To give you and idea, there were certainly plenty of little tourist souvenir shops, but there is one square in particular that was quite fun. There, perhaps 50 artists set up their easels or whatever they needed to display some of their artwork as well as create new works right in front of you. Some sketched with charcoal, others painted, and even a few would cut your profile out of a sheet of paper within about 2 minutes just by looking at you. That was really a neat trick and startlingly accurate, but the one my guy made somehow ended up with a huge nose!
I took the opportunity to get a piece of artwork that I'd always wanted, and got one of the charcoal artists to draw a portrait of Beth. It was quite cold in the morning, so Beth was freezing her tush off sitting there for him, but about 25 minutes later it was done. I have to say, he did a pretty nice job, but doesn't look exactly like Beth. I guess you can only capture so much beauty in a sketch. :)
Next we headed into the city for some, what we will call "fashion" shopping. It seemed like the place to go was "Rue Royale" so that is where we started. However, you can only look at so many €4500 pairs of pants before determining that perhaps you're in the wrong place. So, we followed some disheveled looking people and were quickly in the "right" neighborhood for us. Beth scored a couple of cute numbers that didn't break the bank, as well as a small bottle of Chanel. We also stopped at a pastry shop (I know, I know... that's most of what we've eaten here) and had "lunch." We split a black forest cake and a large macaroon. Maybe not the most nourishing meal, but oh so good.
We dropped our things off at the hotel and headed off to a restaurant called "Le Procope" (http://www.procope.com). This little place was founded in 1686, and was a favorite of such folks as Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, and Voltaire. In the entryway they proudly display the hat that Lieutenant Bonaparte left there during one visit! Anyway, the experience was fun, but after 350 years you'd think they would have figured out a better french onion soup recipe. It's not that it was bad, it just wasn't good. After tasting it we decided to skip the main course and headed to a cafe in the St. Germain district, which turned out to be a very good decision. This place specialized in "pancakes" but it, was really more of a flapjack as far as I was concerned. Not fluffy, but more flat. There were many to choose from so we asked the waiter to bring us their best/his favorite, and we were not disappointed. Out of the kitchen came a large pancake with a pile of cheese sauce (reblochon) mixed with pieces of jambon (french ham) and what looked like large french fries, about the size of Beth's thumb. Odd description, I know. No, we did not put syrup on it. It was so yummy and satisfying. My mouth is watering just writing about it.
My knee has been bothering me the last couple of days, so although we had planned to go dancing tonight, we opted for a show instead. FYI, my knee is feeling better today, though not 100% yet. Using tickets we purchased earlier in the day, we headed to the theater only to discover that there was no show that evening -- the theater had been rented out for a corporate party, and the tickets should have never been sold to us. Bummer. So, we stole a quick last glance at the Arc de Triomphe and headed back to the hotel and decided to call it a night. We had a busy day planned for Saturday anyway, traveling to Bordeaux first thing in the morning.
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| C'est mervielleux! |
All in all, Paris has been very fun, but I don't know how people live here. It's very tiring, and my feet always hurt. :) Truly, we have had a wonderful time, seen so many things, and are so blessed to share this time together.
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