One cannot go window-licking on an empty stomach, so the first order of the day was lunch. A little cafe (not) had been on our bucket list for a long time, since it shows up in quite a few films made at least partly in Paris. Le Train Bleu is in the Gare de Lyon, one of the major train stations in Paris. The entrance is not hard to find at this time of year.
Up the staircase, and safely ensconced at our table giving Anita a nice view of the neighborhood, I was not without something nice to look at, either. Calling upon my gift of understatement, I think I can safely describe the interior as "sumptuous". Our room constituted about half the total space, with the other half being similarly appointed.
And the food wasn't half bad; either. Anita had leg of lamb, carved tableside in a copper steamer. I had
Adequately nourished, we hopped onto the 20 bus and headed for the shopper's paradise near the Opera Garnier, where Printemps and Galeries Lafayette are almost next-door neighbors. This being the biggest shopping season of the year, they had pulled out all the stops. We didn't even go into Printemps, being satisfied with not only the animated sidewalk windows, but also the children's delight in watching them.
After ogling Printemps sidewalk windows for a while, it was time to check out the Christmas tree at Galeries Lafayette. Can you say "gi-normous"? Scale is hard to get in this picture. Just know that the bottom was just above Chanel's ground-floor shop, and if you went up to the sixth-floor gallery, you'd still have to look up to see the top of the tree.Finally, it was on to the Champs Elysees (see the new title page photo) and the Trocadero, hoping to see the Eiffel Tower lighted in green, in honor of COP21, the enormous climqate conference underway here. But we missed it by one day. Instead, the tower on a foggy night.
Tomorrow, our first day at Strasbourg, the Capital of Christmas.
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