station. We had a
pitcher of frozen margaritas, nachos with cheese, sour cream guacamole and
salsa. Bryan had the Paella and I had
beef fajitas for less than 350F, but we left extra tip. See here they include a service charge so
tipping is kind of included, but we add extra for really great service. If you use a charge card though, there is no
place to add tip. After dinner we went
for a walk up to the Arc de Triomphe and back.
After finding out last
night that we could have breakfast in our room, it arrived promptly at 9am just
as we requested. We decided to relax
though after, watch CNN and take a short nap.
By noon we were out and headed on the metro to the Chalet les Halles
where there are tons of shops and a mall.
We got some shoes and hit the Etam shop there where I got some french
panties, they are so comfortable. By 4
we were looking for something to eat so we stopped at Café Du Forum where we
had tomato and mozzarella salad, Thai chicken and carpaccio. Bryan had a great beer called Picon Zinc and
I had a Pina Colada all for 228F. After
walking around a few more shops we headed back through the large metro station
to our train then connected to ours at Opera, then to the hotel. We were so tired we took a 2 hour nap then
Bryan went and got us a ham, sausage and mushroom pizza and 2 salads at a
little Italian place just up the street and got stuck in the rain on his way
back. Before heading to bed we each
took a bath using the lavender bath salts we got earlier in the week.
This morning it looked
like rain so we decided to start using our museum passes. So when we were done with breakfast we went
via the Metro to Forum Des Halles, forgetting it was Sunday because we needed
to return a top we had gotten at Etam.
Being right there we decided to go to Musée national d’ Art Moderne –
Centre Georges Pompidou that was right around the corner. It had Matisse to Picasso. They had cinema art to architecture to video;
it was incredible how much there is to take in. They even had one room that the installations played tricks on
your eyes and some changed depending what angle you looked at it from. We left there around 12pm and were starting
to get hungry, so we went across the street to Café La Cavaliar Bleu. I had a petite fillet of beef with fries and
Bryan had a fillet of duck also with fries.
With our meal Bryan had Picon Zinc and I had a Pussy Cat, after café o
leit for me and we shared an ice cream sunday called La Champs-Elysees. It had white and chocolate ice cream, real
chocolate sauce and little chocolate chips.
Witch the meal coming to 248F we were once again impressed with the
quality of food for the prices.
Next-door was a poster and postcard shop that we stopped at, Images De
Demain on Rue Saint Martin. We got a
couple of postcards, a poster of the metro map and a poster with the different
emotions of the cat, we also got a tube so we can easily transport the posters
home. We took our stuff back to the
hotel then went off again knowing it was just after 4pm and that the museums
would start to close. We decided to go
to Musée d’ Orsay, this museum use to be a train station and it had works from
1848 to 1941. We both quite enjoyed the
furniture and sculptures and of course all of the paintings. They had quite a few Van Gogh paintings, but
not our favorite (café at night). They
also have a Monet I really enjoy that also happens to be hanging in our hotel
room. At 5:45 they start asking
everyone to leave and they close off sections so no one else can enter
them. When we left we decided to walk
down to Quai Anatoile-France along the Seine.
We walked looking at all the street vendors and walked past Notre Dame
as well. We decided to turn onto Boulevard
Point Sully to Boulevard Henri IV where we came across Bennelong, an Australian
cuisine restaurant. We got there at
7:15pm and the kitchen didn’t open for another fifteen minutes so we relaxed
with a drink, Bryan had a small bottle of Veuve Cliquot and I had a
margarita. Tonight was vegetarian
night; we started with Hummice and butternut squash soup. I say we because we ended up switching abut
halfway through. For our meal Bryan had
lentils in a Thai curry sauce and I had spinach pie that sat on top of
butternut squash. We ended the meal
with café o leit and espresso to drink, with Bryan having this raspberry and
cream puff pastry and I had a dessert with three kinds of ice cream with
caramel drizzled on top. During our
meal a french couple sat next to us and we talked a little with them. He told us about this museum he knew about
and gave us the name of it. We decided
to put their desserts on our bill as a thank you, but did it where they
wouldn’t know till after we were gone.
