Evening of the 27th

It was roughly 4:30 (France time) when we arrived in Paris. Incidentally, when you cross the English Channel going from England into France, you lose an hour, which you then gain back when you jump ahead an hour on your return to England. I thought that was pretty cool.

After getting our hotel rooms and putting our luggage in them, we had to go back to the lobby for 5p to meet up with Nick again who then took us to a nifty little bistro for our first taste of authentic French food and culture. It was a BLAST!

We each had a different dish. Deb ordered snails and i actually ate one. I had intended to save its shell as a souvenir, but I forgot it on the table at the restaurant. It was ok. Too rubbery for my liking, but the flavor was not bad. Each of them was placed shell opening up and the opening had what appeared to be some sort of fresh spice and olive oil mix to decorate it and give the snail some flavor when you pull it out of the shell, which in itself is an interesting process. You are given a utensil that looks a bit like it could have been and instrument of torture during the Inquisition. It looked kind of like a pair of pliers only the pinchy ends were rounded, sort of cuplike. These were used to hold the shell, while with the other hand you dig the snail out with a really tiny fork. Of course Deb and I, having had a glass of champagne and a glass each into the first of two wine carafes (one white wine, one red), thought the whole process quite comical.

Here's the little bistro which is in an area of Paris referred to as the Latin Quarter. (I actually saw this bistro featured in an episode of Globetrekker that I rented from Netflix before coming on our trip...at least I am 99.9% sure it was the same one.) The seating is very close inside. I find it seems they need less space to feel comfortable in proximity to other people than we Americans do. Even the restaurants in England seem to be the same, very close seating. At least so far as I have seen to this point. I rather like it. It gives places a quaint, friendly sort of air. I think so anyway.




During our meal we had live entertainment. This is one of two musicians that played and sang while we enjoyed our meals. They played/sang French songs, Italian songs and songs in English too.



Here the two of them are together. The guy in the background played an accordion. They seemed to like the interaction with the crowd



This guy was a real card. He cracked me up. Here he put his guitar strap around my shoulder and posed with me. Incidentally, the red face was probably the wine taking its effect, and from all the laughing I was doing.



They took song requests from the crowd and Deb told them to play "Michelle" by the Beatles, and then did, and got me to stand up with them (to the dismay of the waiters by the looks on their faces in the background of the picture) while they did it. And if I am not mistaken "The Card" even kissed my hand afterward. I laughed through it all. It was fun.



And at the end of the meal one of them took a picture for us. (Look! There's the snail shell right near my elbow. But I left the poor little fella behind. Oh well...next time...



And there WILL be a next time. I wasn't too impressed pulling into Paris at first. The outer limits of the city are dirty looking and there is lots of graffiti everywhere. Also they don't keep the grassy areas well groomed. But once you get down into old Paris, you see all the romantic and amazing sites we hear all about on t.v. and see in the movies in the U.S. Nick the bus driver told he story more than once that a senior German SS officer was told by Hitler to blow up all the historical sites and relics in Paris, but this officer disobeyed the order and his men disarmed the explosives meant to demolish everything. There is just so much history there in that city that there would have been a grave lost to world had he followed the orders he was given. Nick also said that this officer had been found guilty of war crimes during the Nuremberg trials and sentenced to 5 years in prison. After his release he was awarded an honorary commission in the French army, for having spared all the cities relics and works of art. I think that is a really neat story. I had heard it awhile ago, but to hear it while seeing the splendor that is Paris made chills run up my spine.