ELAINE'S MOVEABLE FEAST

This is almost perfect really.  If only my son-in-law Paul could have been here with us once again in Paris, that would have made everything perfect.

Here we are taking a stroll along the Seine in Paris together.  The weather has been so spring like, although we are dressed a little too warmly as you can see.  I had to buy a light weight wool car coat for these warmer days.  We knew we would be out late, so we were certainly prepared for the cooler temperatures late into evening.

I just had to share some follow up photos of the Bonne Saint Valentin’s post.  This is my red hat I bought last winter in Paris.  It was perfect for Valentine’s Day.

The next photo is of the beautiful flowers and candies from the market on rue Cler and vicinity.  A great big thank you to my son and husband for their never ending thoughtfulness and such a lovely dinner.

Last night after dinner we took a nice long walk through the Parc du Champs de Mars. It is the very large park at the icon of Paris, the Eiffel Tower.

In the next photo, my children wanted to take a picture of my husband and I at the base of the Eiffel Tower.  The light was so beautiful.  It is so pretty when it is illuminated at night.  Did you know that every hour it twinkles?

In the final photo, I just couldn’t resist sharing this with you all.  We were walking to lunch one day and I saw these two beautiful cats sitting in the window.  I walked up quite closely to them and they were just so cute and curious.  They look like twins and each one had their own window on the world.  Their little breath can be seen on the glass and I thought they were just so adorable.

I can’t stand how cute they are!  Isn’t it great how much they are enjoying looking out of the window.

To see a close up, just click on the picture.

Bonne journee!

Good Morning Eiffel Tower and Paris!  Thank goodness, my daughter arrived safely this morning.

We are all ready for breakfast as my husband went to the boulangerie early this morning.  We have her favorite fresh croissants and raspberry macaroons.  We have steaming hot coffee on, some espresso for us, a nice pot of tea and we even have raspberry preserves and some fresh squeezed orange juice.  Of course, we have the baguettes too!

We are so excited and can’t wait to see her.

Our daughter said the flight over was so easy with no problems at all.  Although it was a very large plane with six seats across, there was no one seated next to her so she even had a little extra space.

I am so happy now that she has arrived and look so forward to spending time with her.

It reminds  me somehow of a movie that I love, “Forget Paris.”  In the movie Billy Crystal asks Debra Winger, “So do you have any good stuff here?”  Yeah, she replied, we got some good stuff!”  With that said, we are now getting ready to leave the apartment and head out for the day to see and do some  good stuff!  Where ever you are, have a nice day too.

We just had to go. Our friends wanted to go too. We arranged for a car to take us to the casino last night. It was just a 30 minute drive out of Paris, however, there was so much traffic that it took an extra 15 minutes to get there.

It was wonderful and very exciting to try to play in French. We did well and had the most wonderful evening. We had to dress as I was told we could be turned away and not admitted.

The strangest thing was it was so very quiet. All of the noise making, bell ringing, jackpot singing of the machines was turned off. If someone won a jackpot at a particular bank of slot machines, you would only hear a gong. Just one gong and that was it, that was all you would hear. Everyone was so nice.

They had a beautiful theatre, spa, hotel, restaurants, lounges, etc. It was on the Seine and it so beautiful to walk outside on the water. Okay, so I did, I felt like one of those people in a James Bond Movie at the casino tables. It was great and I loved it. It was a great experience and we were all so glad we went.

We planned on having dinner in tonight and invited our friends over who are here from New York.

We went to Le Grand Epicerie de Paris which is attached to Le Bon Marche department store.  It is not a typical Parisian grocery store, but a high-end gourmet delight.  The displays are just beautiful and the array of foods amazing.

The store has sections offering assorted breads and pastries in the bakery area, they have a take away, of course they offer truffles, pricey foie gras and caviars.  You cannot believe the amazing cheeses they have for sale, the variety is endless and they offer you a taste of anything you might like to try.  I selected several chocolate bars which is difficult because the aisles of sweets is endless.  Lately, I convinced myself that my sweet tooth now has a twin, as my taste for sweets is increasing!  The fresh pasta selections are wonderful, which is what we decided would be one of the items we would serve for dinner. I am always puzzled in the produce section, they the most beautiful displays, but I’m not familiar with so many items, as naturally they are regional.  I will try to take some pictures of these another day. With all the items brought home we could go out for the day knowing we were all ready for tonight’s small dinner party.

We decided to go to the Centre Pompidou which offers contemporary and modern art, a cinema, restaurants, a wonderful gift shop, and various temporary and permanent collections.

