April 29th - not as planned

Bon Soir.  (good evening)  It's 11:10 pm here.  Here's the wee daily update.

Today's plan was to have a leisurely breakfast and then do the orange and blue bus lines since our passes expired today.

Breakfast was just as planned.  Frank went to the market while I got ready and tidied up.  Bon Matin, Frank.  (good morning!)

I do believe that our breakfasts by the window are my favorite part of the day.

We walked to the Invalides bus stop, and then it hit me:  mal a l'estomach.  Stomach troubles.  And so, instead of getting on the bus we hurried to the nearby Musee Rodin - a la toilette!  Our six day museum passes came in handy!

Since we were there we thought we might as well look around again.  I stayed in the garden, wandering about in the shade since I really felt clammy and bad.  Frank looked through more of the museum.  I saw The Gate of Hell - another of Rodin's famous works.  Glad that this will my only view of it.  !!!

Once I felt a wee bit better, we got on the orange bus.  But not for long.  I did not feel well at all.  We stopped for a soda and some baguette - to try to soothe my poor tummy.  Cafe le Petit Pont (the Little Bridge) looked good, and was right across from the bus stop.  I ordered an Orangina, Frank ordered a beer, and we shared a baguette.  I took the opportunity to write a few memories of our travels thus far.

As I read the menu I saw it advertised that this cafe had a full view of the Notre Dame cathedral.  Hmmm.  I told Frank I'd be right back for I was going to go around the corner (to the left in the photo) and see if I could see it.  And when I did... VOILA...I could see it!

But wait, there's more.  The Notre Dame was on my left, and to my right was Shakespeare & Co - the world famous bookstore.  Whew!  I began to feel better.

I quickly walked through, purchasing a blank journal decorated with the store name, and a history of Paris.  When you purchase books they stamp them on the inside cover with "Shakespeare and Co, Paris."  How fun is that?  The books there, by the way, are mostly in English.

I returned to Frank and the lovely cafe, and we decided to forgo the bus since I was afraid that it would not help my tummy to be jostled about all day.  And so we went to the Notre Dame instead.  After another 20 minutes at Shakespeare & Co.  More on that later.

We walked around back to see the flying buttresses.  Amazingly beautiful.  It is built on a quay on the Seine river.

As we walked into Notre Dame, a rush of nostalgia hit me.  I was here in 1980 and sang in the cathedral with an all girls high school choir, Harmony.

In fact, I'm quite sure we sang on these steps in the center of the cathedral.

It was actually a bit overwhelming.  A strange feeling of remembering... but vaguely.

This photo does not do the Rose Window justice - the colors are so vivid.  There are four of them - one facing in each direction.

We likely spent two hours in the cathedral and wandering around the outside looking at the ornate sculpture of its exterior walls.

And we bought a souvenir of this Silver Anniversary trip in the gift shop: a sterling necklace medallion replica of the Rose Window.  Je l'adore!  Isn't it sensational?

And then...back on the bus to start our trip back to Rue Amelie. 

Driving down Rue Royale  ( a short posh shopping avenue) we saw Laduree - the world famous macaroon store.  It was on my list of "must do's" (along with Shakespeare & Co and Notre Dame) and so we stopped.

You may find this hard to believe, but until then neither of us had had any sweet pastry in Paris.  Seulement les baguettes.  (Only baguettes)  We bought an "eight pack" and decided that the wrapping is as sweet as the macaroons.  We didn't taste one until 11 pm - the rest will wait for another day.  It was a green one - no idea what flavor - it tasted like... sugar.  Sweet.  But oh, so Parisien.  The cookie has a meringue like consistency, and the center is like frosting.  When in Paris...

We finally did get back to our sweet little apartment, unloaded our goodies and backpack, and went back to our "favorite" restaurant for fish and chips at a streetside table.  I'll blog about our meals later - but let it be known - we had our first glass of champagne.  It was served with a tiny plate of popcorn!  

We toasted Paris.

And another two firsts - my first cup of cafe blanc  (coffee with milk) and our first Paris dessert - fresh strawberries with a crumble topping and a whole lotta whip cream.  C'est delicieux!! 

Until this cup, we had made coffee in our apartment, and Frank had brought me a Starbucks this morning.  This was our first actual cafe experience.  Strong and wonderful.  And served with a bite of chocolate.  

That coffee is the reason I'm still up blogging at midnight! 

We walked back to the Eiffel Tower to say good night, as we hope to do all eight nights.  At about 8:30 pm it lights up, but at 10 pm the lights sparkle and dance for 5 minutes.  There are no words to describe how breathtaking it is.  I am working on uploading a short video of it - for now here is a photo.  Unfortunately this does not capture the sparkle - I will try a different shutter speed tomorrow night.  We've seen it two nights now - we walked there on Tuesday night too but were too tired from travel to stay until 10!

And yes, I bought 5 more keychains for a Euro (about $1.35)  - another fun nightly ritual.  Perhaps I have gone a bit too far with my keychain bargaining... but it is such fun to laugh with the hawkers, and I'll have a keychain for everyone.  There are at least 25 men selling keychains each night in the park  under the tower.  They are persistent, but we've gotten very good at "Non Merci" after I buy one euros worth!

Bon soir mes amis.  (good night my friends)  Tis time for sweet dreams.  Today was totally not as planned, but magical just the same.  And yes, my tummy is settled and fine - I only felt queasy for a couple hours.

By the way, I've taken over 500 photos thus far, so...I will try to post more in the coming days.  We've been very busy with this bus touring, taking advantage of the three days of 70 degree weather to see the outdoor sites.  Even now I am sitting in front of the open window and it is balmy and breezy and wonderful.   Tomorrow it is supposed to rain, and get cooler.  So... then it will be time to hit the indoors of the museums and to sit at a cafe and sort through photos and record more adventures.

Please leave a comment!  I love hearing from you.

Bon soir!