Monday 5/14
Since our train schedule changed to Tuesday, we decided to go to the Foundation Louis Vuitton.
This was our first cloudy cool day, but no rain.
The FLV promotes contemporary artistic creations.






Spent some time here going up all the floors exploring many interesting exhibits,watching videos. When you get to the top, you walk outside getting wonderful views.
We walked back to get the metro and continued on our journey. We do have certain things we do for sentimental reasons.
One of them is having dinner at Chartier, it’s not great gourmet food, it’s good food, but we go for the atmosphere, watching the waiters hustle back and forth.


Escargot, confit de canard, kir royale������

May 15
off we go to Reims.
Train was only 15 minutes late,but a pleasant quick ride. We stopped in the tourism office for some maps. Walked through center city and to the cathedral.just amazing. We did the tour of the Palace Tau. So much history to learn about dating back to the 6th century.
We continued our walk and found ourselves at Taittinger champagne house. Luckily for us the next tour was starting in 5 minutes. The tour lasts about 1 hour,learning the history, going down in their cellars,followed by a glass of champagne, We did the 19 Euro-1 glass tasting. They offer 30 and 40 euro tours with 2 or 3 glasses.. we left and needed to find some place to eat. As we got to the center of town, several places closed the kitchens at 2 , but served drinks. We finally found a place, sat out in the warm sunshine and enjoyed a late lunch, before catching our train.

Sounds like you enjoyed your surprise! I feel like bookmarking this report and referencing it the next time someone posts about a surprise trip he (it’s usually a he) wants to give his wife or girlfriend. Almost always, numerous people says surprises are bad ideas. At least in your case, I’m glad it wasn’t.

Janie, Incredible photos and a wonderful TR. All our husbands (wives, too actually) should take note And I have taken good notes on your adventure for my time in Paris in July. So glad it went well...even with the Greves. Merci !

Janie, we were in Paris just before you. I am enjoying your report and photos. You did many of the same things we did and like you do things we have done before for sentimental reasons. We always go to the fashion show and decided to go this time even with the €12 fee. It is not worth it at all and we won't go again. In the past it has been packed. Only one third full this time. We remember when the roof deck was just a wide open space. They have certainly maximized that real estate!

May 16
Today we did our cooking class with Catherine at her restaurant Reed. We enjoyed catching up with her, as we have taken classes with her before and have become friends. My husband remembered her saying heavy duty foil was hard to get in Paris, so he bought a gigantic roll at Sam’s club before we left. I made him put it in his suitcase, I didn’t need the extra weight in mine.
When we were unpacking, he found a note from airport security saying they had opened his luggage to see what was in it.
Anyway, Catherine was thrilled with her gift.
There was one other person in the class, a woman from Ohio.

We made profiteroles, cheese gougeres, cheese soufflés and duck with a mango chutney.






My friend Grace gave me this apron several years ago, and I always bring it along.
After about 5 hours of eating , laughing and drinking some wine, we parted ways.
We found out when we were in Paris that our son and his wife were expecting a baby boy. This is our first grandchild.
We had known for a few weeks and I planned to do a little baby shopping while in Paris.
I had planned to buy some neutrals, but then we got the word it was a boy.����

The dinner you cooked looks amazing. Will you recreate it at home? Are we all invited?

Yes, come on over! Bring the wine!

5/17
This trip is flying by, I can’t believe it.
Today I did a little baby shopping, then. I wanted to go to a new restaurant I had read about.
Sometimes we go for a nice lunch instead of dinner at the same restaurant. You can save a few Euros for other things.
The name of the restaurant is Baieta. It is located at 5 rue de Pontoise, in the 5th.
The name means kiss in Nice.
The young female chef is doing very creative delicious things with a Mediterranean flair. My husband had the Bouillabaieta, her take on bouillabaisse I chose the menu of the day which started out with mackerel layered under a biscuit with some anchovy butter on the base. It was so good.
My main was a cod dish with sweet potatoes. This just melted in my mouth. Bills dish was equally delicious.
While we were waiting for our lunch, they brought out 2 pieces of pissaladiere followed by tomato water. That was a first for us. We had a nice wine, spoke to a local couple next to us who told us the restaurant was only opened a few weeks ago.
Of course, I needed to try one of the creative desserts. Chocotube, with cocoa ice cream, we shared it.





After that lunch, we needed to do some walking.
It was a beautiful day out so we just wandered.
we came across some beautiful flower stands, everything is so fresh and vibrant.
As we were walking a cute little puppy was out with her owner. She was 2 months old and came right to us. Her owner allowed me to hold her .

We continued to walk off our lunch , it was a gorgeous day. We thought it was time to head to the Georges V . Someday I would love to dine here, but for now it’s a drink and some photo taking.
The flowers are breath taking in the lobby.




We didn’t waste too much time, walking up the Champs-Elysee,took a picture of the Arc, then headed back to the apartment.

Taittinger was so good. did you have the English tour. I loved the cellars. I am so glad to see what Catherine Reed looks like. Great pictures.

Macross Yes , we had the English tour, we really enjoyed learning the process.
Catherine is delightful and knowledgeable, we love her.

5/18
Another beautiful day, we are so lucky this time. 2 years ago we had rain almost every day.
We took the metro over and then got on the funicular up to Sacre Coeur. We love to go in this beautiful church.
We happened to come upon a lovely festival, celebrating the foods from the Perigord region. There were lots of samples, fois gras, meats, cheeses, wine. Everybody was so pleasant, offering samples.
Bill bought a nice bottle of wine.
We went in one of the souvenir shops to pick up a few photo cards. Bill noticed something fall on the
counter when he used his credit card. It was the CHIP from his card. I didn’t know they could fall out.He wanted to go back to the apartment and glue it. Just an FYI, they don’t work when glued!,
Oh well, luckily we had other cards.
We decided to head over to Luxembourg Gardens. Lots of people working on their tans!
We stopped for lunch, sitting in the warm sun, having some wine, bread, ahhhh.
I had to stop at Amorino for a gelato.
Chocolate, coconut ,caramel.more walking.

Time goes by so quickly while in Paris. Time to start planning another trip.

What a nice report! You look very pretty and French!

Love this report! Glad to see I am not the only one to take so many pictures of the "art of food" -- also interested learning about the Polish church, off St. Honore -- what arrondissement -- 1st or 8th? Who knows if we'll get to Paris (again), but you can never go too many times for sure. Fabulous weather as well. Hopefully report and pictures to continue......

Polish church is at 263 Rue Saint Honore ,75001

Wonderful report and pictures!