Paris Saints: November, 2005

After spending two nights in Versailles, the day to return home had arrived.

We packed up and headed into say "au revoir" to Paris before boarding out plane.

We decided to take advantage of a few extra hours to re-visit Notre Dame, which we had previously only seen at night or from a distance, and to explore some of the quaint back streets shopping for souvenirs.

Of course, stopping en route to the airport meant we were rolling our suitcases behind us, but this is another advantage of packing light, which makes a little extra sightseeing possible, if slightly less than ideal.

Missing this return to Notre Dame would have made our trip less complete.



We had to take turns two at a time walking through the interior, while the other two watched the luggage outdoors, but watching the world go by while waiting also proved to be a pleasant way to pass the time.

We went to Sainte-Chapelle, another Paris church famous for its remarkable stained glass, but the kids and I decided to just wait outside while Julie toured the interior.

She said it was remarkably beautiful.

We spent the rest of our Euros on sourvenirs and French bread, having already bought our tickets to the airport.

My sister sent me an e-mail today commenting on the detail with which I remember our trips, and I told her that I had more details than what I included, and gave an example of the restaurant we dined at both nights in Paris, which I previously omitted.

The first night in Paris we had wandered toward Saint-Germaine in search of a restaurant that would please us all.

We found La Taverne Saint-Germaine. While from the outside it looks like an attractive bistro, upon enterring we found a German restaurant that serves both German and Italian food and specializes in beer rather than French wine.

This seems like such sacrilege to dine at such a restaurant in the culinary capital of the proud French that I previously failed to acknowledge it, but it really is quite excellent.

Our waiter looked very much like Samuel Adams himself, with his white hair and apron.

When it came time to dine the next night, we found ourselves back with Sam Adams for another delicious meal.

The pasta dishes that Julie and the kids enjoyed were as good as the German meal I had with my beer.