My admiration too at your wonderful storytelling skills Nikki!
I have really enjoyed your trip report and have seriously ( marked and noted on my special Paris self-made map) the eating experiences you had. One in particular interested me - Le Temps des Cerises. I have had this noted for 2 years now.
Also, I have eaten at Bistro du Peintre twice. This last May I took my DH and he wasn't so keen on his dish. Too much aubergine. They were a bit bossy about the terrace and where we sat. Good heavens, does it matter if I am at this table or one or that?! We will give it another try next year if it is open in late August.

Nikki, that waiter has been at Au Vieux Chêne since our first visit in 2007, and having peeked into the kitchen on each of our four visits, it has always been the same <i>équipe</i> in there, too.

On Tuesday evening the waiter asked us where we were from. Canada, we said. Both of you? Yes, why do you ask? Well, and here he turned to me, your French accent is very different. How so? Well, I thought you might be Italian.

Ok, I was jetlagged, but I think I'm going backwards, not forwards.

elsiejune, thank you for that comment, above.

"Well, I thought you might be Italian."
Great anecdote!

Back in 2000, our exchange student from Normandy told us how strange Celine Dion's accent is. The French are quite proprietory about their language

NIkki, This was a wonderful report. Agree with everyone about your lovely writing style. I have a pink pin in the shape of lips from Inge Lex. Several years ago, DH and I passed her shop and admired her tiny stitches. I'm so glad to hear that she is still there.

Brava!

Nikki,

I am almost as sad that your trip is over, as I am when our trip is over. That's because you made it so real and immediate. The details are the story. Thanks.

My consolation is that Anselm is there now and we can look forward to another wonderful report. (No pressure, of course!)

Anselme: do not brood. When I try to speak my old school french to my belgian friend, she falls about laughing, and says I have a Marseillaise accent! go figure. I've never been to Marseille, and I think my accent and my idioms are morefrom the 40's and 50's than from Marseille.
May we all continue to learn what we can - and waiting for yet another wonderful Anselme Adorne report - Nikki will be a tough act to follow but I think you can do it!

Hi Nikki, Sounds like you had a wonderful time in Paris in Nov. I just returned from my Paris in Nov (and Cote d'Azure) trip a few days ago ( hence the reason I am up reading fodors and it's not even 6am on a Saturday). Can't wait to read your report in detail (I just skimmed) but your photos are wonderful. I am editing my photos now and so many are similar to yours - the light at this time of year is very different from March or July. Glad you had a good time. I envy your ability to write such a long report so quickly.

taconic, perhaps your French teacher was from Marseille?

Friday morning I finish packing, have a Gerard Mulot lemon tart for breakfast, throw out the trash, lock up the apartment, and go outside. The shuttle I have ordered arrives right on time. But there is a sign on the highway that there is an accident at the entrance to the Périphérique. The driver finds an alternate route and we pass through an area of Paris I have not seen before.

We drive along a road surprisingly lined with palm trees. Who knew you could grow palm trees in Paris? At the end of this road is a startling art deco building, the Palais de la Porte Dorée. Later research tells me this building used to house a museum of African and Oceanic art that has been merged into the new museum at Quai Branly, and that there is now an immigration museum and a tropical aquarium inside.

We hit more traffic once we are on the Périphérique, but we still get to the airport with two and a half hours before my flight. There is a line of vans that say “Gendarmerie” along the entire entrance to the terminal. I make my way inside and am greeted by something resembling chaos.

The lines to check in reach for miles. There is whistling and chanting from the direction of the security checkpoint. An airline employee tells me that customs workers are on strike, and that the immigration area has shut down. Nobody can pass through passport control in either direction. This continues for about an hour and a half. Some people say that flights will leave at their scheduled times even if people can not get to them. Others say that the flights will wait for immigration to open up so that people can get to the gates.

