Friday, June 29, 2012

Thursday, June 28 Louvre, shopping and dinner party

Wednesday was a lost day. I didn't want to stray too far from a bathroom and Ford seemed happy for the rest.

Thursday I was ready to go again. Ford said that he hadn't slept well and I told him that I hadn't been able to walk his legs off, so he was't tired enough.

We started at the Louvre. (Along with one hundred million other people.) We went in by way of the inverted pyramid.



This used to be a fabulous way in because no one knew about it. NOW, IT IS PUBLISHED ON THE WEB SITE FOR ALLTHE WORLD TO SEE. Bummer.

This pirate seemed to be the teacher of the class that went in ahead of us




We did manage to see four of the big five. We were pushed along to the Venus de Milo. It is always the worst crowd there. On our way to the Mona Lisa, we saw the Winged Victory. I was pleasantly surprised. The crowd was much more manageable than when I was there with Matt. We were there at the height of the Da Vinci Code and there was a long queue to get into the room. This time there was a crowd right in front of her, but not out the door. We walked in the really ornate room with the crowns and Ford explained to me that they were on touch sensors.

We decided to wander through some rooms away from the crowds and found the Egyptian Scribe, and the medieval Louvre. Having had enough, we shopped on Rue Rivoli and found things for all.

Ford did have the excitement of seeing the police search (and pretty comprehensively pat down) 4 girls. Since we had seen them before racing pell mell in front of us with a young man, we figured he had the goods and the police were going to come up empty.

It was beastly hot, so we went home to shower and rest before going to a dinner party given by Charlie and Deborah. Charlie was Chuck's roommate at Princeton. They had returned the day before from a fabulous party in Marrakesh and were leaving on Sunday for Italy. It was really luck that we were in Paris at the same time.

Their apartment is on the 5th floor without an elevator, but I made it. Their friends Louis and Luz made up the party. Louis is also a Physicist. Deborah very kindly told Ford that she was making Turbot, but was willing to make him a hamburger. He took her up on the offer, requesting a little cheese on it. Since, in France, no one cooks anything "well done", it was a little rare for his taste, but he ate it well. We all had a delicious first course of a pesto pasta. The pasta comes in a thin round and is only available in one small area of Italy.

We, of course, had nice wines to complement each course.

For dessert we had Mara des bois, which is a fabulous kind of strawberry, and whipped cream.

It was late, so we headed home, arriving just behind Marie. She had been invited to a dinner party, too. (we were close enough, that we were probably on the same train but in different cars.)









Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

No comments: