Ah, Paris

 Our flight arrived in Paris at about 10 pm.  Golda and Ruby were beside themselves with happiness.  They loved Paris the first time, and then last summer, they passed through the city twice, once at the airport and once on the train, and didn't stop there.  So they were elated to once again set foot in the city of their dreams.  From Orly, the cheapest way for 4 people to get into the city is by cab, so we jumped in with a Senegalese driver who was the slowest, most cautious cab driver ever.  He had a buzzer that would go off if he exceeded the speed limit, so he was crawling along with cars whizzing by on both sides.  He was the Don Carlos of cabbies!

We were disoriented because we had asked to go to St. Michel, but there was a big, ugly iphone add covering the whole facade of the Conciergierie, the building where Marie Antoinette was imprisoned and where her tiny son died in chains.  So we couldn't get our bearings, that being the building directly in front of us.  Once we saw the South Tunisian pasrty shop, though, the girls squealed with delight.  We are at our destination!  As soon as we knew where we were, we hastily jumped out of the cab and walked across the river to drop our bags off in the apartment.  Our host, Pierre, let us in and commenced giving us information like, "This is a towel for the shower" and "This is a refrigerator."  We were burning to get out on the streets!

We looked at dozens of apartments on airbnb.  Looking for apartments in Paris is my mom's favorite thing to do, so we had to finally choose one, so that Coco could get back to her regular life.  After we did decide, she was depressed for two days, not having the thrill of the hunt to buoy her up.

The one we settled on is on Ile de la Cite, around the corner from Notre Dame to the north.  If you're standing there looking at ND, you just have to turn to your left, walk one block, and turn down a charming little side street.  The police station was across the street, so the door to the courtyard wasn't even locked!  You just had to buzz in, but anyone could do it.  Obviously a safe neighborhood, and quiet.  The best part was the view.  The towers of Notre Dame right outside the window!  I never understood the bell schedule, with the different parts of the mass and whatnot, but they rang all the time, giving our little apartment a magical quality, along with the pure gold light that drenched the white buildings each morning and night.

Even though it was 11 pm when we arrived, the Latin Quarter, or at least this part of it, is a lively place until well into the night.  Our first stop was the gyro place where Scott ordered an "Extra pita grec."  Second stop, the crepe place on the corner by the St. Michel fountain where our Turkish guys actually remembered us!  There was one guy last time who let Freestone help make the crepes.  He kept calling Freestone "Chrisophe."  This time, one of the guys said, "I remember you.  I see many people, but I remember you."  One of the best moments of the trip.

Oh, but we weren't finished with our bacchanalia yet!  We had to, just had to, get gelato at Amarino before we went to bed.  The energy of the Latin Quarter had already seeped into us, and I think it kept us going for the duration of our time in Paris.

 We woke up to this!  Imagine all those vines, how green they are in the summertime.  Paris was just feeling spring, each branch and bush on the cusp of bursting forth.

 Breakfast: Yop drinkable yogurt.  And Look!  The apartment had the same mugs we have at home!

Our courtyard had doors that looked like they were once stable doors.  This one was adorned with numerous dressage awards from years ago.

We laughed at Ruby our first morning out because she was dressed exactly like Coco!  She had soaked in every one of Coco's travel tips and Paris tips, and had the outfits down, as well as being prepared for anything.  At one point, Scott commented, "I wish I had some hand sanitizer," as Ruby simultaneously pulled some out of her bag.  She always knew exactly where to go and what to look for.  We called her "Little Coco."

Every morning, we walked into Notre Dame, which was usually empty.  By later in the day, the square was teeming and the line to get in stretched a hundred yards.  So if you go, go at 9 am.  Anyway, we were sitting on wicker and wood chairs in this immense, massive, monumental, soaring cathedral, built in the 1100's, and Scott said, "Do you think they had chairs back then?"  We laughed at the thought that humans who were capable of building Gothic cathedrals wouldn't have been able to manage building a chair!  For the rest of the trip, chairs were the big joke.

The Musee d' Orsay was high on our list of priorities, and it lived up to every expectation.  As per Coco's instructions, Ruby led us straight to the rear of the old train station where we rode the escalators straight to the 5th floor, while the rest of the crowd started on the ground floor.  The only disappointment, and it almost killed me, was that a huge Van Gogh exhibit was due to start the very day after we left Paris.  Arg!  Most of the Van Goghs were off exhibit, getting ready for their special show.

We were wishing we had two pairs of feet, one to wear and one to charge.  Then we could switch one pair out when it got tired and put on a freshly charged pair.  Wouldn't that be nice?  All of our feet were probably irreparably damaged by the wear and tear, but oh well!

Walking along Rue Jacob toward St, Michel after the museum, we happened upon the famous macaroon shop, Laduree.  Isn't it beautiful?

We are not big fans of the diminutive, vastly overpriced macaroons, but we couldn't resist some of the other delicacies.

 Posh restaurant across the street from our apartment.  We took a picture of the richly decorated interior and sent it to Coco with the caption, "Where we told Coco we had dinner," followed by a picture of us sitting on the ground eating gyros, captioned, "Where we really ate dinner."

Around every corner, there is something deliciously, extravagantly beautiful.

Scott in the "duty free zone," laughing about chairs in the middle ages.  Each time we made it back to our place, we broke out some passionfruit juice or something and ate the pastries we had procured during our walks.  Before long, we were ready for the next thing...