Day 33 of 36
Paris, France
My quiet room at Hotel de la Brettonerie worked - I slept until almost 9 am. Needed that. A deep sleep that was very restful. I woke up, got dressed and called Al to see if he wanted to meet for coffee. He had an errand to run so we agree to meet at 9:50 at the cafe he had told me about - L'etoile Manquente on rue Vielle du Temple. I got a front row seat for us and waiting for Al to arrive. I had 2 cafe au lait and a croissant. We enjoyed sitting there and people watching. Also got to watch the street cleaners as the water back-wash started on the street while we were there. It is good that they clean the streets each day in Paris - they get really dirty.
Al went off to do his errands and I headed to The Tuileries to go to the Jeux de Paume. I decided to walk and take in the sites. Everything is so beautiful here. The architecture, the people, the food, everything. The streets get so dirty during the day and the Parisians have a unique way of backwashing water into the gutters to wash them all down daily. They do this throughout the city. It works.
I arrived at the Jeux de Paume only to find out that it was closed yet again - third year in a row. The exhibition that had been there was finished and it wouldn't reopen until late October. Oh well. So I headed off to Hotel le Crillon just across the street at La Concorde. Went in and looked all around - beautiful and luxurious. Beautiful polished marble floors - immaculate.
Then I took the metro to the Left Bank and went to rue de l'Universitie - this is where Julia Child lived at number 81. Beautiful quaint street. I can see why Julia loved it. Walked through St. Germain and looked around and then took the Metro back to the Right Bank to the Bourse area and walked all around. There was some special event going on at the Bourse and they had the red carpet rolled out. Not sure what that was about but you needed tickets to get in.
I roamed all around and ended up on rue Montmartre. Headed back toward Les Halles. Stopped for a crepe with almonds - or it was supposed to be almonds. He put a paste on it with sugar. But it actually wasn't very good! Surprisingly. Ate some and threw the rest away.
Went through the wholesale jewelry district - every kind of jewelry you can imagine - but only wholesale. Stopped at Open Bar for a beer with "the boys" and enjoyed the scenery for a while. We are all the same it seems - just a different languag'e. Headed back to the hotel and called Al - it was after 6 pm and he had invited me to go to a reception where they had 5 euro cosmos tonight - but I'm just not up for that. Will rest my feet, pack my luggage, and then head out to dinner at a brassiere not too far.
Went to the Metro to check out my ticket to Charles de Gaulle. I believe my Paris Visite pass won't work and a new pass is 8.5 euros. I checked to make sure I had enough change and reserved that and then headed to dinner. I went to Le Restaurant Au Pied de Couchon which has been in Paris for a long time. I had to wait a short time for a table so had a beer at the bar. I gave them M. Laurent as my name. When they called me I couldn't understand that and just kept sitting there for a while until the maitre d' came to me. I was shown to a table for one. I had a french menu and read it over thoroughly. (I should have asked for an English menu!). I decided to get "le speciality de maison" - Le Fameux au pied de couchon. I decided to be adventuresome and try it.
The waiter brought me a plate and announced "Pour les bones". I then started to wonder what I was getting. He mentioned to another person - "It's the cheeks". Oh boy, what am I getting. So after my wine was delivered, they brought a plate that had a pigs leg and foot complete with the toes and toenails. Oh boy - can I do this? Everyone around me looked on with delight that someone was getting the specialty. But none of them were, of course.
So I took a big gulp of wine, and set in with my knife and fork. I peeled the thick skin back and inside were bones, bones, bones. In between the bones were sweet, small pieces of pork. It was good, but most of this dish was bones and fat. I couldn't bear to go into the "toes" so covered that with the skin and announced that I was "terminee". Thank goodness for the french fries and wine. I got "la couple" for dessert that was good - ice cream, fruit, chantilly, etc. What an experience.
I headed back to the hotel, finished packing and went to bed. It was a nice cool night so I opened the window so the cool air could come in. About 2 am a stupid mosquito decided to attack me. I slept under the sheet for a while and finally about 3 closed the window, madly thrashed around the room to "shoo" the mosquito and then went back to sleep. I woke up at 7:30 with a couple of mosquito bites that I was scratching!
A fun last day in my favorite city - Paris!
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