We had a lazy start to our day on Wednesday because we really didn't have much in the way of plans other than waiting for Antipo to meet us at our hotel and start a fantastic day of touring and eating.
What that meant, initially, is that we had such a lazy start that we missed breakfast at the hotel and then decided to not go out searching for something to eat because of Antipo's IMMINENT arrival. We waited while getting periodic updates from the hotel's front desk, and waited some more. I never missed having a mobile phone in Paris until then!
Antipo finally arrived, straw hat in hand and bearing gifts, and we started our day-long visit. She consulted her much used Paris metro map and we headed on our way. She paused to call the restaurant and assure them that we wanted to eat there and then we walked briskly to the nearest metro stop in our neighborhood.
After a few false starts and the handing over of the map to me so that I could direct us to the right location, we arrived at the Kiwi restaurant. The food was good but the company was superlative and we had a great time chatting and getting to know each other. My daughters did well and had nice or witty things to say on the rare occasions that Antipo gave any of us to talk. :)
After a nice lunch we walked over to the Jardin du Luxembourg as she regaled us with stories of life in France, the origin of the famous Kiwi dessert she had for lunch, and we all got to know each other better.
As we made our way back into the Latin Quarter so that Princess Youngest Daughter could do some much desired clothes shopping, we met Katia. She met us with a story that excused her lateness and involved breaking a door at work or some such nonsense!
We walked around the Latin Quarter while she did tour guide duty and explained the reason for Wallace Fountains. We never passed one by without getting a drink during the rest of our time there. We had awesome ice cream, a fun dinner in a big rail station, and then ended the evening with tea and strawberries.
Helen and Katia were perfect hostesses and made us Yanks feel very welcome in their adopted country.
Posted by bbarton at May 18, 2007 11:07 AMAntipo - Oh yes! The ice cream incident! My most excellent ice cream toppled off of the cone after only a few licks. My cat-like reflexes enabled me to catch it but only after it had decorated the front of my jeans and left some unsightly brown stains! I un-tucked my shirt and hid the evidence of my klutziness from view.
Posted by: Bob on May 21, 2007 09:58 AM
Awww, how nice!
My only regret is that you forgot to relate your ice-cream-on-the-trousers incident in great detail.
Oops! Perhaps you had been trying to forget all about it... sorry!
Posted by: Antipodéesse on May 20, 2007 07:48 AM