Mark slept in (much-needed) and I processed some photos, etc., and did a bit of research on where to go to lunch with Gretchen. I narrowed things down and she chose the Alice Restaurant in Italy a few blocks from the apartment. It was a terrific choice! The food was innovative and very tasty, service was excellent, the restaurant had an extremely pleasant atmosphere. It was so nice to sit still over some great food in a lovely setting and catch up in more detail on work, projects, family, plans for a coming wedding.

This was on the counter ready to be served

Microgreens at the ready

View from our table

Our table decoration/companion

Studying the menu

Happy about so many great choices!

My dear Sissy

Salmon

These grissini… !!

Zucchini flowers stuffed with almond ricotta

Asparagus in the ravioli, on the ravioli and around the ravioli

Dessert! Pea and mint cream with an almond ice cream

Best creme caramel ever. Really!

A little after-lunch treat

More fish

I would love to have had more time to explore Eataly but I told Mark about it when we got back and he went over and thoroughly enjoyed a full exploration of all the amazing Italian food specialties on display and for sale. Such a fun spot.

I did a bit more catching up on photos, etc., from Paris and then helped Gretchen get ready for dinner as Luigi’s sisters and one of their husbands was coming to celebrate a big birthday for Luigi. We had a great dinner and it was a lot of fun seeing them all together. Luigi got a new bluetooth speaker so the iPads came out and the Italian contingent found a bunch of songs from their youth and listened (and sang). Just delightful.

Pre-dinner

Final prep

Opening the champagne

Luigi

Luigi and Marta

Sharing baby pics

Dessert

Starter (shrimp and avocado)

The siblings

Luigi and Enrico

Chatting after dinner

Detti and Enrico

Luigi reading the note from his sisters

The siblings

We got packed up and ready to go then headed toward Luxembourg Gardens to see the photos that are currently posted on the fence (mountains!). It was raining intermittently, and a bit windy, but the weather is rarely a deterrent to going out and about in Paris. 🙂

We walked through the gardens and out toward St. Sulpice. There was a really beautiful tree in bloom in the Place St Sulpice… it’s fun to be here at different times of the year to see what is flowering when. We stopped in at a chocolate shop we hadn’t noticed before (probably because it’s across from the phenomenal pastry shop, Gerard Mulot, which was closed so we had an excuse to notice something else on that street). We picked up a nice little box to take to Gretchen and Luigi!

We then headed back to the apartment, gathered up our things and walked along the Seine to the RER station at St. Michel. That walk is always a great last view of the city, with a view of Notre Dame and the fountain in Place St Michel before descending to the metro.

Beautiful cafe on the way to the station

Cute shop on the way

Another image of the shop

Last glance at St Michel before descending to the RER B

We arrived at Charles DeGaulle airport with plenty of time to spare and pulled out the bread, cheese, apple and wine we had cleaned out of the refrigerator and had a little picnic. The flight to Milan was easy and despite some fairly heavy clouds we still got a glimpse of the mountains. (I think my favorite flight so far is the one from Frankfurt to Milan over the Alps. Stunning. I think those pics are in a previous post, actually. 🙂

Darwin Airlines?

Picnic at the airport

Nice view leaving France

The Alps

And more Alps

It was sunny and warm when we arrived in Milan. We took the bus to Terminal 1 then caught the train into Milan and got off at Stazione Garibaldi. We were sort of headed toward the usual way home but there has been a lot of construction in the area and Mark said, “let’s go this way and see what’s up there.” We walked up a set of stairs and arrived at the brand new Piazza Porta Nuova (I’m not sure that’s the name of it). All kinds of cool stuff is up there.

Poppies!

Up from Garibaldi to the new Piazza

The Piazza in the new Porta Nuova Project

The Piazza

This needs investigating.. not sure what it is

A description of the new Porta Nuova

View of the sky from the Porta Nuova Piazza

We arrived at Gretchen’s apartment in time to sit and chat a bit and “help” with final preparations for dinner. Luigi arrived home soon after and we sat down to a wonderful time together of catching up.

Refilling the olive oil from a supply they just picked up in Umbria a few days ago

Olive oil acquired a few days prior in Umbria

Tasting a special wine

Ready for dinner

Almost ready

Mixing the balsamic and oil in a spoon – good idea

Part of our dinner. I love these greens (mache in France, Valeriana or … in Italy. (It’ll come to me…)

We got going at a surprisingly civilized hour; maybe knowing we only had two full days here this time made a difference in that category.

We got as far as Kayser, where we had a croissant, and it started raining pretty heavily. We went back for the umbrella then made our way toward the Mephisto shop. We passed the Aigle store and checked out the children’s boots (we bought Lauren some little ones when we were here years ago… when the choice was between three colors, as I remember. Now there are lots of fun options). I found some very cheerful red shoes and look forward to many walks with them here and at home!

