Kamwenge Mike had arranged a call with an international financing firm in the morning, but the call never materialized, so we set off to meet Bruce and Tom at Gare de l’Est. Â They had arrived yesterday afternoon at Ramstein and were taking the train into Paris to catch the Eurostar out of Gare du Nord for London. Their train was on time – well one minute late; but that’s pretty close to on-time.
http://circleplastics.co.uk/feed We took them to one of the restaurants we scouted out previously just two blocks from Gare de l’Est, le Renouveau. Â We decided on omelettes with green salad, a carafe of water, and a bottle of Cotes du Rhone. Thanks, Tom, for buying lunch! We chatted and visited for a couple of hours and then escorted them the 600 meters from one train station to the other and directed them to the access to the Eurostar. Â They arrived at Gare du Nord in plenty of time, or so we thought! However, they ended up waiting for the 16:13 train.
An artist's rendering for Les Halles, currently under construction
Despite the sun coming out, the wind was whipping around Paris making it frightfully cold. We hopped the bus to the Georges Pompidou stop and walked back to our “foodie” neighborhood. On the way back, we took a photo of what Les Halles is slated to become. The old Les Halles has been demolished, that multi-level shopping arcade and teenagers’ favorite hangout that dated to 1979. Â That structure had taken the place of the old market that was moved out to Rungis. In the proposed plan, the gardens are slated for completion in 2012 and the entire project should be completed by 2016. Details. Mike revisited the shops he likes specifically to take photos of their facades. I’m sure there will be a blog post about that later.
We stopped in at the apartment to pick up hats and scarves, and the coats that Paula and Martin left behind. Â A few blocks away, we had located a drop box for donating clothing. We slipped the coats into the drop box and, even though we don’t have a receipt, we know they’ll be put to good use.
We decided we’d try chicken for dinner tonight, so we picked up a baguette at Maison Collet. I also bought a bag for me that I had seen last week. I can use it for grocery shopping in Richmond – tres chic! I may even have to take up grocery shopping one day!
 The front of my new shopping bag |
 The back of my new shopping bag |
 The side of my shopping bag...Notes of the day: |
Notes for the day:
- If you want French Rotisserie chicken make sure to place your order early in the day, especially if the other butcher is closed, upside we found another great place for pizza (Al Taglio, 27 rue Saintonge 75003),
- Pedometer says 8.82 miles today
- Working on special blog post about cooking stores.
