Three Magical Days in Paris - Day One

Greg had a meeting in Paris, so we took advantage of the opportunity and headed to Paris for the three day "bank holiday" weekend. We took the Eurostar over through the chunnel for the first time and it was really easy...much, much better than dealing with the lines and strip searches at the airport.

We popped out of the Metro at opera and were awed my the magnificence of the opera house (in my opinion, the most beautiful building in Europe). Greg gets out the camera only to find that the screen is cracked - we've had this camera all of about two moths. Grr...we decide to take photos anyway looking through the view finder (so 1990's) and as you can see, it worked for the most part!

We stayed at the Hotel Castille. It was perfect. Great location across from the Ritz and next to the original Chanel - I was in heaven. The beds were so comfortable it was hard to get out of bed in the morning.

We headed down the road for a late dinner a pretty good spot called Restaurant Flottes. I had a delicious dinner including my favorite - a cheese course! After dinner we went for a lovely walk along the Rue de Rivoli and Jardin des Tullerjes where they were having a carnival. It was a great night and set the scene for a wonderful weekend.

We woke up the next morning and headed to La Duree a famous tea house for our first pain chocolate and croissant. It was perfect. On our way out I noticed this rather striking, hansom older gentleman headed into La Duree with his wife and two children....it was non other than James Bond himself, Pierce Bronsen. Our first celebrity spotting since arriving in London and my second encounter with Remington Steele.

After a morning of shopping Rue Saint Honore and a long hunt for Christian Louboutin, we had a nice long lunch sitting outside at a cafe (Le Cafe des Inities) watching the world go by. It was perfect except for the obnoxious American couple next to us on their cell phones, but we didn't let that interrupt our experience.

After that we headed over the Latin Quarter and wandered around,to walk off our lunch and finish off our shopping. After a nap, we head back out for a dinner a Au Pied de Cochon. While the french onion soup was tasty, it's not a place I would recommend - a bit of a tourist trap. Again we were seated next to an interesting couple who discussed very intimate details of their relationship and her "exploratory" university days. After that we headed to find a better option for dessert and stumbled upon Bistrot Vivienne - a great find and highly recommended. We sat outside and enjoyed the night surrounded by only french speakers, oblivious to their conversations.

We capped off the night with a trip the the Hemingway Bar at the Ritz. It was a bit surreal going through the revolving door that I had seen so many times on the various Princess Diana tributes over the years, but I quickly forgot all about that as we were entering the bar as Pierce (I figure we should be on a first name basis by now) and his wife were leaving. Crazy. Anyway, this bar is famous as a spot where Hemingway hung out - hence the name. It very small and classic with wood walls. We sat down and were handed a menu. Greg's eyes nearly popped out of his head - the cheapest drink listed was 28 Euro or about $40! We decided that it wasn't just the drink, but the experience we were paying for, and it was too small a spot to duck out gracefully, so we enjoyed every sip of our drinks!