Courtyard of the apartment

Boots for little people at Aigle shop

Decided on the red ones

From there we walked the few blocks to the Barthelemy cheese shop at 51 Rue Grenelle. What a great spot. We chose some St. Maure and Chabichou, both goat cheeses, but if I’d been thinking a little more clearly I might have also picked up a cow’s milk cheese as they are more difficult to find in the US. We worked our way back along Blvd St Germain past Ralph Lauren and St Germain des Pres. I really love that church, especially the side garden with what looks like ruins.

Favorite cheese shop

Entrance to Ralph Lauren

Ralph Lauren windows

St Germain des Pres

In a bookshop across from St Germain des Pres

St Germain des Pres

Another one of the side of St Germain de Pres

Rue de Buci

Deli sign in Rue de Buci

Loved the choice of plant and dress in this shop in Rue Dauphine

We changed and walked the couple blocks to Ze Kitchen Galerie. It’s such a wonderful spot! The food and presentation are excellent and the service is consistently professional but friendly. The amuse-bouche was a green apple and fennel water, which was very refreshing and interesting. Our starters were a sea bream (for Mark) and duck foie gras ravioli for me, and we followed with a lamb and a hake fish. For dessert I had an almond cake with passion fruit and Mark had a white chocolate and wasabi ice cream with…  hmmm… can’t remember. Such a treat though. 🙂

By the time we left, the rain had stopped completely and the sky was alternating between heavy clouds that blocked the sun and bright blue sky. We walked across the Pont Neuf (the Seine iw waaaay up!!) toward Les Halles to check the progress on the renovation there, then stopped in at Dehillerin, the fabulous kitchen shop, to pick up a Staub roaster for Bea and Joe. From there we went to A Simon, our other favorite kitchen spot, and found a few small items. Mark’s been forming rice instead of spooning it onto plates and he’s on the search for some nice little bowls to use for that purpose. I also found a new tart pan with a removable bottom and since we have recently instituted “Tart Tuesday” in our dinner rotation I’m glad to have a new non-stick pan. 🙂

From there, we walked around to the back of Les Halles and passed a shop we hadn’t seen before that is clearly the inspiration for a scene in the movie Ratatouille! Mark then headed to the apartment to drop off the things and I walked toward a children’s shop I found last time I was here. I found a couple of small items and then walked toward the Orsay to see the Bonnard exhibition but I got there too late to get in. It was perfect walking weather, though, so I didn’t mind the extra walk. I walked back along Rue l’Université and passed by the gallery with the Sempé prints and captured a couple pics but didn’t go in this time. I also stopped in at a linens shop and found a nice apron that might work for Katharine to wear on Bramble Day Cafe days at Elderslie Farm.

Mark and I arrived back at the apartment about the same time and organized a bit, then got ready for Jenny Korsmo and her friend, Debbie Gambino, to arrive. Jenny’s sister lives in Paris and we have just missed being here at the same time on a couple of other occasions so we were very happy it worked for her to come this time. They had just arrived in the morning and had been walking most of the day so I’m sure they were pooped but they didn’t look it! We had a really nice time chatting. Jenny’s sister had initially hoped to join us after an event she was attending but it didn’t work this time.

Jenny and Debbie arriving

Such a nice time with these ladies!

After a nice an uneventful flight through Chicago and Frankfurt (and an amazing sunrise over England, the pics of which don’t do it justice!), we arrived in Paris around 8:25 and caught the RER B to the St Michel station. We emerged from the metro to a gorgeous blue sky and temperatures in the low 60s.

We walked the few blocks to 24 Rue Dauphine, left our bags while the cleaners finished up and picked up a couple baguettes at Eric Kayser, a couple bottles of wine at Nicolas, then went to Carrefour and collected milk and butter (they are both SO tasty here!), greens and some “bubbly water.” We brought those back, then noticed an e-mail from Ze Kitchen Galerie asking us to confirm reservations for tomorrow’s lunch so we popped around the corner and took care of that.

From there we wandered a bit, toward the Marche St. Germain (closed Mondays), then toward the Monoprix on Rue de Rennes to pick up some fish. It’s an interesting setup – the groceries are in the basement, just past the lingerie, pajamas, etc.

On the way back, we walked by Hotel Madison and reminisced about the time we pulled up there at the end of a 2-month trip around Europe with Lauren, who was two at the time, with a car packed completely full of stuff, including a lovely little German wooden sled strapped to the top. We had to unload a few things to even get to Lauren in the carseat. The dollar was at an all-time high at that time and European currencies felt a bit like Monopoly money. We had also been living on “student” mode and Mark had been moonlighting in emergency rooms and we saved all that for our trip. That trip was just fantastic for so many reasons well beyond the state of the dollar.

Bea arrived a bit before 1:00 with some nice pate and Joe arrived a few minutes later with some cheese. We assembled a salad and had such a nice lunch with them. They are getting all their plans made for their wedding in September, so it’s a fun time. It’s really really great to be getting to know our nieces and nephew as adults (and our friends’ children) not to mention our own children!! What a great blessing that has turned out to be.

