Family and Friends in Paris

An advantage of staying in one place for a while is that we can encourage friends and family to join us.  While we are unlikely to have a bed to offer, we can help you find a place and then share time in the locale where our paths cross.

Ginny and Beverly, Rick’s daughters, were the first to take us up on this idea.  They arrived on October 13 and stayed for 4 (very packed!) days.  They found an Airbnb around the corner from our apartment and, even though their place had some issues, it was great to have them so close by. They did some touring on their own (Tour Eiffel, and rue du Commerce for shopping!!), and met up with a friend who works in Paris.

We also toured together – Marché aux Puces, l’Arc de Triomphe and the Champs-Elysées, Carrousel du Louvre, l’Orangerie, and a boat ride on the Seine – and shared meals, both in our apartment and at local cafés.  It was a whirlwind for them, but we all enjoyed being together in this wonderful city.

Our old friends, Lew & Pat Mastrobuono, arrived the day the Bev & Ginny left.

They’d been on a guided tour, but planned to spend a few extra days in Paris and overlap with us!  We’ve had lots of fun exploring the city with them and eating (!) together.  Their first night we met at Restaurant AG Saint Germain (2, rue Clément in the 6th arr), for a wonderful, and beautiful, meal. (I don’t usually post picture of ‘food porn’ but I can’t resist!)

They, too, toured on their own and with us.  Together, we visited the Musée Rodin (one tip for here is to get the audio guide!)and the Musée d’Orsay (the best collection of Impressionist and Pos-Impressionist paintings), with a brief stop at Napoleon’s tomb in the Invalides.

Last night, we ended up in our neighborhood, Le Marias, where we shopped in our local markets and had a ‘picnic’ around our dining room table.  Of course, we bought too much food so tonight we are eating leftovers while Lew & Pat are exploring Montmartre and the Trocadero. But what great leftovers they are!!
We had one final dinner together at Les Philosophes (28, rue Vieille du Temple in the 4th arr.) with the Mastrobuonos to celebrate Rick’s birthday. Lew finally found the great French onion soup that he’d been seeking for days… After we saw them off to the Metro, Rick & I stopped in at La Cave Jazz Club that we’ve been walking past for a month but never got to until tonight.  A late night, but worth it!

We all took a Paris Walks walking tour called “Taste of Paris” this morning on one of Paris’ best food streets, rue Montorgueil. We tasted grapes, melon, breads (both baguette and la casse noix), so many cheeses(!), eclairs, chocolates, macarons, olives, saucisson, foie gras, rillettes…all by 1pm!!  No lunch needed today!

We have also had the pleasure of meeting up with friends of friends, who have been most gracious and hospitable.  Jane Coblence, a colleague of our friend Avivah Wittenberg-Cox, treated us to lunch at her golf club in Saint Germaine-en-Laye and give us a wonderful walking tour of this historic and lovely town outside Paris.

And we also met up with Julie Tave, a friend of Margot & Cleaveland Miller, when she and her husband Alain were in Paris for a meeting.  We shared a table at a cafe near the Musée Pompidou and learned much about the Dordogne, which we hope to visit before too long.

And, of course, Anne & Jeff Vitek-Doniger, who have been an anchor for us in Paris.  They moved here five years ago and have provided us with invaluable help as we learn to navigate ‘their’ city.Who knew 50 years ago, when Anne & I graduated from high school that we’d reunite in a city so far from West Palm Beach!

Our next planned meet-up is in Barcelona in February with Alicia Banks and Jim Butler, another of my high-school classmates and her husband.  But there’s lots of time between now than then.  SOOOO…if any of you readers have an urge to come to the continent, let us know and we’d love to get together.  We mean it!!