Including their desserts and an extra 30F as an extra tip we totaled out
at 959, pretty good considering 2 appetizers, 2 meals, champagne, 2 margaritas,
4 deserts, café o leit and an espresso.
From there we hopped on the metro to our hotel for much needed sleep.
Monday August 20, 2001
Instead of having
breakfast brought up to us, Bryan decided to go down, get what we usually eat
and bring it up on a tray. After we sat
down and watched a little CNN, then off to Forum Des Halles. We went to Etam to return the top and exchange
it for another. Because they were not
the same price I got to get something else because credit would do me no
good. I ended up getting two more pairs
of french panties. On our way to the
metro we came upon another shoe store but this one had signs that it was
closing at the end of the month and they had tons of men’s dress shoes so Bryan
wanted to stop in (of course I would never say no to a shoe store). So while he looked at the men’s shoes, I
looked at the women’s. They had these
great shoes I had seen at some of the other stores, but these were less than 50
American if I divided by 7(the value of a dollar has been steady at 7.1 for a
little while now) and decided for the value, quality and uniqueness to the rest
of my shoes I would get them. Bryan
found a great pair of shoes as well that are kind of like a men’s black dress
shoe with the shape of a bowling shoe with these rubber bottoms. So that now brings me to a total of four
pairs of shoes on this trip. I will not
be buying any for quite a while after this.
At the Louve we spent a few hours looking at the sculptures, murals,
furniture, paintings and crowns. We
decided to eat and we went to Café Mollien, on one of the ledges outside around
3pm. Bryan had a sandwich, half was
chicken and the other half was cheese with herbs. I had a chef salad. This
is one of the places I could get Iced coffee (café glace) and Bryan got
Pinache, which is beer and lemonade.
For desert Bryan had an espresso and a chocolate chip croissant, I had
Mille Feilles, a french specialty pastry.
Our total was 178F, not bad considering the size of our meals. After our late lunch we continued to look
around and even got to see Medieval Louve.
We found out that way back it use to be a castle and had evolved over the
years, but the foundation remained so we were able to see that as well. Back to the hotel for a nap, without the
midday naps I don’t think we would survive.
Going back to the hotel also gives us a chance to drop off stuff, change
and sometimes shower as well. After our
nap we made our way up to Ave de Clichy where we stopped at Le Libre Exchange
where we started out with drinks, Blue Lady (vodka, citron and curacao bleu)
for me and a Kir Royal (champagne with liquor) for Bryan. We got escargot to start out our meal and
they were still in their shells with garlic, parsley paste and olive oil in as
well. It was the first time I had to
take them out of their shells. They gave
us the holder and a fork to hold and pull them out. I did all of them because I wanted to see how well I would do and
Bryan was more than willing to let me feed him. Next up was our meals, undercut steak with a Rumford sauce for
Bryan and lamb chops with herbs for me.
Both of our meals came with fries and green beans and we both had a
brujoulais wine. After Bryan had an
espresso and I had a café o leit and crème brulet, it was the best I have ever
had and topped our meal total to 489F.
By the time we left the restaurant it was almost 10pm and we walked back
to the hotel to get some sleep before hitting Versailles the next morning.