I crashed for about an hour while Mark went out on a bike. Since we are here only two full days this time, I didn’t want to sleep the afternoon away, so we walked over to Gibert Joseph, the wonderful bookstore just south of the intersection of St Germain and St Michel. It was drizzling just a tiny bit but very pleasant walking. After a good deal of time spent in the children’s department in the basement (while Mark looked at cookbooks and maps, etc.), we headed home and by then it was definitely raining. We were so grateful to have had the beautiful morning!!

At 7ish, we left for the apartment of Jean Claude and Olivia Barnathan, whom we met several years ago through our dear friend Terri. They live a few blocks away near Rue de Seine and Rue des Beaux Arts and I love walking to their place because it’s nearly non-stop galleries between here and there. We had a lovely time catching up on our families over a very nice bottle of Savigny from a vineyard Jean Claude took us to outside of Beaune the first year we met.

When we got home, we could hardly keep our eyes open but Mark pulled out the cabillaut (cod) he’d picked up earlier in the day, and the potatoes and asparagus, and made quick work of both, producing a really tasty dinner.

I spent the morning (quite rainy) catching up on posts, looking at pics, etc. When George and Martha came down we made a plan for how to best use the leftovers and started in. 🙂

We whiled away the afternoon chatting about this and that, talking about what we’d learned, looking things up on the net, packing, making notes and dreaming of returning ASAP to this wonderful place.

Day turned into evening and after dinner we said our good-byes (I needed to get out the door by 6:30 to return the car to Malpensa and their ride wasn’t arriving until 7:45 to take them to Linate). The rain had finally stopped so the air was clear and clean and cool. Those lights in the distance dotting the hills in Brianza and turning into more of a glow toward Milan were twinkling mightily. I stood a good long while at the bedroom window just taking it all in before finally crawling into bed in hopes of some good rest before an early and long day traveling home.

It was not to be… I finally fell asleep around 5 AM and the alarm went off at 6:00. I left at 6:30 and only made one wrong turn which was easily corrected but drove first to Terminal 1 then I thought I remembered Mark said to go to Terminal 2 so I went there and figured out that wasn’t the right one so went back to Terminal 1. Turned the car in and made it in plenty of time. Got almost to the gate and realized I’d left purse at security so went back to get it. Flight to Newark was fine but didn’t sleep. Newark plane was being worked on so delay there which caused missed connection in Chicago.

Went to the gate in Chicago and the sign said “boarding closed” but the door was open so another guy who had also just arrived and I asked if we could get on. The woman said “quick, quick – your boarding pass!” and I grabbed it out of my purse. She glanced at it and said go! I couldn’t believe it. My phone said it had gone 10 minutes before so I was surprised and thrilled. As I was boarding the plane, the woman came down the jetway and said she couldn’t find my name and asked where I was going. I said Wichita and she said oh no, this one is Louisville! I just started laughing and was so relieved to have caught it before I got on the plane!!

I went back out, picked up my boarding pass from beside her keyboard, found the gate for the next Wichita flight, which was full, and got on standby for the next flight. I went to the service desk thinking I would get my hotel voucher in advance in case I couldn’t get on standby but after standing in line for 30 minutes I found out they can’t give the voucher until you actually miss the flight. The guy said if it happened, though, I could come straight to him and get the voucher and skip the line. Very nice. He gave me a voucher for food so I took the shuttle from F to C concourse (dumb idea – it’s down some stairs, out into the rain, onto the minibus then back out into the rain and up stairs at the other end) to find Wolfgang Puck’s place, which turns out to be on B concourse. I was almost delirious by that time so not surprised to make that mistake. Walked back to B, got a salad and glass of wine then headed back to gate to see if I would make it on standby. I made it. Plane was late leaving so arrived home at 11:30. 24 hour trip door to door.

Can’t wait to do it again, Lord willing. 🙂

In the end, life is all about relationships and that’s certainly the case with this wonderful trip. It was wonderful primarily because of the time we got to spend with these dear (now even dearer) friends:

Cary and Susan and the beautiful hydrangeas

Cary and Susan at Poggio Verde

In the Galleria near Duomo

George and Martha on their arrival and our departure from Paris

Lunch in the “portico coper to”

Lunch in the Portico Coperto

Mark and Laura

Charlie (checking the corn) and Mark (the figs)

Wilsons, Denisons, Wencels at Montevecchio

Mark, Charlie and Mark

Brothers in law

Mark and Gretchen

Twins

At Piani d’Erna

M & J at Piani d’Erna near Lecco

Mark & Laura at Teresa di Fragole in Vigano

Charlie and Nancy and Mark in Milan

Terri and Martha in Milan

Terri and Mark at Obika

At Obika

Gretchen and George

M and I at Poggio Verde

Luigi and Martha

Mark and George

Mark and Terri

Martha, Terri and Gretchen at Montevecchia

The crew at Montevecchia

George and Martha at Villa d’Este

Terri, Mark, George, Martha, Gretchen and I at Villa d’Este