touring Paris

Finally, it is two days before we leave and Stu and I made it to the Hip-Hop bus. We strongly recommend this as a first day adventure for anyone on their maiden voyage to Paris. We rode the tour bus all day getting on and off to see the venues we wished to see in more depth. Our first stop was Ile de la Cite, the site of Notre Dame Cathedral. We arrived before the crowds and were able to enter, view the magnificent stained glass windows.

Then it was off to Place de la Concord where the beheadings were held with great ceremony during the French revolution. When one sees the lavish palatial homes and the statuary and bridges of the period, one can almost feel the anger the peasants must have felt over the contrast of their near starvation lives and the wealthy government and royalty. It's somewhat akin to how we feel when the bank executives, responsible for so much of the economic downturn, are getting millions of dollars in bonuses while the workers are having salaries cut and taxes raised. The difference is that we take it, we complain and do nothing. Ah, but enough politics.

Our favorite stop today was the Champs Elysees near the Arc du Triompe. Stu and I stopped for lunch on this most famous of streets and sat for nearly 1 1/2 hours enjoying our small meal topped off by a fabulous dish, 3 boules de glace (3 balls of ice cream). This was perhaps the best chocolate ice cream either of us had ever eaten. You wanted to eat it slowly and savor the flavors and texture. Even the strawberry, which Stu normally doesn't eat, was amazing and flavorful. We are finding all of the food to be more flavorful and satisfying, even in small quantities.

We're all getting more comfortable with our area of the city, recognize the streets and the shops---much too expensive for us to buy anything, but we do window shop. Across diagonally is one of the premier boulangeries where the bread and pastries are fresh daily. Directly across is a church whose bells ring every 15 minutes until 9 PM. We've grown so accustomed that we don't pay attention any more. To the left of our apartment is the American University in Paris and the dorms. Young people abound in this neighborhood, but their fees must be paid by their parents because it is a very expensive district.

This is a neighborhood. We begin to recognize the shops, the brasseries where Shirley had her first crepe with nutella. We've eaten at the Cafe Rue Cler. And tonight it was Thai food, very delicious. The waitress of this tiny restaurant helped us with our choices, inquired after our lodgings including what we were spending, etc. She told us about the proprietor who is Thai and retired in Bangkok while she serves at the restaurant and her husband cooks. At 55 he looked 35! The food must have secret ingredients because he looked very young. She, on the other hand, was funny. She rolled our sticky rice into balls and dipped them into curry then put them on our plates. She scrapped the last of the food onto my plate and admonished us to go for a walk after dinner. She was so odd, not offensive, and we just smiled as she touched all of our food. She then regaled us with stories of the young child pickpocket who was working the cafe next door yesterday. We've been warned about pickpockets on multiple occasions. It seems that there are many Romanian Gypsies around and they ply their trade in this neighborhood. We've been very careful and never felt in any danger at all. The streets are safe, everyone walks. Pickpockets just want your money, not your life.

Another wonderful day in Paris.

Adrienne and Stu