Afterward we decided to walk all the way to the Paris Hard Rock once again for lunch.  We must admit, as Americans, once in a while we crave a good burger and fries.

We decided to go to the Hard Rock Paris for lunch once again and would walk all the way.  When we arrived, there were huge crowds including a large crowd of photographers and red ropes blocking off the entrance.  We were allowed in and asked what was happening.

We were told that the stars from a very famous French reality show would be coming soon to sign autographs.

This is a picture I took of the crowds outside.  When we were eating we realized that we were the only people inside.  The celebrities were arriving and we could hear the crowd screaming outside.

Here they come!  Gosh it was loud and we could see and hear all the camera flashes going off.  Inside on the many television screens on the walls inside, they started to play the very popular French tv series, “Les Anges de la Tele-Realite.”  After a little while the stars would exit the limousines outside and enter the building to the crowds roar.  They would come in and go upstairs to an area where they would be available to sign autographs for their fans.  In the meantime, we were enjoying our lunch and taking it all in from a behind the scenes perspective.

We had the best seats to enjoy ever from our vantage point and to see all the stars.  It is a reality show filming a cast of about eight French young people who live in Los Angeles and vicinity.  I think it’s like a 90210 meets reality show.

Okay, secretly I was hoping it was going to be Brad Pitt and Angelina, but unfortunately, that was not to be the case.

Before we knew it, as time flies no matter where you are in the world, it was time to go home to start to prepare tonight’s dinner with friends a la Parisian style.  Paris is such a wonderful city, which makes me wonder if I have told you lately that I love it here.

I’ve been thrown out of a cab before, that was in Rome.  The driver was about three blocks from my destination, when he got so frustrated by the crowds of people and traffic, that he started to shout in Italian.  I realized when he started banging the steering wheel what he was saying.  “Finito, finito, questo é tutto!” I got the drift that he wanted my brother-in-law, my husband & I out of the cab right then and right there.

It took us a moment as we could not believe we were being thrown out of the cab, we were laughing so hard.

So it happened again here in Paris.  We were about two blocks from our destination of San Chapelle on the Boulevard du Palais when we heard the driver say something.

Yes, it was time to definitely exit the taxi. He went on to try to explain in French which direction we would have to walk.  So my son, a friend and myself exited the taxi. So there we were, right in the middle of a protest.  We had to walk through the hundreds of protestors toward the direction which we needed to go.  I don’t know why or what it was over and have searched the news to find no information.  The police were in riot gear, wearing armor like gladiators, except black not shining silver, with shields and cans of mace.  It was something to see, it was a peaceful demonstration after all.

The last photo shows the photo I took when we had almost reached our destination and I looked at the demonstration.

Me, thrown out of a taxi twice now, can you believe it!

If you would like to see or hear a few moments of the protest, just click the pane below:

The first picture is of Al & Jodi, our friends that rented their own apartment in Paris too.   We asked someone to take a picture of the four of us outside Les Invalides.

It was such a nice day that we decided to walk to Les Invalides.  Along the way we saw quite a few energetic bocce games being enjoyed and played in the park.

Les Invalides is a large complex of buildings and monuments all dedicated to the military history of France.  The tomb of Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821) is here.

King Louis XIV initiated the project in 1670 for his aged and unwell soldiers.  It was also to serve as a hospital.

This is the resting place of French military heroes and is also the final resting place of Napoleon II (1811-1832) son of Napoleon. France’s greatest military leaders and generals are interred in the vaults here as well.  The beautiful dome from inside shown here was inspired by the baroque dome of St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome.

After seeing several of the museums, we started walking back towards home.  We decided to stop for coffee and a little dessert.  I have included some pictures here of my husband & I and Al & Jodi.

My family has this little matter that they always kid me about.  Okay, it’s an inside joke actually.  They make fun of the fact that in a photo if someone’s eyes are closed, but if I myself look good in that photo, I will post it, make tons of copies of it, perhaps even use it as a Christmas card, or whatever!

So to be fair, I will swallow my vanity just for this post.  Here are two comparisons.

In the top photo, my husband didn’t come out quite right, actually he look hilarious, but I look great.  But, in the second photo, he looks great, and my eyes are closed.  So, as you can see I can publish pictures of myself with my own eyes shut.  However, I will not make this a habit, as this is a one shot, one time photo.  Now really, there you go.  See that, I can post pictures of myself which are not perfect, and someone else looks great!  I’m dying here.

I just made my family so happy.  Enjoy it darlings!  I still like the top one much better, but I did it for love.