Breakfast at Angelina on Rue de Rivoli? We thought yes, but then decided non because a croissant, café, and juice is 18€… We stop, instead, at Café Rivoli Park for café crème. Dorothy, you’re not in Mougins anymore—café crème is 5€, exactly double what we paid in Provence. Hey, it’s o.k. We’re in Paris on the Rue de Rivoli looking out on the Tuileries. (Well, they’re there, you just can’t see them from here even though they are just across the street.)
We take the Metro to Odeon, stroll along Rue de l’Odeon—it’s 10:00am and the shops are just opening. Palais du Luxembourg is a lovely and imposing structure—the French Sénat meets here. We walk around the palace and through the gardens, seeking sunlight. What a difference the sun makes! We definitely will come back in an appropriate season (If I can ever get CA to give up coaching soccer, so that we can travel in May and October.).
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After checking our tourist map, we decide to walk across the Rue de Valugirard to Boulevard Raspail and then up a bit toward Sèvre-Bablone and the food halls of Le Bon Marché—La Grande Epicerie Paris. We checked out this upscale market in 2008, and remember their café, although we didn’t eat there last time.
I love the food halls of London and Paris, and this is exceptional. We wander the store a bit, but we’re hungry (no Angelina for petit dejeuner) so we soon make a bee-line to PicNic for lunch. It takes us a few moments to figure out the scheme—there’re no English sub-titles. The deal is that you get in line, say or point to the plat that tempts you. They put the order in, you move through the line to choose dessert and beverage—if you’re so inclined—and when you pay you get a number to set on your table so that the server can find you when your meal is ready.
Seating is limited but we spy two seats together and then are cut-off by a very quick little old lady. We squeeze in catty-corner from each other at a high table, and eventually with normal attrition we’re able to sit together.
My meal is really good—roast chicken, deboned, with a mélange of vegetables and white rice. CA is not thrilled with his beef stir-fry, but it fills him up. I enjoy the experience and the food. It’s been an efficient way to have lunch and regroup for the next part of the day.
CA wants to go into Le Bon Marché with me, and then we’ll split up for the rest of the day. I know from my previous visit that Bon Marché is high-end, so our visit is brief. CA wants to go back to the hotel, and I’m ready to dive into the BHV for a full-on spree.
[UPDATE: BHV is a brand of the retail conglomerate Groupe Galeries Lafayette, which also owns Monoprix.]
Luckily, I find a sterling silver bangle bracelet—one of my goals for this trip—that CA can give me for Christmas. And, I find a suitable replacement for one of the gifts I lost in the Nice Airport on Saturday. At least I can stop looking for an exact replacement, and I’m truly happy with the new version.
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Both CA and I are tickled to see the carousels on each side of the Seine where LG had her first ever carousel rides—one right after the other. She was dazzled, and then teary-eyed when the first ride was over. We walked across the Pont de Iéna and there was another carousel! We have great memories from that February 2007 trip to Paris with DM, MK and our sweet LG—at that time our only grandchild. Now there are 5 and a 6th to come in July.
As we walk back toward Trocadéro Metro, I begin wondering about my food combinations—hot wine, sausage with spicey mustard, and then pure sugar coated with chocolate. I guess that’s what people eat at Christmas markets. Sort of reminds me of state and county fairs in the heartland.
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