Pleasures of Paris

---

Geo: 48.8566, 2.35097

Last night Fletcher and I had our own La Chaines dinner. We went to a great restaurant, Bofinger, close by our hotel at La Place de Bastille. This was first class, with great service and comfortable ambience. We had a three course meal with wine at less than half the cost we would have paid for the official dinner. An enjoyable evening!!
This morning we took the Metro to the Musee Marmottan-Monet.We arrived too early so went for a walk in the Bois de Bolougne. we saw the lake and many people jogging and enjoying the outdoors.
We then returned to the museum This has the largest collection of Monet paintings in the world, thanks to the donation of Monet's son, Michel. It is also an interesting building in itself. We went into the building and went down into the basement where there is an amazing collection of Monet's paintings of waterlilies, the Japanese bridge as well as some of his London and other paintings. They are beautiful!!! We walked through the rooms of the museum where there were other Impressionists, particularly some beautiful works by Berthe Morisot, one of the few women painters of the time. Other paintings were by Manet, Renoir, Degas and Sisley.
From there we went on the Metro to Bercy. Fletcher had stayed here during the World Indoor Championships and had remembered a great area of cafes and restaurants. We found this interesting area, Bercy Village, where today it was packed with families strolling through on a sunny Sunday. We had a lovely lunch of
Tart Flambe, a favourite of Alsazce which we enjoyed when we were in Strassbourg.
We then met up with Norm and Serena at St Michel and heard about the dinner we had missed. It was lovely just to see them and enjoy a drink or two on a beautiful sunny afternoon.
From there we walked back to the area near the Bastille. We had dinner at a cafe on the Rue St Antoine and then returned to the hotel. Tomorrow we pick up our car and head down to the Loire Valley. The last three weeks of the trip will be a meandering tour, where we can wander where we want so we both will be relaxed when we return to reality and work!!!!

---