Rainy Monday

From Gail:

Our first really rainy day. We had intended to go to the Chateau Fountainbleau in Barbizon today. Barbizon is about 40 minutes south of here. Fountainbleau was the royal residence for Francois 1st and Napoleon III. The guidebook says go only in pleasant weather, presumably due to the many gardens surrounding the palace, which people want to explore.

We decided instead to get breakfast and go shopping. Restaurants in Paris rarely serve breakfast after 10:00 and it was 11:30. We found, however, a lovely little restaurant next to Pompidou Center that served "brunch." Likely an American phenomenon. The sign said, "Brunch, 11-17 Euros. Then it listed several items: toasted brioche, pain perdu (French toast), eggs, lox, fruit salad, coffee and orange juice. Little did we know those were not individual items from which to choose. This brunch had ALL the items on the plate! It was yummy and we didn't eat again until 9:00 p.m. Oink, oink. Wish we had taken a picture, but that would have been gauche. It poured rain outside the whole time, but cleared up by the time we finished. We felt compelled to spend at least an hour eating so as not to offend our waiter.

After that, we returned to our apartment for umbrellas and sweaters and headed to the Galleries Lafayette, a monstrous department store. Apparently, every other tourist in Paris and then some also decided to wait out the rain in that department store. We checked things out and Kat tried on some clothes and bought a necklace. Exhausted by the crowd, we headed to the Metro and back two stops to our apartment. We had to do a "correspondence," which is to say a change of trains, which includes a long walk through maze-like tunnels and up and down a zillion stairs to our next train.

We had decided Kat would go to the Pompidou Museum of Modern Art while I napped in the apartment. I did some laundry in a very strange washing machine, emptied our wastebaskets, and the dishwasher. All this is so much more fun and glamorous in Paris! I nearly danced as I skipped from the washing machine to the drying rack where one hangs all one's clothes after washing. The "dryer" is only a centrifuge action that occurs at the end of the cycle. Everything comes out damp. But hey, I wasn't in any hurry, so who cares? I slept for an hour or so and then enjoyed reading my book.

Kat got back around 7 and around 8 we went to Monoprix, the Target of France. Very impressive store; kind of like a grocery store plus department store plus drug store plus liquor store. One of my all-time favorite Paris haunts. (Though I hope we can get to the one on the Champs Elysee--that one is REALLY big!) We picked up some fruit and brie for dinner, intending to pick up a couple baguettes on the way back at a cute patisserie we saw. Alas, the patisserie was closed, so I headed home to start dinner and Kat headed back to Monoprix to get some bread. The little loaf, kind of a cross between a baguette and a bigger loaf of bread, was really yummy, especially with brie (Kat) and lots of butter (Gail).

We're both exhausted today--think jet lag is creeping up on us again--and we are turning in early (before 11). We plan to go to Versailles tomorrow and hope to get to Fountainbleau Wednesday and Giverny Thursday or Friday. Still have to get to a flea market. So much to see and so little time!

Kat beat me to bed, so she will have to post our pictures tomorrow.

Bonsoir.