The first glass of French wine was on the plane

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Geo: 37.5406, -77.4334

The plane ride was uneventful and reasonably comfortable. I thought I was going to be trapped in the middle of the middle of the plane, but I was able to switch seats during online check-in and it made a huge difference. I got a wall in front of me and an aisle seat, so it was about as good as it could be without exchanging $8,000 for a bed in first class. No crying babies or loud talkers—very nice. I watched Zac Ephron's "17 Again" and a Woody Allen movie I had never heard of called “Match Point” where Jonathan Rhys Meyers kills his pregnant mistress and gets away with it. I also had time to watch a couple of episodes of Entorage since I wasn't sleeping. I'm not a huge fan of the show, but I enjoy Jeremy Piven's character, especially when he's on the verge of apoplectic fit.

When I arrived in Paris I don't think the customs agent even said, “Hello.” He stamped my page and I was off. Finding my bag was a little challenging as they have the international baggage carousels in two different rooms, but it was very easy to find Catherine when I came out. Our first stop was at a bakery filled with fresh baguettes, tarts, quiches, croissants and more. It was just thrilling. I honestly probably could have spent the rest of the day milling about the boulengerie eating and helping out if they would have had me. Since that would have been strange, we took two baguettes twisted in brown paper and headed home. We only stayed long enough for a snack of cheese and bread and a shower so that I could see Paris before falling asleep.

I think it would be very challenging to drive in Paris unless you were raised to it. As Catherine said, “It's important to know where you are going.” There is not room for indecision or timidity. Catherine is a very bold driver. I tried not to cringe. Street parking is very hard to come by, so we frequently ended up in garages which are expensive, but very nice. One, near the textile museum, had art in it. Some have music, all are very clean. My favorite had little lights above each space which were either green or red, so you could easily look down an aisle and tell if there was a space to be had.

Someone mentioned to me that he thought Paris was too much like D.C. Now that I have been here, I can see what he meant. The very strong the French influence is visible in not only the layout of D.C., but in the gilded statues on the bridges and the architecture of the government buildings. One thing that I think the French have done particularly well is modify very old structures with modern amenities. They also have generally done a good job of adding modern structures in amongst the old ones. There is a sport complex that has walls covered with grass, presumably as a green initiative.

I walked in and around Notre Dame. Access if free unless you want to climb up to the top and see the view. They have signs indicating that wireless access is free on the grounds, which I thought was funny, but didn't have time to stop and use. There's probably no point in trying to describe all of the places where we went, because they are so famous and widely photographed. I enjoyed hearing someone comment on the flying buttresses at N.D. How often does one get to say “flying buttresses?' If you are a 9-year-old boy, it is even better because it has the word “butt” in it.

The weather was beautiful yesterday, as it is forecast to be for the whole week. Everyone has commented at least once on how lucky I am because it has been very rainy here recently. There's no denying it, luck is good. We made use of the sun to enjoy a boat trip on the Seine that went around the island where Notre Dame sits. Along the way there are many other sites, including the Louvre, which is impossibly long. I heartily endorse the boat excursion for several reasons. It gives you a rest, takes you away from the milling crowds and the traffic and it allows you a leisurely look at the sights without the distractions of souvenir sellers and shops. The vantage point takes away the bottom 15 feet or so of all of the buildings because of the tree line. It makes everything look very clean. I also saw couples kissing on the banks of the Seine which made me feel like I was getting my money's worth; even though my own romantic partner is absent.

There is a military museum of some kind at Napoleon's home. Catherine says that it is a common place for school field trips and usually the boys like it more than the girls. I thought the grounds of it a little odd, not because of all of the cannons, which one might expect, but because the cannons are intermixed with short trees that are groomed into conical shapes, irregularly spaced about the place. I did not get near the Arc du Triomphe, but it is beautiful in the distance with a flag waving in the center. I'm told the tomb of the unknown soldier is there. The sweep of the Eiffel Tower was as majestic as imagined. I am so impressed by the design of it which dedicates little to ornamentation, with the exception of some scroll work near the ground, yet it still looks so elegant.

