Joined 5 others from our group in the breakfast room downstairs; had the "continental" breakfast plus cheese: 5 kinds of cheese! 4 kinds of bread/pastries, butter, honey, jam, coffee, orange juice. Tres bon!
Walked towards Notre Dame, and on the way stopped in at St. Severin, with gargoyle complex. See photo.
Walked around Notre Dame, but didn't go inside since we
will be doing that later. The morning's highlight was Sainte Chapelle, an amazing chapel with walls of continuous stained glass. Beautiful! Built by Louis IX in 1248; there are 1100 scenes from the Bible in 15 panels.
will be doing that later. The morning's highlight was Sainte Chapelle, an amazing chapel with walls of continuous stained glass. Beautiful! Built by Louis IX in 1248; there are 1100 scenes from the Bible in 15 panels. Back to St. Sulpice (cathedral in DaVinci Code) to see the 7000-pipe organ. Got to go up behind the pipes after the magnificent concert. Delacroix painted 3 panels here; one is of Jacob wrestling the angel.
Omelettes for lunch (oh, and mid-morning stopped for a slice of something chocolate and an apple pastry, with espresso). We are not going hungry.
Still, we did have to eat dinner. Not noteworthy, although the chocolat mousse and chocolat glace (ice cream) were! Dark and delicious. The only way the French make chocolat, evidently.
Some rain today, but also lots of sunshine. Bonne nuit!
June 6, Saturday: Arrived in Paris around 9:15 a.m. Met with 3 from our tour group and took a (long-awaited) shuttle to our hotel. We will stay at Hotel St. Jacques for the next 3 nights. http://www.paris-hotel-stjacques.com/ The hotel is charming. Murals on our walls; we are on the top floor with balcony and view of the busy streets below. Took a 4 hour nap (did not sleep on the plane). Then out
to explore!
The Jardin de Luxembourg (park and gardens) is huge, gorgeous, and filled with people and their families. We found St. Su
lpice, but not the entrance (antique stalls were set up in front, plus lots of reconstruction going on). We'll try again later. We did walk around the Pantheon and went inside St. Stephen's church, (St. Genevieve and Pascal are entombed here). A choir was rehearsing with cello: beautiful! Our first food purchase was Maxi chocolat du pain: of course! A huge croissant filled with chocolate. Tres bon!
Lots of walking around, past the Sorbonne, etc. People are skinny here and NO SUVs. Makes you wonder about that correlation, non? Traffic (circulacion) is tres interessante, with
hundreds of SmartCars, bicycles, motorobikes. No left turn arrows, so get into the intersection and sit there. Lots of horn blowing, as you can imagine. Rental bicycles everywhere. We think people stay thin by eating chocolate, cream, cheese, sauces and wine, then dodging traffic!
to explore!The Jardin de Luxembourg (park and gardens) is huge, gorgeous, and filled with people and their families. We found St. Su
lpice, but not the entrance (antique stalls were set up in front, plus lots of reconstruction going on). We'll try again later. We did walk around the Pantheon and went inside St. Stephen's church, (St. Genevieve and Pascal are entombed here). A choir was rehearsing with cello: beautiful! Our first food purchase was Maxi chocolat du pain: of course! A huge croissant filled with chocolate. Tres bon!Lots of walking around, past the Sorbonne, etc. People are skinny here and NO SUVs. Makes you wonder about that correlation, non? Traffic (circulacion) is tres interessante, with
hundreds of SmartCars, bicycles, motorobikes. No left turn arrows, so get into the intersection and sit there. Lots of horn blowing, as you can imagine. Rental bicycles everywhere. We think people stay thin by eating chocolate, cream, cheese, sauces and wine, then dodging traffic!
Raining when we got here, but cleared up. We think Obama is still here because there are lots of gendarmes everywhere.
It's 10 pm. and still light! We had a s
mall dinner at the sidewalk cafe next to our hotel; endive salad with goat cheese croquette, fresh bread and wine. Plus, we asked if they had any chocolate desserts, and the garcon said "Chocolate cake with sauce". What an understatement! We were curious when he brought spoons, then when the dessert came, we knew why! It was more like a chocolate pie with no crust, surrounded by a vanilla creme. Delicieux! Some of the best chocolate we've ever had.
Maybe tomorrow we will do more than write about the food! Bonne nuit!
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