Le Deuxieme Jour a Paris

We were determined to do a lot of walking because we knew we were going to be eating a lot of rich foods and personally it was the only exercise I would be able to get to be even a little prepared for the Capitol 10k which I am “running” (running being loosely applied to what I would be doing while others whiz by me around downtown) upon return to Austin. It is good that we wanted to do a lot of walking especially since we didn’t know our way around perfectly. We turned right instead of left when heading to the first museum. We had already walked several blocks in the wrong direction when we realized the Musee d’Orsay was in the opposite direction. We spent a decent amount of time looking at the Impressionist exhibits but we were unable to see the Cezanne/Pissarro special exhibition because so many of the other visitors had the same ‘novel’ idea in mind. Go figure! I was able to snap a picture of Nicole next to one of Degas’ sculpted ballerinas and she paid enough attention to my descriptions of light and color of Monet’s Rouen Cathedral paintings to warrant a compliment from another visitor. The other American was impressed with Nicole’s ability to 1) pay attention to what I was saying about how different colors make the picture seem to take place at different times of the day, 2) understand it and 3) seem to be interested. At one painting Nicole exclaimed while taking a breath in and holding her hand to her mouth, “That painting is soooooo beautiful!” She makes me so proud. Our next adventure was to the Musee Rodin but not after a quick lunch at a local bistro. Nicole made friends with the waiters at the restaurant near Musee Rodin and Les Invalides. The watiers were amused by her disposition and she was amused at their accents and the fact that they spoke French. Nicole was so happy to be able to get out of the stroller and run around the gardens and really seemed to delight in the sculptures. Alise and I had to laugh when Nicole exclaimed from time to time at one of the sculptures, “Look! He is nakey!” (Remember her current obsession is related to her bum and unclothed body in general as noted in post #1) After viewing the Rodins, we decided to forego Les Invalides (maybe the third time will be the charm for me and I will actually get inside this monument) because Nicole was getting restless and wanting to go see the Eiffel Tower. As with many things in Paris, it was a pretty short walk from one site to the other. We enjoyed the view from atop the tower, but decided the cold was enough and took our first metro ride of the trip back to Stacy’s abode. For dinner that night, we ate at a very unique restaurant, Aux Artistes. Alise, Stacy and Nicole started their meals with a yummy potage (soup) de vegetables while I voraciously ate my pate de campagne. For the main meal, both Stacy and Alise ate trout meuniere, I mistakenly ordered Nic a steak frite (better described as steak tough) and should have just shared my boeuf bourgignon (she ate some anyway). For dessert Nic and I had some yummy-whole-egg-heavy-cream ice cream. Mine was a rich almost dark chocolate and Nicole’s was like eating delicious but raw yellow cake batter. We had wanted to go to a restaurant I have been to several times before called the Polidor, but, thankfully, Stacy’s concierge dissuaded us from going to that part of town. When Stacy spoke with some friends who did go there we found out that the student demonstrators were in that part of town and that tear gas was in the streets and seeped its way into the restaurant…this would have been a bad thing for us especially with Nicole. Thanks goodness for a concierge who is a bit on the nosy side.