Wednesday 8/19

Pauline in the architecture museum,
Tom, Yamina and
Pauline on the way to dinner, and the Eiffel Tower....

So this really is our last day in Paris. In the morning we completed our housecleaning of the apartment, and the packing, being careful to pack the copper in the suitcases as securely as possible. Since we had originally had almost half a suitcase filled with books and gifts that we no longer have with us, there was plenty of room. However, even though the cutting board had been measured for fit, it's sharp corners do not fit in the rounded corners of the largest suitcase, so...Tom will carry it in a reinforced Dehilleran bag.

We had arranged to meet Anne and Pauline for lunch at a favorite restaurant, the Round Pointe. The restaurant is underneath a theater, so not known by many tourists. We have gone there a few times and enjoyed the menu and the setting, and that we feel "in the know" for being there along with the various business people who populate it at lunchtime. Anne and Pauline met us a few minutes after we arrived, and the lunching began -- mine was a signature dish of salads, a few bites of several kinds, all excellent. For dessert, we decided to share a tasting menu, which turned out to be not three, not four, but five complete desserts. We enjoyed not only the desserts, but the arguing over the best -- the lava cake, the tiny apricot cobbler, the tropical fruit salad (they get their tropical fruits from Africa, which always surprises me), the ice cream, the mousse.... What decadence!

Anne had to leave us, but Pauline went with us to the new architecture museum, which had opened just the prior weekend, after some 15 years and who knows how many tens of millions of euros in renovation costs. The museum contains molds of facades and other architectural features of famous structures all over France. We joked that you could just go there and see the architecture, and avoid all the inconvenience of actual travel. Pauline remembered visiting it when she was a child, and pointed out that some of the moldings from that time preserve what has since been destroyed or been damaged.

By this time we had heard from friend Yamina, who was wiaitng in the lobby. Unbeknownst to us, Yamina had taken her medical exams on Monday, and had just learned that she had passed, and was now officially an MD. We decided to celebrate at a nearby cafe, a very swanky spot filled with "the beautiful people" and a couple of casual Americans (that's us). The only time I have ever had a pot of $12 tea, while Tom and the ladies enjoyed wine and tea sandwiches.

By now it was early evening, and believe it or not, time to consider dinner. We made a reservation at Thioux Mieux by telephone, and took a leisurely walk to the restaurant by way of the Eiffel Tower. When we got to the restaurant, I really could not quite believe that everyone was hungry again -- consider the lunch and the cafe -- but they insisted they were. So I launched into chicken and a gratin of potatoes, while Tom polished off his steak. Dessert was a signature chocolate ganache.

After dinner we walked slowly back toward the apartment, watching the Tour Eiffel as it lit up. For the millennium, twinkling lights were added, that the Parisians said was a travesty, so at the end of 2000, they were going to be removed. By then Parisians had changed their minds, and wanted them to stay. So now, a compromise, the twinkles stay on for 10 minutes at the top of the hour, and the rest of the time, the regular lights. As we said goodbye to Pauline and Yamina, with a few sniffles on my part, our view of the Tour was obscured. We detoured on our way back to the apartment to make sure we saw it again, twinkling.