Another day of exploration and marvel in this amazing place. We set out early this morning in “the early morning rain” (another song left over from the bridge last night) in hope of getting to the Musee de L’Orangerie prior to the arrival of the crowds, to spend some quiet time looking at Monet’s room length mural impressionist paints of water lilies. WE arrived well before the museum opened and were among the first in the door. At times we had each of the two huge rooms all to ourselves. The rooms are oval with four long curved paintings in each room. There is something reverent about seeing them up close and full size. One of those experiences that is hard to describe.

We meandered back to the hotel via a cafe for breakfast, and the first cup of coffee for the day. Just saying the coffee here has us hooked. Brenda takes it as cafe au lait, while mine is black and strong enough to have to be beaten into submission so as not to having it climb out of the cup. Wonderful, wonderful flavor. Back at the hotel we caved in for a nap. How refreshing to have that luxury!

Next. After days of hoofing it, Brenda has a couple of blisters needing attention, so we located a pharmacy (pharmacie) and relatively quickly learned to discuss the relative merits of Eau Oxygenee (hydrogen peroxide) and the french term sparadrap (bandaid). All fixed.

We then headed for Les Deux Magots, a famous cafe, for a touch of lunch (if you can call four o’clock lunch). Another marvelous sidewalk experience to watch the world go by in so many strange and different ways.

Next we headed to Saint-Chapelle for a concert. Brenda had gotten tickets on line, and this seemed to be an extraordinary opportunity to visit one of our have to sites and hear an Ava Maria concert. The chapel is beautiful beyond words with towering stained glass windows all the way around. The concert consisted of a string quartet, and a lady with an amazing range of voice that filled the entire space. We sat transfixed for the hour and left in a state of awe!

Well, well now it is nine in the evening, must be time for dinner. The usual strolling took once again to Ile Saint Louis to discover new alley wide streets and hidden alcoves. Tonight Brenda found a restaurant I would likely have passed by. A tiny hole in the wall with only eleven tables. To be honest I entered with a certain amount of hesitation. The owner, host, cook, waiter, cashier, dishwasher, table cleaner, and translator of food titles was a single tee shirted individual working at an amazing pace to keep it all going. What an astounding meal. Best so far in Paris! From the first taste, to the hand written check at the end it was marvelous. Brenda had a Creme Brulee for dessert, and I had the mystery flambe dessert. Instead of just using a torch to caramelize the surface of the Creme Brulee in the kitchen, he brought out a branding iron just the size of the dish top, and did it right at the table with a rush of sweet smelling smoke and quite the dramatic flair. For mine he brought out a small metal pot with leaping flames and poured it over the top of the dessert where it continued to flame for a while. Both were delicious. It was such a stunning finish to the evening we did not even stop on the bridge tonight en-route back to the hotel.

I know for sure we have settled in, because tonight Brenda said what we both always think about places we come to love, “I could just so live here”