We planned a day that was to be free of any structured activities on Monday! We got up a bit late, but we're out the door by 9:00. We headed to the ritzy St Germain section of town to see the Hermes store! Their designs and the quality of goods is always stunning. Hermes is one of our favorite designers.
We took a cab to the Luxembourg gardens and started walking! What a treat! The French really appreciate outdoor spaces, and from what we can see, everyone spends time outside! The gardens are huge! The fountain is about a quarter of a block in surface area! The entire park is probably about 20 blocks long and four blocks across.....filled with French people, students, workers, runners, and tourists. The flowers were magnificent, and designed for fragrance as well as color! Most of the tulips and forget-me-nots had passed, but pansies, stock, and prim rose were all in bloom! There were fragrant, lovely flowers near each bench and it looked like about a thousand chairs! The sun was out, without a cloud in the sky! We sat for about a half hour just soaking up the sun. (How French!). Then we started out for the Hermes store! What a treat! See the pix! About 1:30 we sat down for lunch. We found a lovely secluded outdoor soufflé restaurant. Oh! My! Goodness! The mushroom soufflé came with a creamy mushroom sauce, and was so light, you could only think of a cloud! Divine! We split that and a salad. While we were sitting there, the weather changed! The temperature dropped 20 degrees, and the wind kicked up. We decided we had better get a move on, and begin our long trek back to the hotel...even with an umbrella, it looked daunting! Well, we walked for about 45 minutes, and decided discretion was the better part of velour, and took a cab to the hotel. IT POURED FOR ABOUT 2 HOURS!
We took a cab to the Luxembourg gardens and started walking! What a treat! The French really appreciate outdoor spaces, and from what we can see, everyone spends time outside! The gardens are huge! The fountain is about a quarter of a block in surface area! The entire park is probably about 20 blocks long and four blocks across.....filled with French people, students, workers, runners, and tourists. The flowers were magnificent, and designed for fragrance as well as color! Most of the tulips and forget-me-nots had passed, but pansies, stock, and prim rose were all in bloom! There were fragrant, lovely flowers near each bench and it looked like about a thousand chairs! The sun was out, without a cloud in the sky! We sat for about a half hour just soaking up the sun. (How French!). Then we started out for the Hermes store! What a treat! See the pix! About 1:30 we sat down for lunch. We found a lovely secluded outdoor soufflé restaurant. Oh! My! Goodness! The mushroom soufflé came with a creamy mushroom sauce, and was so light, you could only think of a cloud! Divine! We split that and a salad. While we were sitting there, the weather changed! The temperature dropped 20 degrees, and the wind kicked up. We decided we had better get a move on, and begin our long trek back to the hotel...even with an umbrella, it looked daunting! Well, we walked for about 45 minutes, and decided discretion was the better part of velour, and took a cab to the hotel. IT POURED FOR ABOUT 2 HOURS!
We waited out the storm in a cafe across the street from our hotel, and went out for a light dinner, returning home by 9:00 pm. We had to be up early the next day for our trip to Normandy to see the D-Day beaches....a Christmas present to Bruce!
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