Late to Bed, Late to Rise...

Today we started out slow because we didn’t go to bed until after midnight (including Nicole). We had a nice breakfast including yogurt, hard-boiled egg, café mocha and toast. Nicole had the usual, PB & J and yogurt. We took our time getting dressed and had the pleasure of our tour guide Stacy again today. We took the Metro over to Bastille where Stacy bought some dance tickets. After we found an ATM, we also found a patisserie which was a first on this trip to Paris. Stacy and I both had éclairs while Nic had a huge meringue and Alise ate a peanut/honey/praline type tart. From there we walked to Place des Vosges where Nicole played with some local children climbing monkey bars, sliding, playing on a teter totter and just blowing off some steam. Stacy decided to find a café to sit and write letters while Nic, Alise and I visited the Carnavalet or Museum of Paris. It was a fascinating former private residence that had some really lovely decorated rooms. I especially like the shades of pink, green, blue and yellow that were used alternately much the same way I would like to decorate Nic’s room. We met up with Stacy then went in search of nourishment. Since it was Saturday, the Sabbath, and we were in the Jewish part of Paris (at least one of them) we had to wander around a bit until we came to a dead-end street and chose the Café to eat some lunch. Nicole and I ate some of the best hamburgers I have ever had. The meat must have been ground on the premises because of how fresh they tasted. After that much needed food, we meandered down this street and in search of Centre Pompidou or Beaubourg. Once you get close it is not hard to identify the museum by its bizarre architecture that makes the building look like a cross between intestines or a building without an exterior. The fountain is really cool, also because of the sculptures inside of it...one if which is funny because it depicts a mermaid, which Nicole loves, with water shooting out of one of it's breasts...good thing Nicole didn't understand because she would have been talking about it incessantly on the bus, on the metro or anywhere she could get an ear to listen to her.



It was getting late and we had to head back to Stacy’s in order to pick up a few things to head over to the Cosby’s to shoo the parents out the door and out to have fun. Since the Chinese food place that was recommended was closed, I picked up various things such as grilled chicken breast, ready-made rice, veggies for salad and some bread and Nutella to make a feast of our own. When Monica and Doug returned I realized I had mistakenly sent them out the wrong metro stop. I am sure it was a shock for them to walk out of Pigalle and be bombarded with neon signs about sex (Sexorama, Sexodrome, Moulin Rouge, etc.). I meant for them to exit at Abessess which would have been more like being surrounded by hip SoCo in Austin instead of the strip in Las Vegas. Nonetheless, we had a great time hanging out with the kids and didn’t leave the hotel to return to Stacy’s until after midnight…another late night and late morning…