Notre Dame and a Top 10 Evening

I know that yesterday I had said that we were going to visit three different sights.  Well, you know what they say about the best laid plans...  No worries though it was still a great day and an even better evening!

We "hopped on" the bus to use the rest of our 2-day ticket and got off at the Notre Dame stop.  No line to get in and, lucky us, Mass was just starting.  So, while the tourists milled around outside of the altar area we got to attend services in Notre Dame!  It was awesome, especially to look around and realize that you are surrounded by centuries old architecture.  I didn't see the Hunchback though...

Enjoy these pictures of this beautiful church.

Beautiful Stained Glass Everywhere

Joan of Arc

Portal of St. Anne

Tried to visit the St. Chappelle next - another beautiful church not far from Notre Dame but by the time we got there it was closed.  We'll try again tomorrow.  In the meantime, we came upon this one, St. Severin.  Interesting architecture and apparently built at the end of the Gothic period.

One lone twisted column

More beautiful stained glass

Not quite sure who this is, but it was pretty

Also, found the famous Shakespeare and Company Bookstore.  This bookstore was started by an American and frequented by many famous writers like Ernest Hemingway, George Bernard Shaw, James Joyce, and Gertrude Stein.  It was a funky little shop with shelves stuffed with books and filled with english-speaking folks hunting for their favorite author or book.

Also walked by this little gem the Palais de Justice.

Then home to get ready for what turned out to be a very memorable evening.

While planning for this trip I had heard about a Seattle couple who had moved to Paris and started hosting dinners out of their Parisian apartment.  I emailed them for a reservation but they were booked through April.  We were put on a waiting list and after we arrived in Paris I receive an email from Laura saying that they had a cancellation!  

We studied our Paris map and figured out the Metro schedule to ensure that we would arrive on time.  We knew that we would be served a 10-course dinner lasting at least three and a half hours and that we would be sharing this meal with 12 other people we've never met.  A little scary right?  Well, the scariest thing was figuring out the metro and that was actually surprisingly easy. 

We arrived at the very beautiful apartment of our hosts and greeted with a very tasty glass of champagne with pomegranate seeds floating in the glass.  The food that followed was AMAZING and the other attendees were all fascinating and so nice.  Let's see, there was an author from San Diego who had just published her first fiction book set in Paris and was there doing research for her second.  Then there was the retired couple from Bath, England - the husband David was the person in charge of five of the Queen's properties (can't remember the official title) and before that was Secretary of the National Trust.  Also, two young women from Chile - one doing an internship at the very popular Paris restaurant Frenchies and the other studying to be a Sommelier.  Then there were the McClellan's from Lynnwood, WA - fascinating couple.  A lot of very lively conversation, especially after several glasses of wine.  We all hated to have the evening end and exchanged emails with our dinner companions.  

Here are pictures of each course.  The empty plates are because I forgot to take a picture before I ate it all.  Also pictures of the crowd and the owners cute Boston Terrier.  If you are ever in Paris I highly recommend this event.  It's called Hidden Kitchen and they have a website - really a Top 10 Evening!

We are going to try to see the Louvre tomorrow, but no promises!  I can promise that whatever we do some sort of very fattening buttery pastry will be involved...