After a trouble free flight from Toronto to Paris we arrived at the Hotel Pullman Montparnasse in Paris. Elaine, my brother, my father and I went out to eat at a most incredible restaurant, just down the road from our hotel, called “Le Petit Sommelier”. It was an enchanted evening, we feasted like nobility and had the privilege of meeting a wonderful couple from Holland on their honeymoon. Adding to the evening’s magic was our charming waiter, Maurice. He had character in spades and his recommendations for food and drink never failed to please.
If you are in Paris, I can highly recommend this restaurant.
During our dinner, we attracted the attention of a young couple seated beside us. Clearly they understood English and we started talking and made a connection. Their names are Liandel and Gosse, a charming young couple from Holland on their Honeymoon in Paris. Only one night in Paris and we already made some new friends. We also met them again, purely by chance, the following day near Parvis du Sacré-Cœur in the Quartier Montmartre. Remarkable odds considering how many people are out at about in Paris.
The wine and food kept flowing until we were all aglow with a nice alcohol buzz and a food trance. It has been said that pleasure is at the core of French culture and we were up to our neck in it.
After dinner, my brother and father went back to the hotel. Although Elaine and I were jet lagged, the allure of walking the streets of Paris at night was too tempting to pass over. We got our second wind and took at cab out to the Champs-Élysées. Of course, one can expect to see the usual sights, such as the Eiffel Tower, the Arche de Triomphe, but we did not expect to see Frenchmen dressed up as Canadian Mounties outside a local night club. Again, some remarkable odds at play.
The streets near L’Arche de Triomphe are festooned with some of the most prestige logos in fashion and haute couture. Normally, such things would not interest me, but the mannequin at Louis Vuitton was rather unique and seemed out of place with classic representations of Parisian fashion. The degree of detail in this figure is astonishing, right down to every wrinkle and peach fuzz on the face.
As our walk progressed, we passed by a memorial to Princess Diana and eventually made our way to the Eiffel Tower. We walked for over an hour and managed to burn off just a fraction of our dinner. Only running a marathon could have purged us of our excess calories.
By the time we were ready to head back to the hotel, the Eiffel Tower held its final light show for the evening. Every hour on the hour after dark, the tower scintillates for about a minute.
You can see the rest of the photos in the gallery below. More posts to follow.
