Absolutely agree with socialworker! What a great guy!

socialworker and Kristinelaine,
Not such a great guy, but still in love after 42 years!

Les,

Thanks so much for your lovely trip report! I've been coming to Fodors for almost 7 years now and I never knew that Stohrer operated a ice cream stand outside there shop...are you sure they just weren't selling Berthillion :)

Did you find out if they made it themselves or bought it from another company?

Anna,
I don't know if they make their own ice cream or buy it, but I'm almost certain it's not Berthillion. For one thing, I believe that cafes selling Berthillion advertise that fact because of the reputation. But there was no doubt in our minds that this tasted better than Berthillion (and we ordered the same flavors in all cases, so the comparison should be valid).

Les - a great trip report. Thanks for the info on Monoprix. We have rented an apartment in the Marais over Xmas - there will be 3 families - 11 people so we will be doing a major grocery shop.

Many years ago, we stayed with my aunt & uncle near Bir Hakeim Metro. My husband is a chef and my uncle (who never shops) took him to the local Monoprix. Then it cost something like 10 francs to free the shopping cart. They got into a long conversation with the butcher and then turned around to see their cart had be snatched. They were both quite peeved.

Thanks, Les, for an excellent report. Spending a month in Paris is on my future agenda.

In retrospect, do you wish you had stayed longer? Done some things differently? Explored more?

Treesa,
We both feel that you should always end a trip satisfied, but wanting to come back for more. I can still look at Paris as a city to be further explored, and that's exciting.
Over the years our experience has been that one month is a good amount of time for a trip. We took six weeks on our Australia / New Zealand trip, and felt that it was too long (you guessed it, by two weeks!).
I doubt that you'd ever be able to see everything in a city like Paris, no matter how long you stayed. We lived in Europe for 4-1/2 years, traveling every weekend and holiday, yet when we re-visited in 92, the best part of the trip was seeing new places that we hadn't seen when we were living there.

Les, and to think you almost didn't write a report because with Paris, everything has already been said. pe shau!

No doubt I loved your report. We stayed in the 3rd right by Arts et Metiers and really fell in love with this area as well.

Thanks for giving me a smile today.

Eileen

Les, I thoroughly enjoyed your report. You had me laughing out loud and my favorite line was: "by the third lock, you'll wish that you could jump ship and do something with your life!". You're doing it the way we all should - taking our time and sharing it with someone we love.

Les, do you remember which ice cream flavors you had at Stohrer? I'm always noting down flavors that people loved, and now I have another reason to visit Stohrer!

Anna,
Vanilla and framboise.

Les,
What did you have at Bofinger?

Loved your report!

MademoiselleFifi,
We had onion soup. It was good, but not remarkable.
We stopped mainly to see the restaurant, as we were passing by on one of our strolls. We enjoyed the visit.

Thanks, Les. I'm no foodie (more used to getting just baguette sandwiches and crepes on-the-go), but as an Art Nouveau addict, I'm been dying to see the decor at Bofinger. I've never dared to go (especially when travelling solo) because the place looks so formal in photos that I assumed people only went there for multi-course dinners. So glad to hear that I can just drop in for a soup or dessert on my next trip.

What a wonderful report, Les! It sounds like such a lovely trip. Thank you for writing and posting.