DAY 21 - THU 3/21 - Walking & Talking

Today was a reconnecting day with Irene and Hal, so it almost didn't matter where we went or what we did.

We started out at the Nemrod as usual, and Nico, our friendly bar man, was working in an already small space around a six-foot tall plumber who was squeezed under the counter fixing a mini fridge...the show must go on. On the way back to the apartment a French couple asked Marty for directions, and that's always a compliment, meaning they took him for a native.

We then went over to Irene and Hal's cute little hotel just around the corner, so convenient, to strategized about todays program and where we should go for dinner...first things first, n'est-ce-pas? We agreed on a restaurant, trying to find something new to us, but nostalgic for all of us, and we settled on Le Reminet, one of our French friend Alban's suggestions, and a reservation was made on the Internet. Sweet! That important chore done, we then set out to browse in a few local estate jewelry shops, just looking of course, but it made the guys a little nervous. Then, while Irene and Hal browsed some local shops, off we went to the Marc le Bihan Optique store in the 2nd arondissement to pick up Jill's new lunettes (eye glasses), with a totally new look, but vintage at the same time. Voila! Mission accomplished and the transformation done.

By now it was time for lunch. We walked up the fabulous food street of Rue Montorgeuil, which got its reputation during the hayday of Les Halles but remains a destination for foodies. Irene, of course, was looking for something to buy on this trip as a momento of Paris. As she's a great cook, when we were walking past the food shops she stopped and said: "I know what I want that we can't get in England, white asparagus!" So there she was, mouth watering, meticulously picking out the perfect ones to make a kilo, mind you at 16,50€ a kilo, that's about $10 per pound. But they were gorgeous, and she carried her little sac all the way around Paris the rest of the day with kid gloves, trying not to damage them. We then found a cute little cafe/restaurant...perfect. A great lunch was followed by a walk over to the Pompidou Museum which Hal had never seen. He was amazed at how industrial but fascinating it appeared. We walked over to the beautiful Hotel de la Ville (City Hall), finished in 1628, where just in front is a charming small carousel juxtaposed against this enormous Renaissance building...what a beautiful site. The temporary ice skating rink just in front of the building, ala Rockefeller Center, added lots of charm. We then went home to relax before dinner.

We met up again to go to the restaurant, Le Reminet, which we had reserved on-line, this time by taxi. When we got there there was no one in the restaurant and they started walking us through the lovely but small main dining room to a staircase that led to a downstairs dining room. We didn't want to eat down stairs, but they said the main room was all reserved, and that we should have specified we wanted the main room when we reserved. We weren't at all pleased with this and their attitude, so we left. We walked around the area through some of our old stomping grounds including Rue de la Huchette and Rue de la Harpe in the St. Michel area which was full of restaurants, but very touristy and throbbing with university kids, definitely not what we wanted. We decided to take Irene and Hal to La Coupole, even though we did not have a res. They had wanted to go there anyway, and so we decided to take our chances. We finally found a cab in this congested area and off we went again.

La Coupole was crowded but we spotted our Maitre 'D friend, Sebastian Adam, and got his attention. When he saw us we were seated immediately. Wow! What power! Our friends were impressed. And the complementary glasses of champagne they brought us added panache. It's good to have friends in high places. The place was packed, with a high energy level the way we always remembered it to be, although 'Le Tout Paris' (the A-List) were not there like in the old days.

As usual, La Coupole did not disappoint. We enjoyed a wonderful dinner, nostalgic in so many ways, especially with Irene because we had had so many fabulous evenings there with her and her crazy first husband, Francois. We dined on all our typical La Coupole favorite things...des Huitres (oysters), Pate de fois gras, Choucroute Speciale, and Pot au Feu sauce a l'Estragon, with a nice Vin Rouge, finishing off with the best Profiteroles au Chocolat Chaud Valrhona, and Ile Flottante (Floating Island) in the world, and des Cafes Noisettes. We closed the evening with a half hour leisurely stroll back to our neighborhood, which was just what the doctor ordered. Tonight we definitely turned lemons into lemonade. What could be better, especially sharing it with good friends?

Jill and Irene have reconnected as if they had never been apart, even though several decades have passed with only two trans-Atlantic visits and sporadic email and phone calls to maintain the bond during that hiatus. It's a beautiful thing.