Charles de Gaulle

We drove to the airport to return the rental car



and got a room in the Charles de Gaulle Sheraton, one of the nicest hotels I've ever known.



Certainly the most sci-fi hotel I've ever known ...





The bed was a welcome sight, complete with robes and slippers.


the chaise lounge:


reflections in clouds:


There will be no dry skin or oily hair in this hotel room tonight ...


L liked that there was a telephone in the bathroom.


The view from the hotelroom window:




Tired though we are, and even though we're going to have to wake up early tomorrow for our return flight, we still came down to the lounge ...


to get online and drink champagne.

~~~~~~~

Next morning we woke early and ate at the Sheraton, then walked the few minutes to terminal E, which is beautiful and spacious, and makes you feel you're in a dream Mies van der Rohe is having about an endless airplane hanger ...


We boarded our plane and began our long journey back to the Nunnery...

the Musée d'Orsay

We visited the Musée D'Orsay, where there are many beautiful things inside.



Many beautiful things.



haystacks so close you could find a needle:

Notre Dame de Paris

We visited Notre Dame, more or less by accident.






Inside the Cathedral was a museum where a thin man with glasses sat collecting fees from those who wished to enter. I asked him:

Sabitathica: What's inside?
Man with glasses (in slow and careful English): It is a museum. With many beautiful things.
Sabitathica (thinking): Hmm ... hey, wait a minute! I like beautiful things! This sounds like the perfect museum for me!

And indeed there were many beautiful things inside.


Many beautiful things.

the birthday dinner

My fiftieth - I mean fortieth - birthday dinner began on the balcony of our hotelroom with local wine we bought on the Canal. The concierge was kind enough to provide us with wine glasses. We sat and toasted and talked ...


and then walked to the Cafe Louis Philippe on the banks of the Seine, which I can highly recommend.


We had:
an aperitif of anis, some red wine, and Perrier
the glasses for which looked like this:


Then an appetizer of tomato stuffed with warm goat cheese.

For our entrees, L had the rib steak and I had rib of lamb.

And then for some reason, without any prior communication, the couple at the next table offered me one of their frogs' legs, which I've never had before. They must have known we were visitors and decided to help us to have a richer French experience. The frogs' legs were very good, and they even gave us some of their white wine to go with it.

For dessert, L had the Rum Baba and I had my new second-favorite dessert: prunes in Armagnac with vanilla ice cream:

omg

After dessert and espresso, our waiter spontaneously and of his own accord brought us two glasses of Calvados. There is much generosity among the French. The perfect way to end a perfect birthday dinner.

~~~~~~~

It began to rain as we walked from the Seine back to the hotel and we watched a lightning storm over the city through the hotel window.

Paris

When we got back to Paris


we made straight for the Picasso Museum, which was stunning and which I'm still recovering from ...


and then it began to rain, so we stopped into a cafe.



We found a good hotel and made ourselves at home. The view from our balcony:





I haven't mentioned this yet, but a few days ago on the boat I banged my right knee hard on a mooring bollard while we were going through a lock. It hurt like bloody hell and still bothers me each step I take. City walking doesn't help.



But it's worth it.


Our hotel is two blocks from the Seine:





The Seine!