I have no idea what day it is. Who can tell anymore? I think we may be having a Sunday? It’s difficult to say. There was a nap. I got a quick shower. Everyone reconvened at a certain point. I have no idea what time it was in Dallas when all of this went down. But we all got together and walked out of our Airbnb apartment and headed out. We started on a walking path that took us to the Cluny Museum. There was a display of tapestries that were apparently the thing we were headed there to see. They depicted a woman who was with a unicorn. I had no idea that there were unicorns in France, but there they were, immortalized in thread.
From there, we went to the Church of Saint Étienne-du-Mont, which was fabulous all by itself. I was particularly taken with the dual staircases in front of the main worship area, leading, I suppose, to a spot where a minister of some kind would climb to address the congregation. We took a quick lap around that church, and from there, it was off to the Pantheon, which, apparently, was too close to closing time to sell us a ticket. Alas, we took photos of the outside- which was impressive. The thick, sturdy columns looked like they were in better repair than a lot of things around town, and we paused to take photos there on our way to dinner. Dinner was a table for seven at a restaurant where the staff was all very nice. You’ve heard over and over the trope of the rude French waiter, but so far, that’s not the case. French waiters and waitresses have been kind, good humored and pleasant so far. We had the house wine, which had a label that actually bore the name of the restaurant in which we were sitting. Cas and I each had a bowl of Onion Soup- which, in the US, is called French Onion Soup. Here, it’s just Onion Soup, because everything is French. We split a salmon entree which we both really enjoyed, and the whole crew headed out from there to a relatively famous ice cream shop. That walk appears to be the thing that sapped the last bits of energy from most of the folks in our crew. To be fair, it was a day that started Saturday morning in Dallas and is wrapping up Sunday night in Paris, with only a little mid-flight shuteye and a quick nap each to hold us over. If there hadn’t been a shot at a toothbrush and a little soap in the middle of the day today, I would have called shenanigans on the rest of the evening. Dinner would have been carry out, ice cream would have been a non-starter and I would have protested until someone let me hop into a shower.
We got back here after a bit of a challenging walk from the ice cream shop to the Airbnb, then talked through tomorrow’s plans. I love a good plan as much as the next kid, but I was pretty anxious to get my hands on a glass of red wine while seated at a table in a sidewalk cafe. Check and check. It was exactly as cool as it should be. We drank wine, let the breeze blow, and talked about things at our little, round table. Chad evidently had a little more in the tank than his wife and daughter, so he joined us there and had some wine on the sidewalk.
We’re just back, now, and we have solid plans for tomorrow. It should be a great day with plenty of activities planned for the morning and a fancy-pants photo session planned for the afternoon, along with dinner at the restaurant in the Eiffel Tower. The photo album is coming soon. In the meantime, enjoy these pictures of 1) Me, Zoey and Cas, waiting in line to get the amazing ice cream and 2) Chad photobombing our cone selfie.
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