final day in Paris

Okay, I'm a little late in getting this posted. My apologies.

Sunday in Paris! What a beautiful day. Mother and I slept until almost 11am! I guess all that walking around the previous few days really did us in. Luckily we decided to sleep in on Sunday when most of Paris is also sleeping late or closed. After we finally hauled ourselves out of the hotel, it actually was difficult to find a place for lunch. We saw a Mexican restaurant which we hastily dismissed (just wouldn't be the same...), and we eventually happened upon a lovely little bistro. We each got a salad (Mother--Nicoise, me--Dauphinoise) to try to keep things light. After that we just wandered around the 6th arrondissement taking in the sights. I nice lazy day. After a lot of wandering we went to Sainte Chappelle, the "chapel" built by Louis IX in the 1240s to hold the relics he acquired from the Holy Land. These supposedly included the crown of thorns and a piece of the true cross. If all this were true (and even if it weren't), Sainte Chappelle was the perfectly built place to house them. My God, it was GORGEOUS!!! The entire main floor (the second) is lined with huge windows, and when the sunlight pours through them, it's like being in heaven. So what if Louis took liberties with his chronology of the Bible notated in the windows! Anyway, I tried to upload a couple of my pictures, but they were too big (and you'd have to turn your monitor sideways to see them). So if you wanna see it, here's a link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sainte-Chapelle.

After all that beautifulness, we wandered though a french nursery on the Ile de la Cite looking for bean seeds. Long story--don't ask. It was sooooooooo crowded and fruitless (no pun intended), and we gave up quickly. We wandered back to the hotel slowly to get ready for dinner. On the way, we passed the entrance to the Orsay. Holy crap! The French take their free entrance to museums on the first Sunday of the month seriously. The line was so totally long! I'm glad we went the day before. Too many people make me nervous.

And finally, our last meal in Paris. We went to a restuarant called Au Petit Tonneau strictly on the word of a book my mother read. I had the girolle fricasse (girolles=chanterelles) with garlic and butter (what's not fantastic with lots of garlic?), sole muniere, and the prune (actually plum) clafoutis. Mother started with the rosette de lyon (fancy name for salami platter) followed by veal with mustard sauce. We kinda shared the dessert. To top it all off, we had a lovely bottle of something red. As we walked back to the hotel, the Eiffel tower did its sparkly thing again. Ah, Paris!