Au revoir to Paris

Thank you Paris for a wonderful time!  A special thanks to Michele, Stephane and Donna.  We have been able to do and see so many things with your help.  To round out our trip, went back to see
Notre Dame and the flower markets.
The cathedral is always an awesome sight that draws huge crowds, us among them.

 We are attracted to the color and variety of the flowers at the market.

 The orchids are stunning.

Then one last stroll through Luxembourg park and of course one more crepe.

Three Little Pigs was the choice for our thank you dinner with Michele and Stephane.

We were trying to choose a nice wine to go with dinner and asked the waiter for a suggestion.  He pointed to a man eating dinner, and said, "He should be able to give you a good suggestion."  He was the "producer" of the wine he provided to the restaurant.  We took his suggestion, good choice!

Michele gave us "Paris"--a beautifully illustrated book of her city.

We ended our delicious meal with Baked Alaska--flambé!

It was the perfect ending to our perfect time in Paris.
Now we're off to Bruge, Belgium in our Citroen Berlingo.

Lunch with Megan and an Evening at the Eiffel Tower

Megan, our neighbor's daughter has been living and studying in Paris for almost two years.  We had dinner with her earlier when her parents were here, but we wanted to see her again before we left.  So we decided on lunch.
We met her at the Abesses Metro and walked down to Le Basilic Restaurant.

It's a very charming little French Bistro.

Megan had duck, Tom and I had steak, all so delicious!  We had a nice visit, showed Megan around our neighborhood and walked her back to the Metro to say goodbye.

In Paris almost a month and we have yet to see the Eiffel Tower up close at night.  Having just seen Sacre Coeur at night, we're ready to take on the Eiffel.  On the Metro to the Trocadero.  Along the Seine, which is almost back to normal levels, people are enjoying the river once again.

We snag some perfect viewing spots.  It's only 9:45pm so we have to wait.

There are thousands of people who have come to do the same thing.

The vendors are out in mass.

Here it's more upscale than Sacre Coeur.  Not only are they selling "fresh, cold beer" but also wine--red, white and rose, and Champagne!  We were given many opportunities to buy, but we opted for an ice cream cone instead.  One vendor said, "Ice cream and beer--good."

This is the greatest people watching place ever.

The Eiffel Tower is surely the most photographed icon in Paris if not all of Europe.  

At 10:00pm the Eiffel started to twinkle!

Everyone was having such fun taking pictures of the Tower, selfies, groups and family photos. They were not alone, we hopped up and asked someone to take a picture of the two of us with the Eiffel in the background--could be the Christmas card!

We waited and waited for it to twinkle again, but it was not to happen again until 11:00pm.

As we headed out we passed people dancing on the patio of the Trocadero.

One last look back at that classic Paris icon.

Another late night for us, so it's back to the Metro and back home.

A day in our Montmartre neighborhood

We're staying close to home today.  We need to find a place to park our leased car when we pick it up on Thursday.  There are several possibilities, we just need to find the right one.  Guess we won't know until Thrusday.
Right outside our usual Metro Station--Abesses, we find a beautiful little park, the Square Jehan Rictus.

In the park is the "I Love You" wall.  The wall is 10 ft. x 4 ft. and is composed of 612 tiles.  The words "I Love You" are written in over 300 languages, including Braille and sign language.  It was created by Frederic Barom.

We found this park totally by accident, and I'm glad we did!

On the way down the street, we see these painted posts.

In Paris if you stand still you get painted!  They are so clever and unique.

This artist has many opportunities for his/her work!

There's a Carrefour grocery store very close to us, so we take a little time to pick up a few things to see us through to the end of our time here.

Since we are in this area, I've wanted to sit on the steps of Sacre Coeur and watch the lights of the city come on.  After all, we are in the "City of Lights."  We leave our apartment around 9:45pm and take the funicular up to the top.
10pm and still very light,

10:30, beginning to dim

and even 11:00 is not totally dark.

Vendors are everywhere trying to sell you a beer.
 Sacre Coeur is even more dramatic at night.

We didn't realize there would be a fire show!   Two young men put on a show for tips. The step-sitters were in awe of the fire twirling.

This has been going on every night??
On the way home, we see people pouring out of the bars into the street.

This has been going on every night??  We are getting old.

Laval Part II An annual street market!

After our great adventure yesterday, what would be in store for today?  Well, once a year Laval has a street fair to end all street fairs!  This time each year town merchants set up on the sidewalk on both sides of Main Street and put their goods on sale.  In addition to the local fare, vendors come from all around the region with their goods as well.  We walked from Olivier and Claire's house down to the middle of town and there it was!  Traffic was closed off to cars and the sale went on all the way up Main Street, across the Mayenne River bridge and continued up Main Street on the other side of the river.

This was undoubtedly the largest street market we have been to.  There are always clothes, hats and shoes!

But in addition there was sausage, cheese, cacti,  even a hair removal demonstration.

I loved seeing the vendors prove their wares.

We were even entertained by some sellers.

Just as we were feeling like we needed a little rest from all the walking and excitement, we decided to take in the Chateau de Laval museum.

 It was closed, but that did not stop a lot of activity in the courtyard.  The school children had made thousands of poppies to place in the yard.

We found seats to enjoy a steel drum concert!  It was fantastic!

Of course all this activity will work up an appetite, too.  Olivier had made a reservation at a new restaurant just steps from the museum.

We would highly recommend Le Bristot Du Palais!  It was delicious.  Sadly, we said our goodbyes to Olivier and Claire and thanked them for another wonderful Laval weekend.  Back on the road and back to Paris.