We walked from our place to the Eiffel Tower, but that wasn’t actually our destination.

We were on our way to Bateaux Parisienne’s lunch tour of the Seine. This was our 2nd time doing this tour, we’d had so much fun we convinced our friends to try it as well. We spent a little extra (75 eu/pp) for window seats and had a lovely lunch. After Kir Royals all around, we were served pate, soup, asparagus, and a vegetable salad to get us started (we each had one item). For my main, I chose a filet of beef with crispy roast potatoes (as did J.) our friends had veal with roast carrots and a roast chicken with asparagus. A cheese course followed, and then dessert: strawberry tarts for two, a Passion fruit and Pineapple compote, and a trio of sorbets. Water accompanied the meal, as did two bottles of wine. We took a ton of pictures, and had a wonderful 2 hours cruising the Seine.

From there we took the Batobus (16 eu) to Notre Dame. Its an expensive ticket, but meant to last all day for this hop on, hop off water taxi. The ride took a little longer than we expected, but we weren’t up to walking that far.

Norte Dame (which we missed the first time we were here) was glorious. That’s all I can say. Simply glorious.

Walking took us home again, and we all hung out for a bit. Then went out to dinner in our neighborhood — cheeseburgers at Café L’Atelier! This place is much more like a bar that serves food than a restaurant. Happy hour from 6-9pm, where drinks are 6.50 eu and beer is 6eu. Lots of outdoor seating. Good burgers, too . . . but make sure you ask them to cook them “Medium” or the center will be too rare to consume. (ugh). Nice fries. If you love the idea of a thick milk shake, don’t get it here. It’s rich and delicious, but is just chocolate syrup and Chantilly crème (whipped crème) blended together. It was also tres cheap: 61 eu for the entire meal (4 drinks, 2 waters, three burgers and a pizza).

I needed a break, mostly because my head cold was coming on strong and I was pretty tired even when I first woke up. So everyone else went out for awhile while I read, slept, and took a bath.

They came home in time for all of us to go out to dinner in our neighborhood. We’d tried for reservations at a couple of places I’d been recommended to online, but they were full up for same day service, so we were winging it.

It turns out we were all a little tired of ‘French’ so we realigned to Italian, and went to Villa Borghese (sorry, no real website to share). This is a nice place, not too far away, with good pasta and great service. Also, not very expensive. We had three pastas, a pizza, starters, water, and a 29 eu bottle of chianti for 125 eu.

Afterwards I. went out for a crepe, the rest of us hung out in our living room talking and reading. A nice quiet day.

We started the day with a lovely breakfast in our hotel — lots of croissants, meat, cheese, toast, yogurt, hot drinks (chocolate, cafe,tea), cereal,  and fresh-squeezed oj for 11 euro.

Then we went to Versailles.

Our Paris apartment is tres joile! (et grand!)

I’m going to be a bit of a downer here, but I wasn’t all that impressed. Now, factor in the huge numbers of crowds and how much I hate that, becuase that was definitely a problem. But even with that, I just wasn’t impressed. For some reason the fountains were turned off, and that didnt hep the grounds, which were basically just lots of fountains and hedges. Few flowers, nothing wild. Meh. (She shrugs.)

I did love the dragon fountain.

Lunch at Angelina’s however, was fabulous. Best quiche I’ve ever had, with a lovely salad alongside. The tea was tasty, and the desserts were . . . amazing. I don’t often take pictures at a meal, not wanting to be one of ‘those people’, but  I couldn’t resist. Look for yourself!

Our Paris apartment is tres joile! (et grand!) There is a huge living room with a dining table big enough for six to one side. A full kitchen, two bedrooms and baths (one with a lovely bathtub!), and a washer and dryer. The ceilings are high, the floors hardwood . . . it is just lovely.  (Here’s the AirBnB listing: “Chic & cosy Paris 6 appartment“)

Brasserie Balzar