We were up, showered,
ready to go by 9am and left breakfast by 9:30am to head to Versailles. We had to switch to line 13 to get to Rer C
that would take us out there. The ride
was about a half an hour and right around the corner from Versai. It was such a perfect day, after looking
around inside and at Parliament; we walked around the gardens then headed for
lunch. At about 1:45pm we were at Chez
Cesar at Les Maneges. Bryan had a white
wine with liquor and a salad with lettuce, tomato and toasted bread topped with
melted Gorgonzola cheese to start. I
started our with a Fanta and a bacon, lettuce, tomato, egg and crouton salad
with a mayo tasting dressing, if a BLT was a salad this would be it. After Bryan had fish with rice and I had
(once again) steak with fries. We paid
279F and if the steak weren’t so good we would have complained that it had
taken so long to get our meal. We
didn’t leave there till 3pm and then caught the next train back to our hotel,
change then back out to the area along the seine to look for good prices on
some small french posters and a little compact mirror but by the time we got
over there most of them were closed. So
we walked around Boulevard St. Michel and on Rue Galande where we cam across a
nice, small Japanese restaurant. We had
sake, miso soup and each had a cheracher bowl that had rice at the bottom with
tuna, macrel, shrimp, tamago and a few other sashimi pieces on top. We decided to end our meal with espresso,
café o leit, red bean gelatin and coco mousett, a coconut ice cream with a
chocolate mouse ice-cream center, covered with coconut flakes, all a good deal
for 238F. We have realized that here in
Paris, when you order coffee and dessert at the same time or order the coffee
just after getting your dessert, either way, you won’t get the coffee till
after your dessert is finished unless you request it to come earlier. After dinner we headed to the nearest metro
station that happen to be across Pont Neuf, which is french for New
Bridge. The funny thing about the name
thought is that the bridge happens to be the oldest in Paris. On our way, just before going across the
bridge we came across a jewelry shop and I had been looking for a new necklace
since my last one broke. We walked in
and the gentleman was very helpful, wondering if we were looking for something
specific. I let him know a necklace with amethyst. At first he showed us a beautiful piece, but was way too dressy
for an everyday piece. He could tell
from the look on my face right away and suggested a beautiful pedant on a
simple chain, now he was talking and at just under 300F it was a deal as well. Bryan also suggested pearls would be nice
and I could wear them with my red ball gown to Ellen and John’s wedding. We looked at one, too short, another really
nice but too long, and the third perfect length but we liked the color and type
better in the second set. He told us he
could shorten it for us and have it ready for us the next day. With a $4US fee to shorten it they came out
to $56US, a bargain for pearls made to a custom length and even better that he
actually accepted US bills, as we had not changed the bill to Franks yet. We went over the bridge to the metro, then
to our hotel for another night with only one more to go.
We were up and out the door
by 9:30am, grabbing a croissant on our way out of the hotel heading for the
metro. We booked a tour of Paris with
Touringscope and decided this to be the day to do it. The tour was nice; we got to see that we had successfully seen
most of the places to really see. The
tour actually gave us a stop at Notre Dame and we got a chance to go inside and
see how peaceful it is. Before getting
back on the bus just before noon, we stopped at a café for café o leit and
espresso. Our next stop on the bus was
down the street from the Eiffel where Bryan grabbed a hot dog and I got a sugar
crepe, my first one here and the best I have had at that point, ever. Now back on the bus, down to the seine where
everyone who had purchased the boat tour and lunch at the 1st floor of the
Eiffel got off. After everyone else got
off they called our name saying we had gotten it as well. Knowing Bryan would have felt the same, I
told the tour guide, kind of announcing at the same time we didn’t know it
included that and already taken it and if another couple would like to go in
our place to feel free. The young
Italian couple raised their hands than thanked us quite a few times on their
way off the bus. Bryan looked at me,
smiled then kissed me. We both were not
up for any more really busy, touristy places and would rather see the Jarden Du
Luxembourg, which the tour bus went by on the way. At about 2:15pm we were back at the tourscope office on Blvd
Haussmann. Bryan had worn jeans and was
getting hot, so we went into Lafayette Galleries, a big department store down
the street from the tourscope office to find him some shorts but couldn’t find
any there. We headed down the street
