Eastern Europe, Day 19 – Sunday, June 2, 2019

Paris

We slept until 8:30 AM, something that never happens at home. Nick and I accompanied Jose-Maria to get croissants for breakfast. I love the friendliness  and politeness of both the store clerks and the customers!  After breakfast,  we went to Rue Mouffetard, where locals do their food shopping. There has been a road in this location since Roman times, and the current road, open to pedestrians only, is one of our favorite places to explore. Each shop on this street specializes in one type of food, and they do it perfectly. There is a boulangerie for bread, a boucherie for meat and poultry, a poissonerie for fish, a produce shop, and of course, a patisserie for desserts. There are also cafes for al fresco dining. You might even see couples dancing!  We picked up supplies for lunch.

Nick wanted to see Notre Dame after the fire,  so  the four of set off on our walk. We love the Jardin des Plantes, a 70 acre botanical  garden that contains several museums as well flowers. Jose-Maria  and Agnès  often bring their youngest grandchild there for  picnics. On this day,  lovely and fragrant roses were in bloom. Then we walked along the Seine, seeing many boats doing river cruises, many pedestrians with their families, many  people on self-propelled vehicles such as bicycles and scooters. Eventually we reached the rear of Notre Dame.  We found that that the front was blocked off, so we couldn’t get any closer.

We took the metro to get back to their flat, where we enjoyed a lunch of caprese salad,  bread, a variety of cheeses, charcuterie, and for dessert, fresh cherries.

Later in the afternoon, Agnès and Jose-Maria’s daughter Alex came over. Because the family lived in London when Alex was a child, her English is excellent. We have known Alex since she was a quite young and we reminisced about previous visits, both ours and Carla’s to Paris, and hers to New York. We so enjoyed being with her. Nick was happy to show  the three of them some of the videos that are in his computer, including the flight of  our son Nicholas’ weather balloon, and our kitchen renovation at super speed so that it takes only two minutes to see.

For dinner Agnès prepared a meal that I serve at home often: tortellini with a tossed green salad, and for dessert, fresh fruit.

One thought on “Eastern Europe, Day 19 – Sunday, June 2, 2019

  1. I also love the Jardins des Plantes. And the natural history museum attached.

    Sounds like a yummy lunch!

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