more Parisian posting

Day two:

We woke up about 8:30ish and went across the street to a tea house and patisserie. We each had a marvelous pot of tea, and I had the flakiest, butteriest, yummiest croissant ever. We then met our tour guide for the day (a man named Michael Osmond--I only u his real name because he was the BEST DAMNED TOUR GUIDE EVER!!!). He showed us around the Louvre, the Mairie de Paris, and many places in between. He was so knowledgeable about random little facts and showed Mother and me places we would have never seen on our own (the holocaust museum, original city wall, and even the gay area of town...). He even took us to a great The Salon ("the" being the french word for tea), Mariage Frere. Yes, I bought tea there, and I'm drinking it now. Not only was he super knowledgeable, he was hilariously funny and witty as well. I wish he lived here so I could see him again. During this day of walking, I swear we walked at least 6 miles but probably more. I wasn't too tired by the end of the day (at 4:45pm I thought it was closer to 2:00), but my legs, feet, and back were killing me the next day. I think it had to be the most walking Mother had done at one time in years. Bless her heart!

Now for the important stuff: food that day! Lunch was at a little sidewalk bistro on the Seine that Michael knew. I had a croque monsieur with frites and a green salad. Mother had the same. For dessert, I had a molten chocolate cake. Numnumnumnum!!! Mother had the tarte tatin (apple tart) with a local vanilla ice cream (which was AMAZING). Dinner was at a little place called La Fontaine de Mars (129, rue St-Dominique--a straight walk from our hotel down one street). Mom had something she loved, I think the duck confit. I had the typical green salad (I can't pass up a good salad) followed by steak frites with a fantastic shallot and red wine reduction sauce. There was even a "chunk" of bone marrow on top of my steak. Honestly, I had no clue what it was; I had to ask the waiter. It creeped me out, but, like my daring nature, I tried it. Ya, I don't have to do that again. Yes, I know it's a gastronomique delight, but to me it was the equivalent of eating Crisco. Greasy, not a lot of taste, and kinda icky. Because of that, I don't remember my dessert. Whatever it was, it was good as was the wine.

So that's day two. More to follow. Now I gotta get some sleep. Stupid recycled plane air made me sick with a stupid sinus infection. Do you now how hard it is to sleep when you can't breathe? That and I think I've produced more snot today than is humanly possible. I should call Guinness.