Paris as always, just lovely...

Arc de Triomphe

We've had four days of fun in Paris.  Arrived on time and into our friends' car for our ride into the 18th, the côte de Montmartre where they live.  An evening of good food, excellent wines and conversation.  John Lutz and Eric Tolbert are great hosts.   Our room overlooks a five street intersection, with such a Parisian air about it.

Montmatre

On Sunday morning, the streets were quite deserted until we arrived at the local market.  Fruits, vegetables, and cooked chickens went into the shopping bag.  (This morning, it's croissants from the boulangerie across the street.)  After breakfast we began one of our marathon walks, which have reached as long as six miles (10km), a day.  The view on Montmatre is always impressive, though the church, Sacré Coeur, atop the hill has always left us cold, hence no pictures of it.   From there we headed down, southwards, to the center of the city, through Pigalle and the local neighborhoods, to Gare Magenta, where we took the RER train out to see friends in Le Perreux, an older eastern suburb in the Marne valley.  It was long conversations there with much interest in the American election and whether Hillary Clinton would succeed.   We have found universal loathing in Europe for The Donald, and fear about Cruz and Rubio.  Not much support either for Bernie, whom most French and English, if they are aware of him, consider fringe.  Explaining the situation to those who don't quite understand American politics is often difficult, starting with the tripartite nature of the American government...adding that the discussion is often in French makes it a still more interesting endeavor.

Friends, the Leclercs 

Dinner with our friends the Leclercs, whom we have known for 20 or so years and visited in Brittany, was paté, which for this trip has been a staple, followed by lotte (monkfish) in a sauce américaine, wonderful cheeses, including a round delightful thom cheese from the south, and a lovely St. Émilion to go with it.   A marvelous orange cake completed Marcel's efforts in the kitchen, while Collette chatted with us, and their grandson, René, who has visited us in the States, whose enjoyed we enjoyed.  He's a film student here in Paris now.  Very grown up at 20, compared to the 15-year-old visiting years ago.

Monday was a day for puttering, John took the day to walk from Montmartre all the way to the Louvre, over five miles, and enjoyed every minute of it.  He spent a few minutes in the Galleries Lafayette and Printemps department stores, which he did not find much different from Nordstrom's now, and was amazed at the security officers checking all bags on entry.  He grabbed a baguette sandwich with tomatoes, salami and lettuce from a local deli and munched as he walked to find the bus to take him back to Montmatre.  Doubling the miles would have been more than he could face by that time.  Hosts John and Eric produced a lovely meal of beef filet and an Italian grilled salad from a local restaurant.   Much and many very good wines.

Eiffel Tower from Luis Vuiltton

Fondation Louis Vuitton

Yesterday we took off for the Fondation Louis Vuitton in the Bois de Boulogne.  It's a Frank Gehry building and it is magnificent.   We had loved Gehry's Disney Hall in LA; this is better. The structure with its floating sides is meant to blend into the city scape and the Park, which it does like a cloud.   The views of the city and park from inside are prismatic.  We didn't care much for the modern Chinese art on view, though.

We spent the afternoon walking throughout the city with a late lunch at a café. In the evening we took the train to a friend's house on an island in the middle of the Seine in Poissy to the west.  From the dining room windows we watched the darkened silhouettes of barges moving up and down the river, with their lights marking their outlines.  We enjoyed stuffed, boneless, guinea hen with gewurtztraminer from Alsace, preceded by champagne and followed by lovely cheeses and chocolate cakes!  Can't say we aren't eating well, but with all the walking, John seems to be losing weight! 

Electric car plugs

Today we will head off to the Pompidou and then to a local restaurant for dinner. 

Some thoughts:   There are electric plugs all over the city for little electric cars like Smart Cars--a great idea.   The Metro runs every two to three minutes which makes taking an intra-city train ride easy.  No residence is more than 500 yards from a station.   The buses, too, run very regularly, and wind through the narrow streets.  If you don't have the equivalent of a WMATA Smart Trip card, though remember to validate your ticket.  If you are caught with an unvalidated ticket, its a 40 euro fine!   Trains, too, are really good.   We took an express to Poissy last night.  16 minutes from Gare St. Lazare non-stop.