Our apartment is where you see the little green arrow.
We could hear Notre Dame from where we were. It was a 5 minute walk.

living room in flat LINK TO OWNER'S APARTMENT WEBSITE	another view of living room with computer table
looking down hall from entry with living room on right	bedroom
galley-style kitchen	bathroom with view of dome
returning home with provisions	Notre Dame at night
Notre Dame in daylight	on rue Rivoli
more of rue Rivoli (just 1/2 block from flat)	on rue Rivoli
Arc du Triomphe	our favorite pastry shop on rue Rivoli
roule pistache (pistachio roll)	pistachio cookie
at les Invalides	les Invalides
les Invalides	armour inside les Invalides at Musée de l'Armée
more armour	more armour
and more armour	even more armour
cannon in the courtyard at les Invalides	one of so many chocolate shops
Snack time again? Cookies from a bakery on Rue Vieille du Temple.	Who could resist this?
only in France can you find an entire store devoted to paté...this was only one of several	Grand Palais
eating Greek sandwiches in the Latin Quarter	a fresh Greek sandwich side of meat that was just put out to grill
mmmmmm	Gun Shop 37, rue Vivienne
an old building in the Marais neighborhood	???
ice cream in the Latin Quarter	door knocker
Best crépes in town. Kim had one with walnuts & honey. 24 Rue des Francs Bourgeois	One of many evening cheese plates. It's looking a little sparse because we've been eating it.
eclair pistache	shopping in Gallery Lafayette
Our favorite Asian restaurant in the entire world. This one specializes in Laotian. 105, avenue d'Ivry (13e)	what is left of our duck and steak dishes
	Stuart savoring a pork roll
sticky rice and a chicken curry soup	outdoor market
at the antiques market in Clignancourt	more of the market at Clignancourt
shopping at Bon Marché	Parc Monceau
in the Jardin du Luxembourg	Jardin du Luxembourg
Jardin du Luxembourg	Jardin du Luxembourg
bees in the Jardin du Luxembourg	eating Laotian and Vietnamese at a different place in Chinatown (also on Avenue d'Ivry... a few doors down to the right from Lao Lanexang)
walking down rue Saint Denis	the Bastille
going to the Louvre	the Louvre
inside the Louvre	Winged Victory of Samothrace
the Venus de Milo	good old Mona...she hasn't changed a bit
apartments in the Louvre
	The Three Graces
Japonais at Takami 24, Rue Vieille du Temple (4e)	Les Halles
Lebanese Le Mont Liban, 42 Boulevard des Batignolles (17e)	jambon (ham) sandwich
the Seine	lawn chairs and umbrellas along the Seine
at Parc Buttes-Chaumont	Parc Buttes-Chaumont
Parc Buttes-Chaumont	A ridiculous show that was on every single night. We couldn't figure it out, but a scantily clad woman was trying to encourage people to call in and guess things...for a fee and with the idea that you might win money. One night it was a mystery word, another night it was a puzzle, and in this picture it has something to do with matching cards.
Sacre Coeur	view from Sacre Coeur
Jardin des Plantes (the dragon is made out of crushed beer cans and trash)

Tuesday & Wednesday, August 7 & 8, 2007

Dad was nice enough to take us all up to Logan in Uncle Ron's big Escalade and that worked out really well. While Kim & Stuart are in Paris, Miranda and her cousin Daniel are flying to Sweden. Daniel lives in Sweden but was visiting this past week leading up to Miranda's flight there. Sure was nice for her to have a companion on the long plane ride to Stockholm. Our departures went off without a hitch as we were all leaving from Terminal E and our gates were right next to each other. It really could not have worked out more perfectly.

Our flight to Paris included an hour layover in Reykjavik and we arrived in Paris a little before 1pm. We didn't have any difficulties navigating our way to the RER train into the center of the city and walking to our flat rental. We felt fortunate that things went easily because it's not always the case when you have jet lag and aren't thinking with an entirely clear head.

Before leaving the train station we bought our Carte Orange passes for unlimited subway rides. Then we walked (with luggage in tow) about 1 1/2 miles to our home away from home. To give ourselves sustenance, we of course had to stop at a bakery along the way. The apartment is located in the 4th district within a five minute walk of Notre Dame and about ten minutes from the Louvre all by walking. Thankfully, rue Beautreillis is a quiet interior street, but only a block from all the action.

After a little snafu checking in (he brought us to our room and found out that they hadn't cleaned it...but the situation was soon solved when he found a maid who had not left for the day), we headed out to enjoy the rest of the afternoon and evening. Our flat is privately owned, but they have an arrangement with a hotel around the corner which handles everything related to the guests and the apartment. Sort of the best of both worlds...a nice apartment for us...but someone to contact in case of need, advice, etc.

Our first stop on our walk was the Ile St. Louis where we cruised the main drag looking in cheese shops, etc. From there we strolled over to the Latin quarter where we visited the Parthenon, walked by the Cluny Museum and then ate gyros for dinner. After that we sampled a few different desserts. Before heading back home to sleep off our jet lag, we made a few stops for wine, cheese, fruit and crackers. We're all set for our week in Paris!

Thursday, August 9th (20th anniversary)
Today was officially our 20th anniversary. What better way to celebrate than at les Invalides in the Musée de l'Armée! We spent a few hours there and then walked the area afterwards stopping on a park bench for a snack of beer and pastry. The people watching is pretty darned good in Paris. Dinner was at a fabulous Chinese restaurant in Chinatown named Li Ka Fo at 39 Avenue de Choisy. We had dumpling soup and the most delicious roast duck! Back to our apartment for a nice cheese course afterwards. Mmmmmm.