and came across a few shops, but none with shorts. One little shop was advertising dresses for 100 and 200F so I
convinced Bryan to stop in quick and ended up getting 2 dresses there. We decided we would have better luck finding
him shorts at Les Forum des Halles so hopped on the metro and went to pick up
the pearls first just incase he closed early and it was just across the bridge
from the metro station. We picked them
up and they were perfect and left before we looked at anything else. On our way across the bridge we realized
that Samaritaine was right in front of us, the biggest department store in the
heart of Paris. We not only found Bryan
a pair of shorts but a pair of plants that convert into shorts as well. From there we walked to Jarden Du Luxemburg
where we sat at the outdoor café, each had two café glace, but also got to
enjoy and orchestra that played Frank’s “My Way” as well as a few other
pieces. After we headed down through
the gardens and down to Rue de Fleures to one of the three metro stations in
that area. We took the metro, switch
trains and got off right on Blvd. Henry IV to hit our favorite restaurant. We both felt this was the best place for our
last night in Paris for dinner. We got
there just after 8pm. Nathalie was our
waitress whose mother is Aussie and her dad French. She use to work across the
street at a restaurant that use to do Australian food and the chef that managed
there came over here and brought her with him when it opened. We decided to get a full bottle of our
favorite champagne, Veuve Cliquot and of course a bottle of Evian. Most of the places we have eaten we end up
getting a bottle or two of mineral water, I just haven’t been writing it in
here even thought at 15 to 25F each depending on the size and brand it can
really add up on a bill. Even though we
have been drinking water from the tap in our hotel we feel safer drinking
bottled water up and about, just incase.
So as I was saying, our meal there was as impressive as the first night
there. Bryan started out with a BBQ
rolled eggplant, zucchini and red peppers with onion confit and green olives on
wild tomato coulis. I started with BBQ
squid stir fried in chili, orange and ginger coriander marmalade. For dinner we both decided to have the BBQ
fillet of kangaroo with candied yams and wok fried spinach. Nathalie told us ahead of time that Kangaroo
is cooked about medium rare to rare, is really tender and a little stronger
than beef. To our delight it was just
as she described. Some of the pieces
were so tender we used a fork to cut it, others a butter knife is what they
give you and it more than does the job with its tine little grooves. We ended our meal with the same merange,
cream and rasberry puff roll Bryan had gotten last time, but this time we split
it because she had also given us some hummice, bread, potatoes and salad to
have with our meals. And just after
dessert, you guessed it, espresso and café o leit. Considering a bottle of our champagne usually goes for about $50
in the US we were quite surprised our meal only totaled out to 867F considering
what a great place it was and how good the food was. Even though we had been walking most of the day and it was almost
11pm, we decided to walk off our food when we left. Bryan got a chance to smoke the Cuban Romeo y Juliet cigar he got
earlier in the day. After walking a bit
we decided to hit the metro and get closer to our hotel before midnight. We took the metro to the Arc de Triomphe and
walked to our hotel, which is only about a 15-minute walk. Bryan then smoked more of his cigar on the
walk as well while we talked. Bryan and
I tend to do a lot of talking on our walks.
We talk about our future, our jobs, the industry, things around us; you
name it, if it’s on our mind we talk about it.
It is really nice to be able to bring up any subject as we both have a
broad range of interests and the want to learn and find more. Things like politics, it has always
intrigued me, but I never had found anyone who really knew a lot about all of
it, without being bias to one party or candidate. Well one night we were over at Bryan’s friend Chris’ house when
the last election had just started. The
two of them got into a conversation about the candidates and politics as whole,
not just certain issues. I learned more
sitting back and listening to them, than I had in my entire life and they
discussed, no arguing, no trying to say who’s the best vote, just discussing
what’s on the table. It was nice to
hear two men have an extremely intelligent conversation without testicles
getting in the way. Well, after our
short walk to the hotel, when we got our key from the night manager there was a
fax telling us our driver to bring us to the airport would be there at 1:50pm
to pick us up. It was nice they
arranged it for us; we thought we would have to call today or tomorrow morning
to set it up. By the time we were both
done our evening bath and it was well past midnight, as we didn’t even bother
watching a DVD because we were so tired.
Thursday August 23,
2001