The second day in Paris was better than the first. My feet didn't start hurting so early in the day, the weather was nicer than Saturday until the freakish thundershower around 7pm, and I had even better meals of breakfast at home of tea, jam/toast and fruit, picnic lunch in front of Hotel de Ville (City Hall), and St. Germain restaurant dinner at Peres et Filles.
I slept in until 10am, waking up to birds chirping and another sunny Parisian Spring day. We were out of the house around noon, with a slightly more planned out itinerary than the day before. First we walked over to the bird, flower and small animal market in the Cite. At our second flower shop, we were accosted by a shop keeper clapping her hands in reprimand and yelling 'Arrete! Arrete! Ne Pas Toucher!' when Belinda slightly patted a topiary. We were all shocked in disbelief - the woman was quite abrasive and we really hadn't done anything to deserve that kind of treatment. Wounded, we pretended like nothing happened as we chatted to each other and casually (as possible) moved on to the next shop.
We were in search of a wine shop before we settled down for our picnic lunch, but being Sunday, most shops were closed. We settled on a Brouilly (Beaujolais) from a Tabac (aka Liquor Store) for 9 Euros. The Tabac attendant kindly opened the bottle of wine for us, and once we settled on a spot in front of the Hotel de Ville carousel we took turns swigging the wine between bites of ham/goats cheese sandwiches, saucisson, and apples/pears. Eve's sister joined us during lunch, and the four of us took the metro to Champs Elysees to do more window shopping. In the end, we simply enjoyed cafe cremes and a gateau chocolate at a cafe on the sidewalk and spent a fair amount of time in FNAC (like a Virgin Megastore) listening/selecting French music CDs to buy.
I slept in until 10am, waking up to birds chirping and another sunny Parisian Spring day. We were out of the house around noon, with a slightly more planned out itinerary than the day before. First we walked over to the bird, flower and small animal market in the Cite. At our second flower shop, we were accosted by a shop keeper clapping her hands in reprimand and yelling 'Arrete! Arrete! Ne Pas Toucher!' when Belinda slightly patted a topiary. We were all shocked in disbelief - the woman was quite abrasive and we really hadn't done anything to deserve that kind of treatment. Wounded, we pretended like nothing happened as we chatted to each other and casually (as possible) moved on to the next shop.
We were in search of a wine shop before we settled down for our picnic lunch, but being Sunday, most shops were closed. We settled on a Brouilly (Beaujolais) from a Tabac (aka Liquor Store) for 9 Euros. The Tabac attendant kindly opened the bottle of wine for us, and once we settled on a spot in front of the Hotel de Ville carousel we took turns swigging the wine between bites of ham/goats cheese sandwiches, saucisson, and apples/pears. Eve's sister joined us during lunch, and the four of us took the metro to Champs Elysees to do more window shopping. In the end, we simply enjoyed cafe cremes and a gateau chocolate at a cafe on the sidewalk and spent a fair amount of time in FNAC (like a Virgin Megastore) listening/selecting French music CDs to buy.
Back in the neighborhood, we went to an independent wine shop called La Derniere Goutte to look for wines for my upcoming tastings. I settled on a Chateauneuf-du-Pape for the Rhone Valley Red tasting in May, a Vouvray (chenin blanc) for my own drinking, and four other chenin blancs from various Loire Valley locations for the June tasting which will focus on all white wines (and now I'm thinking of doing a solely chenin blanc varietal tasting).
In the early evening the clouds started rolling in and gave us an ominous stare whilst we grabbed crepes with nutella/bananas and browsed the racks of Parisian postcards. The sky started to sprinkle on us on our way back to the house, and by 7pm we were safe inside watching the torrential rain, the lightning flashes, and feeling the thunder rumble. I enjoyed the view from the rooftop flat, looking out on Saint Chappelle and the aluminum roofs of the neighbors. We put in the new French music, enjoyed an aperitif of Dubonnet and waited for the rain (and hail!) to subside before we ventured back out to dinner.
On Rue du Buci, we ate at Peres et Filles, a typical neighborhood restaurant with mains in the range of 15-18 Euros. I had rabbit, and we chose a bottle of 2005 Medoc (Bordeaux) for a reasonable 28 Euro price tag. Soft cheeses were served for dessert and we were back walking through the freshly rained on streets to the flat by 10pm for an early night.
In the early evening the clouds started rolling in and gave us an ominous stare whilst we grabbed crepes with nutella/bananas and browsed the racks of Parisian postcards. The sky started to sprinkle on us on our way back to the house, and by 7pm we were safe inside watching the torrential rain, the lightning flashes, and feeling the thunder rumble. I enjoyed the view from the rooftop flat, looking out on Saint Chappelle and the aluminum roofs of the neighbors. We put in the new French music, enjoyed an aperitif of Dubonnet and waited for the rain (and hail!) to subside before we ventured back out to dinner.
On Rue du Buci, we ate at Peres et Filles, a typical neighborhood restaurant with mains in the range of 15-18 Euros. I had rabbit, and we chose a bottle of 2005 Medoc (Bordeaux) for a reasonable 28 Euro price tag. Soft cheeses were served for dessert and we were back walking through the freshly rained on streets to the flat by 10pm for an early night.
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