New Year's Eve

We got up late Saturday and did not make it to the Fondation Louis Vuitton after all.  Our tickets were for 10:00.  Since we had not gone to bed before 1:30, we found it just too demanding to get up and dressed and out the door in the cold weather.  So, we stayed inside in the morning trying to figure out the best way to make phone calls to each other and to family.

In the afternoon, we went for a walk around the Hotel de Ville, the BHV, and the marais.  We had lunch at the Sarah Berhardt, located across from the Chatelet Theatre.  We had eaten there before and knew it was a good place for lunch.

We walked around a bit and eventually returned to the Ile St. Louis to buy wine, flowers, and pastries.  We wanted to take our host, Josephine, some flowers.  After a short rest, we got up and got dressed and let at 7:15.  When we saw that there were no taxis near Notre Dame, we panicked a bit.  We were lucky though to hail a taxi across the street near St. Michel.  Another thing we noticed as we got closer to Josephine's--many streets were blocked off.  That should have been a sign of things to come, but we were excited about our evening and did not consider such things.

Josephine received us as only she can.  She had a butler, Joseph, who opened the door, took our coats, and generally helped out with the evening.  After champagne, we sat down to a marvelous dinner--fois gras (two kinds), salad, followed by capon and a puree.  For dessert, we had what looked like a type of charlotte russe.  It was very light and tasty--really quite nice.  Afterward, we had coffee and a pousse cafe while we welcomed the new year.  It was a lovely evening.  Then the adventure began.

Josephine called a taxi and said it would be there in 7 minutes.  We descended the stairs and waited outside.  No taxi.  We went to the Plaza Athenee to check out the taxi stand.  No taxis.  We returned back to Josephine, called up to her, and found out the the streets were blocked off and no taxi would come.  She called again, and she convinced the taxi company to pick us up at the corner of Marbeuf and Francois I.  We left in that direction.  Once there, we were made aware of the fact that there was no traffic and, hence, no taxi.  I very nice policeman told us to go to the Point Alma.  We walked in that direction and found a big crowd of people all trying to get home.  We tried entering the metro, but there were too many people.  We crossed the bridge and wanted to take the RER.  We found the right one and were waiting for it to arrive when the word "retardé" appeared on the screen.  I knew then there would be no RER.  Finally, we decided to walk.

After walking about 20 to 30 minutes, we finally saw a taxi with a green light--but on the other side.  Reginald ran to see if he would take us, and after some negotiations, he agreed.  He had come to pick up a ride, but the man did not appear.  As we got in, a young lady asked if she could share our taxi.  She seemed a bit distraught, so we said yes.

The driver took us home, and we arrived a little after 2:30.  What an adventure!  We decided that it was foretelling what 2017 will bring--lots of adventures that are at first scary and perplexing but which will eventually yield good results.

Friday night jazz

The High Society Jazz group from Paris played Friday night at the club Le Petit Journal, and we were fortunate to be there for the three shows.  Sophie had invited us, and we were thrilled to be able to see Patrick play with his band.  This is the New Orleans style jazz, mostly from the 1920s.  The leader, Daniel, introduced each piece with the date and the composer, so it was almost a lesson in the history of jazz.  The group is lively and fun, and the singer, Pauline, added to the atmosphere.  Sophie surprised us by jumping up at one point and doing a tap dance to one of the numbers played.  I knew she was a dancer but was surprised that she did not prepare us for the event.  We had a very nice dinner there also.  I had escargots followed by confit de canard.  Reginald had smoked salmon and a brochette of lamb.  It was a really fun evening with good food and good music.  Since this club is one of the few of this type left in Paris, it may be our last chance to experience such an evening.

Arrival and settling in

Our trip to Paris in the holiday season started with a late flight, much later than usual--11:30 PM from Atlanta.  That was perfect for those of us who normally do not sleep on planes.  I slept practically the whole time.  We arrived at 1:45 in the afternoon and were ready to start our adventure.

We took a taxi to the apartment, 15 rue Budé on the Ile St. Louis.  The apartment is small but very comfortable for a couple.  It is located in the heart of the island with little shops all around.

We settled in, unpacked, and decided to visit the area.  We then headed to the Champs Elysees to see the Christmas lights and to eat one of our must-have dishes--mussels and french fries at Chez Leon.
We experimented by taking the metro train from Cite, but that took us to Chatelet, which is a huge underground maze that one must walk through to go from point A to point B.  Once we got off at George V station, though, we were greeted with Paris in its glory.

After dinner we returned home to try to adjust to the new schedule. After the first hour or so of trying to stay warm, we found the solution (close the drapes around the heating system and add a portable heater to a small bedroom).  We slept well and did not get up until 9:30 the next morning.  We then played around with phones, which are still an issue when traveling.  By the time we got ready and out the door, it was noon.

We knew we were going Friday night to Le Petit Journal, one of the remaining New Orleans Jazz Clubs, so we decided to determine how to get there.  It was actually quite easy, so after taking the RER to go, we decided to walk back, find a place to eat, and then stroll around.  I had French onion soup, one of my other must-haves.  Reginald had a croque monsieur.  And we were in a crepe restaurant!

We then returned home to rest before leaving again later for the jazz club.  That is a story on its on