Paris, Day 7

We finally managed to drag Matt out of bed around 9:30 today, and had our usual delicious breakfast. Today, we didn't have anything really exciting scheduled. I had tentatively put Chartres on the itinerary, but once we worked out how much it would cost us to get there and back, that plus the fact that much of the cathedral is covered by scaffolding convinced us to save Chartres for our next trip to Paris.

Instead, we went shopping. We took the Metro to Opera Garnier, where we admired the building from the outside:



We then strolled over to Galeries Lafayette to do some shopping. We parked Matt in a cafe on the sixth floor, and made the rounds of the main building. It was a combo of a department store and a mall. It looked like a department store on the inside, but there were sections devoted to particular stores (like the Baby Gap corner). Beth got some socks, and I got a scarf, while Matt picked up a small Eiffel Tower model.




For lunch, we went up the street to Rue Jaubert, where John's iPhone indicated there were two creperies. The first one we stopped in was full, so we went to the second one, Crêpes City, which was also full, but had a table opening up soon. It was packed with workers on their lunch break. John had the "La Rustique" salad: mixed salad, bacon, potatoes, ham, and a fried egg on top:



Matt and Beth had the galette de sarrasin "L'Obelix" (Emmental, onions, potatoes, creme fraiche, and an egg on top), and I had the galette de sarrasin "La Quimper" (mushrooms, Emmental, épaule [shoulder?], and an egg on top):



On the way back to the B&B, we went to the Apple Store, strolled through the gardens of the Palais Royal,



saw a most interesting window display of rats in traps (I think it was an exterminator):



and passed by the Tour Saint-Jacques and the Hotel de Ville:



For our final dose of Berthillon ice cream, I had apricot, Matt had pineapple and grapefruit, Beth had mango and grapefruit, and John had chocolate.

We went back to Auberge de la Reine Blanche for dinner, since we liked it so much the first time. Most of the surrounding tables were again occupied by Americans. The waitress said they get a lot of Americans, but also Italians and Brazilians, and some French. We started with some escargots de Bourgogne, with parsley butter:



I insisted that everyone had to order something different than they did the first time. I had duck breast in honey sauce with mashed potatoes:



Matt had the fish of the day, with rice and a tasty sauce:



John had salmon with pesto and rice:



and Beth had penne with Roquefort sauce:



For dessert, the guys had the molten chocolate cake with creme anglaise and caramel, I had the apple tart with vanilla ice cream, and Beth had a scoop of chocolate ice cream:





All day today, Matt has been commenting on how quickly the Paris part of the vacation has gone by, and we all agree with him. It's been a great trip, and we're already discussing where our next big trip should be in a few years.