Friday, August 10th
Today we walked, and walked and walked some more and ate all over the 2nd and 9th districts. We shopped at two of the major department stores found in Paris...Gallery Lafayette and Printemps. Quite something. For dinner we ate brochettes in Latin Quarter and then had ice cream & crépes for dessert. How could we possibly have room for a cheese course back at home? Somehow we found a spot in each of our stomachs.

Saturday, August 11
The last time we were in Paris we went to the market at Porte du Clignancourt, but didn't have much luck. The supposed antiques we had heard about where nowhere to be found. We thought that we would do a bit more research and head there again. So Kim did some digging on the Internet and found out where exactly these dealers were found (Clignancourt encompasses an enormous area of town) and we had much better luck this time around. Tucked into indiscriminate alleyways were indeed some amazing little antique shops and we spent a couple of hours roaming around. Stuart even found a couple of prints to bring home...one for work and one to frame.

After we finished at Clignancourt, we decided to walk and walk and walk some more...all the way back into town. We got a good feel for the 18th district and enjoyed some Turkish food as well as a large outdoor food market where all the locals were buying provisions for the week. As this area was predominantly black, it was not surprising that we passed one wig shop after another. The woman there pride themselves on their fancy hairdos and we could see where they got them. We finally got tired of fighting the crowds on the sidewalks this busy Saturday and took the Metro back down to the Marais area.

For dinner we made reservations at a cozy little bistro on Ile Saint Louis (Auberge de la Reine Blanche, 30, Rue Saint-Louis en L'ile). I had the duck and Stuart had a beef dish. Everything was superb! And don't worry...despite having dessert at the bistro, we managed to save room for our nightly cheese course.

Sunday, August 12
This afternoon we spent strolling in the Marais and in the 4th district. We ate pastry and then walked to the Louvre. After a few hours of hitting some highlights at the museum, we headed outdoors and walked all the way through the Jardin des Tuileries and then continued down the Champs-Elysées until we arrived at the Arc du Triomphe (a mere two miles from the Louvre). We ate dinner at our favorite Asian restaurant in the world, Lao Lanexang...it was amazing as usual! Of course...cheese course in bed!

Monday, August 13
If you are sensing a theme here...walking and eating...you would be right on the money. We walked all over the entire city, putting mile upon mile on our shoes. I think today was our biggest walking day of all though...about seven hours...all through the Latin Quarter and the 7th district. We slept in every morning, but that was because each night we were out eating dinner with the Parisians at 10pm and eating cheese until well after midnight.

Today's big walk started with a waffle on the Ile Saint Louis as we headed over to the Latin Quarter to have another round of Gyros or Grecques. From there we walked to the Jardin du Luxembourg and walked all over that for a while before heading towards the 7th district where we walked, and walked and walked some more. We were still going as the evening hours approached and we finally headed back to the apartment by way of a big book store in the Latin Quarter. We were totally exhausted!

We had some bread, wine and cheese when we got back home before heading to Chinatown to a different place where we had Vietnamese and Laotian. If memory serves...we still ate more cheese and some chocolate when we got back for the night. I don't know where we put it!

Tuesday, August 14
Today we walked all over the 2nd and 9th districts...doing a little shopping...people watching, eating, etc. For breakfast/lunch instead of our usual selection of pastry, we went for Japanese. We each had one of their lunch specials which were various brochettes (sort of like shishkebab and very popular in all cuisines in Paris). One of the more exciting aspects of our walk was down Rue Saint Denis, which appeared to be the red-light district. Quite the selection of "shops." When we finally tired of walking, we took the Metro to Parc des Buttes-Chaumont in the 19th district and strolled that for a while. We even shared a waffle with chantilly cream...they made it at a little stand while we waited. FABULOUS!

For dinner we had big plans...another French meal...this time at Vins du Pyrenees, right on our street. But by the time we stopped on the way home for wine, bread, cheese and rotisserie chicken with chips and ate it all back at the apartment as a "snack"...surprisingly we didn't have an appetite for dinner. Oh well.

Wednesday, August 15
Our last full day. How disappointing is that! We walked and walked and walked some more. We got a little head start by taking the Metro up to the Sacre Coeur area and then climbing up the enormous hill to the church. What a view!!! From Sacre Coeur we walked through Place Pigalle, which turns out to be the real red light district. Apparently what we walked through yesterday, Rue Saint-Denis ,was only a mini-red-light area. This was the real thing! So we walked through a lot of the 17th district and on the way stopped for a Lebanese snack/meal on Boulevard des Batignolles. It was delicious! We also visited Parc Monceau which straddled the 17th and 8th districts. It was in this area that we saw numerous Lebanese restaurants..right around where Boulevard Malesherbes and Boulevard de Courcelles meet. This is a good thing to note for our next visit.

We planned our last meal to be at our favorite spot...you guessed it...Lao Lanexang...for Laotian. We walked all the way there from our apartment (by way of the Jardin des Plantes), but had to take the subway back because it was raining.

Thursday, August 16
Only a few hours left to enjoy the city. We got up early, finished packing, and headed out for one last walk. We went through the Marais and over to the Notre Dame area to say one last goodbye (and to eat a crépe). We came back to the apartment for our luggage and left for the mile trek to the Chatelet-Les Halles RER station with suitcases in tow. Of course dragging bags didn't stop us from visiting the bakery in order to stock up for the long flights home...our last hurrah!

Friday, August 17
Today we exercised back home in Woonsocket to make up for all the pastry we ate! LOL.