Had a good sleep last night, woke around 7.30, powered up the netbook and rang mum and dad. Talked for quite a while then wrote the diary while Paul was getting ready. We then walked out to look for food. Now as it happens Paul just by chance knows that there is a market on in Bastille today so we went and had a walk there. We bought some nice fruit, cherries, peaches, squashed peaches, strawberries. Then we walked back to a famous patisserie that just happens to be across the road from the hotel, Lenotre. Paul got a pain au chocolate and I bought a particularly rich looking eclair.
Fully loaded we struggled back (well not really Paul has a backpack) to the hotel in order to become fully loaded for the day ahead :) Oh yes, I also got a quiche to have the baguette which the lady kindly nuked so it was hot, very nice. We ate some of the fruit, photographed everything and then I had my unbelievably rich chocolatey eclair and Paul his pain au chocolate. We think they use good quality Belgian chocolate, very strong. We won't be dozing off this morning after all that caffeine.
We then walked to the Louvre. We stopped at a number of shops along the way for a look. Food and wine shops of course :) Then into the Louvre, after the customary shots outside first. We first went into the Richelieu section where there are a lot of statues and over the next hour or two meandered our way to the Egyptian section. For some reason we seemed to be doing most of the museum in the reverse direction to the arrows, but oh well. The Louvre is all very impressive as ever, we were pretty exhausted after about two and a half hours and then it was time for... lunch!
Now, just as it happens, Paul knew of a couple of very good reasonably priced restaurants quite close to the Louvre. We had marked them on the map last night so we headed off in the direction of the one Paul had picked, Bistrot Victoires. Their speciality is large salads, which Paul had, where as I had a steak with fries. The steak was very tender but of course could not compete with the monster duck offal salad that Paul got :) We had a half litre of rose with it as well.
Fully bloated, and a little tipsy, we made our way back to the Louvre to resume our cultural work. This time we went up to the grand hall, over 400 metres long, near to the Mona Lisa. It was pretty busy now, especially with the Mona Lisa. Paul got an audio headset this morning, looks like an iTouch in a case actually, and we had been using that off an on. The only thing with it is that the coverage is not that high and concentrates on rooms with lots of famous stuff. Also the commentaries are quite detailed so it is a bit exhausting to listen too :)
After the Mona Lisa we wandered around the picture galleries on the top floor until closing time. Then we had a look at the stores in the shopping centre that is buried under ground next to the Louvre before heading out in to the Jardin des Tuilleries. Paul bought a bottle of cold water from a hawker and then we sat for a little while by a large fountain, at least until it started to rain. Then we made our way over to the large grand buildings that face the avenue that the Louvre is on. We had a good wander here and marvelled at the room prices!
Then we made our way across the Place de la Concorde, which already has oodles of barriers set aside, presumably for the Tour, and then walked ALL of the way back to the hotel along the Seine. The road hat runs along the side of the Seine was actually closed and they had all sorts of eating places, bars, petanque playing area, a beach even, set up. I was so exhausted by the time we got back, practically keeling over. It had been such a long day and so much walking. We sat in the room for about half an hour, but there is no resting when you are on holiday. Nope, it was time for dinner!
Just as it happens, naturally, Paul had noticed this morning that only a couple of blocks from here is the oldest Bistro in Paris, Bofinger. So that's where we went. There was a short queue, about a 15 minute wait before we were seated. It is very nice inside, lovely lighting and old wooden panelling, I don't think my photo's really capture it. We both had oysters for the entree, they were served on large platter of ice. Looks very nice. The oysters themselves are large and creamy but very salty, Paul prefers Sydney ones. There were little pieces of bread on a plate under the oysters, half salted butter and onions in vinegar. We weren't really sure if we were supposed to eat them with the oysters or not :) I tried the vinegar and onion but it didn't work for me, too over powering.
For the mains Paul had a chicken dish and I had salmon, both very nice. The salmon was very tender, in a thin pastry, as good as when it's done on the BBQ, which is pretty good for something done in the over I think. Mine came with mashed potato's and Paul's with ravioli (spinach and ricotta). Paul was impressed that after the main the waiters (who were wearing Tuxedo's) cleaned all of the crumbs off the table. I of course would expect nothing less :)
For dessert Paul had an Illes Flottante (like I had yesterday) and I had a chocolate slice thingy, very rich and tasty. We had another half litre of wine with dinner, Riesling this time, which they even put in an ice bucket, all very salubrious.
Then we had to rush back to the hotel (it had been raining but not now) to see the last few minutes of the Tour. We started to do the expenses, but in the time it took the diary to load Paul had gone from “Ok lets do the expenses” to snoring :)
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