We grabbed lunch near the base of the Tower (yes Mike, now that I am off the plane every meal will be described in excruciating detail). I had a crepe with bananas and Nutella. I need the bananas to keep my legs from cramping with fatigue. Catherine had a hot dog which was in a French roll, slit down the middle and had cheese on top; the whole thing was then squashed flat in a panini press. It looked very odd, but I'm sure it was fine.

After our tour of most of the major landmarks of Paris, we went to the neighborhood that I think is called the Latin Quarter, not because people speak Spanish there, but because there is a university there and the students all used to speak Latin. The main street is Rue Mouffetard in the 5th District of Paris. It had a small square with a fountain and there was an open air market and shops for cheese and foi gras and shoes and books and a place with a kind of rotisserie wall filled with chickens and a bin at the bottom with little golden potatoes. Every hundred yards or so there was a window for picking up a sandwich or crepe between classes. There were also cafes in case you had more time. That would have been a very good place to spend the better part of a day as well. The object of this excursion was not just to see this charming little shopping district, but to buy what Catherine considers the best ice cream in Paris. The displays are like those for gelato in Italy where there are rows of rectangular metal pans which each have a different frozen treat of some kind. Often they are decorated with something sprinkled or ribboned across the top, so they are much more attractive than the round cardboard tubs where the employees have to scoop to the bottom. Here they scoop across so you can always see the decoration that was made on the top. At Amorino the thing to get is an ice cream scooped in the shape of a flower. One flavor is scooped into the cone and centered on top. Oval-shaped scoops of a second flavor are then pressed around the outside, resulting in a petal effect. My sorbets/gelatos were fresh and bright and delicious. I had mango in the middle and coconut around the outside which gives a kind of mango lassi effect. Bits of coconut made it chewy and very satisfying.

Shockingly, I was pretty dead on my feet by this point, so we headed back and I took a short nap while Catherine got dinner together. I woke up before Laurent arrived home so Catherine offered to show me Saint Maur. The town surprised me. It has a wonderful river that is heavily shaded by trees and a biking trail along the side. It looks like something I would expect to see in Holland. It's fairly calm and very green, but not in an unattractive way. Children here learn to kayak fairly early and there were lots of kayaks on the river yesterday because of the weather. Catherine says the children learned to bike along that path with Laurent running at their sides. Of course, homes by the river are highly prized.

The P's are not lucky enough to live at the river, but their home is on a quiet dead-end street and it is also very nice. They have a small garage which makes parking easier. Catherine says that this Sunday she and Julia will take things to an annual flea market in the town. They will sell things that they are staging now in the garage and buy more things to replace them. She and Julia love it. Laurent would not be caught dead there. Sounds a little like our house.

When we returned everyone was home and it was supper time. Laurent and Alexis had assembled a cassoulet under Catherine's direction the day before. Since this is a dish indigenous to southwest France, we had a southwestern French red wine for dinner. There was also salad and bread and cheese. The cassoulet looked a little like an apple crisp coming out of the oven, but was filled with lamb and sausage and white beans. The crumble on top was bread crumbs. It was rich and hot and yummy. Catherine prepared a beautiful plumb tart for dessert. I joked that they probably ate like this every night. Matthieu let me know that they night before he had to feed himself.

After dinner Laurent and Catherine looked at maps and guide books with me to help me plan some of our time in Provence. I feel a little better prepared now. Between the books and the maps and the GPS in the car, I think we'll be in good shape. They gave top marks to Gordes, so that will be top on the list of must-do events. This year is the 700th anniversary of the Pope coming to Avignon, so visiting his castle will be an important event too. While we mulled over maps, Alexis watched a French version of Survivor. How unfortunate that France too has been afflicted by the scourge of reality TV.

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Photos

Bakery
Taken with my iPhone soon after I got off the plane. My first French bakery.

The making of the gelato flower
Mike, she wasn't the St. Pauly Girl of Italy, but you would have liked her way better than our friend at DQ: BG

A cow for Josh
This little fellow was in the window of a cheese shop near Gelato Heaven