In Paris.
The Eurostar trip was fast and smooth and before long we were at Gare du Nord. We took the Metro to Hotel de Ville (change at Chatelet) and found the hotel La Bretonnerie without trouble. Checked in and went for a walk around the Marais district…talk about Gay Paris, this was much more so than we remembered. The gay crowd were out campaigning for Segolene Royale with the first round of the Presidential Election the next day. Eventually dined at Le Philosophe, very pleasant.

Next morning we were up early and on the Metro to Gare St Lazare where we caught the train to Vernon, then by local bus to Giverny to visit Monet’s house, gardens and lily ponds. Very attractive, although a bit early for the best of the flowers. Not too crowded however. We had a light lunch at a nearby café and walked back through Giverny, visiting a private museum of old engines and machinery which Denis found interesting. We then walked back to Vernon along an excellent cycle path and had time for a drink before boarding the train back to Paris. Dined at a Corsican style restaurant, nice but not memorable.

Saturday 21 April. We walked to the Left Bank and walked about, buying some books, checking out restaurants for our wedding anniversary dinner. We did some laundry and in the evening walked back to the Left Bank for dinner at Pres de Verre which was ‘inventive cuisine’, relatively simple but memorable. (We had never eaten parsley ice-cream before.) We then walked on to Le Petit Journal, a very small subterranean jazz club where the trad band almost outnumbered the customers. We enjoyed a couple of sets then walked back to the hotel at about 1:30am, very late for us.

Sunday 22 April. We caught the Metro to the Left Bank and bought some picnic supplies in a street market. We went almost as far as Montparnasse then walked back through Les Invalides to the Parc du Champ de Mars where we joined many Parisians on the grass enjoying lunch in the unusually warm sunny weather. We bypassed the Eiffel Tower and crossed the Seine at the Pont d’Alma and browsed the shops in the Avenue Montaigne, marveling at the prices and thankful it was a Sunday and they were shut. We eventually reached the Parc de Monceau where there were even more Parisians basking in the sun, then caught the Metro back to Place des Vosges where an excellent youth orchestra was busking and we purchased a CD. Then back to the hotel. We had dinner in a bistro near the hotel where many of the clients appeared to be gay and the waitress fussed over them in a very intimate way. Back to the hotel for a fairly early night,