DAY 29 - FRI 3/29 - The Harlngs

On our first morning in the new apartment we took in the view from our living room. There's an Ecole Maternelle (girls' school) just across the street, which we can see from our cute little terrace, which we could sit on if only the weather would cooperate.  

                         

Marty works on the Blog a little, and then we go off to our new 'home' metro, Dupleix, which is an above-ground stop.

Today we expect our good friends Heidi and Frank Harling and daughter Caroline to arrive from Aachen, Germany. We met them about 35 years ago when they lived in Scarsdale, then they moved around a bit and ended up living in Aachen for the past 20 years. Whenever we come to Europe they try to meet us somewhere along the way for a few days. Three years ago we met in Roma. Last year it was a magical time in the Douro Valley and Coimbra in Portugal. And now in Paris for Paques (Easter). It's always a great time!

Since they are driving from Aachen, we don't know exactly what time they would be arriving, so we decided to meet them at their hotel back in our old neighborhood in the 6th Arondissement. They are expected to arrive around 3:30 and it's now about 1:00pm so we walked around on Cherche-Midi, passing by a cute little sushi take-out place, and a unique patisserie specializing in cupcakes, not common in Paris...they even had some with the legs of Can-Can girls on top, if you can see that in the photo.  

                                 

                        

And then we ended up back at our favorite cafe, Le Nemrod, to have a light lunch.  We sat there for about 2 hours! Marty was happily taking photos of any 'uniforms' that happen to walk by. It was good to just relax and watch the people...

                        

                        

                        

                             

We also had some unexpected entertainment while we were sitting there.  Guillaume, one of the waiters, got his foot caught in the door as he was delivering lunch to an outside table. Food went flying all over but mostly on the sidewalk. Nico came out to clean up but left a deposit of food there. Five minutes later Guillaume returned with two cafes and slipped again on some food still laying on the sidewalk. Cafe cups, saucers and cafe went flying in the air but Guillaume fell this time and seemed to have hurt himself. It was as if we were watching a movie scene being played right out in front of us. "Take two."

The Harlings arrived at the Hotel de Sevres at around 4pm and we were there to greet them. It was a warm welcome as if no time had passed since our last rendezvous in Portugal. After a brief walk around the area with a quick stop to show them the fabulous Hermes store and get a lesson the scarf tying, we returned to Le Nemrod for some wine and snacks and people watching. The Harlings are family and everything seems to fall into place quickly with them.

Dinner was booked at Chez Georges on rue de Mail near the Bourse for 9pm and a short Metro ride got us there on time. The restaurant was jammed as usual but Angelo arranged our table quickly and we were seated. Dinner was very good as usual and the Harlings liked the restaurant choice. We like this place but the tour books have discovered it and the tourists have followed.

As it was late, taxis were summoned for the return trip home and we were too tired to complete the blog so we're getting a late finish now.

And to all a good night...