on my birthday we had a full day

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today was my birthday and we celebrated el sixty six in style by starting off with a walk to St Chapelle to be early in line to see one of the oldest and most beautiful collections of stained glass in Paris . . and it's inside the walls of the Palais of Justice. then we came back to the Ile St Louis and bought some croissants, cheese, grape juice and coffee and sat on the point at a our "favorite" picnic bench and read our kindles . . . I'm really enjoying "Anything's Possible" about Aesop; then we walked over to the Jeu de Paume; we're getting pretty good at navigating our way around this part of Paris now but one cannot simply walk somewhere without stopping a zillion times to take in the grandeur and history of Paris . . understanding which direction the Seine is flowing is key for me. at the Jeu de Palm (opposite the L'Orange at the eastern end of the Jardin de Tuileries) there is a restrospective of Eva Resnyo and Laurent Grasso - photographers of the 30's 40's and 50's which made me realize that everything I've been doing has truly been done before, all black & white and very creative. The Jeu de Paume is the museum of photograhy in Paris, don't miss it if you're into photos. we then walked over to the Place de la Concorde and marveled once again at the view up the Champs Elysees to the Arch, the Obelisque and fountains with a zillion cars traveling around . . . this is where Louis and Marie lost their heads. we walked back into the Jardin de Tuileries and sat by the largest pond; all of a sudden we received a text from Martha directing us to the Place du Pyramids where we'd meet up for some champagne. we got there in time and sat by Joan of Arc and finally she and Felix arrived and we went into the Hotel Regina, found a nice quiet courtyard all to ourselves in this elegant hotel and talked for 2 hours. Felix (Martha's significant other for the last 20 years or so is a true Parisian who speaks little English but is a wealth of knowledge about politics, history and art . . . he makes his living designing and making art!) we made our way past the Louvre on the way home and they took the Metro and we walked back to our hotel to get ready for dinner. the weather is changing and some dramatic clouds are creating an amazing sunset as we sat down in the St Regis Brasserie for a light dinner and chardonnay after we which we had some Berthillon ice cream and watched the passing parade on the Pont Sully . . . . one of the best birthday's ever. thank you Zeus.

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Photos

Palais de Justice
this is where Louis and Marie were held before the executions

Jardin des Tuileries
the place is so big there's one vanishing point after another

Toni checking out the Obelisque
in the Place de la Concorde

a film crew
working in the Place de la Concorde . . . this is one of two matching fountains which are incredible

Martha, Felix and Toni
don't know how I managed to exclude myself from the picture

having dinner on the Isle St Louis
just 30 seconds from our hotel

the sunlight on the bridge
and the people on the bank

Berthillon glace
this ice cream is unmatched

sun sets over the Seine
to end my birthday day

Comments

[Andrew Easton]

Paris
Pictures are amazing, love the blog! I sent you a facebook message, I am living in Paris and would love to meet up! You can give me a call at [phone] or email at [e-mail]

[anonymous]

sorry we didn't check the emails
hello Andrew, what a shame that I just figured out how to read comments on the blog, it would have been great to see you. we're now in Dijon and onward but we do return to Paris the night before we leave for Athens on June 3. I'll call you today or tomorrow and maybe we can figure out how to catch up!!!