By the time I make it to the gate, the flight is boarding. We actually pull away from the gate only half an hour late. The guy sitting next to me has no idea that there has been any problem. I guess he arrived just in time to make it through security before the disruption. We talk during the flight. He has been in Paris on business, staying at La Défense. This has been his first trip to Europe. He is as enthusiastic as a kid at his birthday party. But somehow he has managed to avoid finding good food in Paris. He says he ate at his hotel most nights and it wasn’t very good. Since this is the third time on this trip that I have heard a similar story, I have to believe that many tourists have this experience. It is truly puzzling.

The flight is uneventful, just the way I like it. My luggage is all there, even the extra duffel bag with dirty laundry. There is an inexplicably long line to get through customs after picking up the bags, but I have nothing for the little dogs to sniff or the x-rays to scan. Alan is waiting for me, and we drive back home to the real world.

Regarding not eating good food, I must confess that I myself have been to a lot of cities where I never looked for the good food and just ate what was easy. Part of this is not being a foodie and another part has to do sometimes with having to go somewhere you don't want to go and therefore making it unpleasant for yourself on purpose.

What sick people we can be sometimes.

pictures 4 through nine are of the Porte Dorée and the Musée de l'Immigration:

http://travel.webshots.com/album/573914074zHYdWs

Well Nikki and yk, I would have a chat to you about a performance. I love that interaction whether travelling or at home, I too love the feedback and not knowing the expertise of the person I am chatting with. I learned very quickly that people pass in and out of your life when travelling. Maybe a few hours on a train and then you part ways, or a quick coffee stop in a cafe. This happened to us in the cafe in Musee d'Orsay, we heard an Australian couple chatting at the next table. There had been a significant Rugby match in Sydney the day before, so my hb asked if they knew the final score. Turned out both men support the same tragic team and were instant soul mates. We've had lots of encounters like this, and have come to love them.

Nikki - fabulous report. Where do you find your restaurant reviews. We tend to just read the menu outside and 'follow our nose' in Paris, but next time I would love to have more of a definite plan.

Kerouac, "another part has to do sometimes with having to go somewhere you don't want to go and therefore making it unpleasant for yourself on purpose." Are you sure you aren't my husband?

Michael, that building looks as astounding inside as outside.

Cathie, I find most of my restaurant suggestions right here on Fodors. I always have a much longer list than there is time to try. But the places in the neighborhood of my apartment were mostly places I tried without recommendations.

Isabel, I look forward to seeing your pictures.

Tod, there is no such thing as too much aubergine.

Anselm, you didn't sound Italian to me.

Nikki, I finally caught up with the end of your TR. Like others, I'm so sad this was the end... Next time, you'd better stay longer so that we have even more to read. Thank you again for such a well-written TR.

cathies, just a few days ago while I was at the LA Opera, I chatted with the couple next to me. They drove to LA from Utah but previously they had lived in Philadelphia (where I also lived for several years). It turned out we had attended the same opera performances in Philadelphia (this was 10 years ago).

Merci! Loved your report.

Well Nikki, first you taught me to sleep in Paris and I think the list I have made from your report will redefine how I eat! ....

Nikki, this is the second TR of yours I have read. I have enjoyed this one just as much as the last. Thank you for taking the time to share your memories!

Really fun report! Yours are always good. Only part way through, but wanted to comment so I could find it again.

Nikki,

About bracketing shots for skies-- I've taken a few pictures with two different exposures but never got around to figuring out how to put them together. Yesterday I finally played around on Photoshop Elements, but it took me a whole afternoon just to do two picture, and with not-great results. Can you recommend any online tutorials for that?

Thanks to all for the continuing nice comments. I really appreciate them all.

Seafox, I don't think "sleeping and eating in Paris" would have been as interesting a title. Well, maybe "eating and sleeping my way through Paris". A thought for next time.

Fifi, I don't put the bracketed shots together. I just pick the one that comes out the best. I have never learned Photoshop, even though there are things I would love to be able to do (such as straightening out all those shots that I have to discard because the horizon is just a little bit crooked).