more book club adventures

We have been so busy, there has been no time for blogging. We've been going to bed at 1:00 or 2:00 in the morning, and getting up around 8:00 or 8:30. Now that I have the time, I need to report on the last two days' events.

As I mentioned before, Amy had done some research on fabric and notions stores she wanted to check out. We went to the Mokuba store on Wednesday -- I didn't even know there was a Mokuba store in Paris! (Mokuba is a Japanese manufacturer of fine, high-end ribbon.) The store was just a delight, and Jenn, Amy and I were in heaven. We had to seriously narrow our choices since many ribbons were 15 euros per meter (or much much more!).



We had a great lunch at an Italian cafe. I ordered some plain pasta with olive oil for Eva, since I know it's one of the few things she will reliably eat. She ate quite a bit of it (for her), which was still only about 1/4 or less of the bowl. When we went to pay, I saw that they had charged me 10,90 for it! For plain pasta! Good grief.

Then we went to the Latin quarter to go to the chocolate bar, a place we had seen on one of our walks and wanted to try, but it was closed. It was closed yet again, despite the fact that we were there during their posted hours. France! as Collette would say...

I think was Jenn's 3rd foiled attempt at the Bar au Chocolat.

I brought Eva home to get her bathed and ready for bed, and everyone else headed to the Musee d'Orsay (dang, I can't seem to figure out how to type accents in Blogger). I'll let someone else post about the debaucles they encountered on that excursion. Suffice it to say that I think I would have been in a bad mood after that. They were in surprisingly good spirits and just laughed it off. France!

We had a good dinner at home that night. I discovered a raclette machine in our closet and thought that would make for a fun meal together. Raclette is a traditional dish from the Alsace-Lorraine region of France -- the machine heats up and every diner has a little metal tray that they fill with cheese and then slide it into the raclette maker. When the cheese is all hot and bubbly, you take out your tray and pour it over boiled potatoes or bread. It is served with ham or sausage, tiny pickles, cocktail onions, and sometimes saurkraut. It was a big hit!

That night, we had our book club discussion on The Devil in the White City. I was the only one who didn't get a chance to finish the book (bummer). I also liked it the least of anyone, so maybe I would have liked it more if I'd read the whole thing! Before the discussion, however, we all put on our t-shirts that Jill gave us for Christmas and took some group photos. Amy was in charge of the timer on the camera:

It was the end of the day, we were exhausted, and not looking so fresh. That combined with the fact that Jill kept doing things to make us laugh right as the camera snapped the picture made for some pretty hilarious photos. We were laughing hysterically -- Jenn, of course, was crying. We're all just excited that we celebrated a birthday in Paris (Jana's) and held book club in Paris. Pretty momentous.

Towards the end of the week, an urgency set in for people to squeeze in the last things that everyone wanted to do -- sites to see, shopping to accomplish. So we saw a lot more of people splitting up, everyone going their own way to make sure they could cross off at least the most important things on their lists.

So on the last day, those who wanted to go to the top of the Arc de Triomphe went there first thing in the morning, and then everyone split up for "alone time". I was pleased to be invited to share Jill's alone time, since alone time with Jill can be even better for me than actual alone time. (Not to mention the fact that there was no possibility of me having actual alone time with Eva being my right-hand girl.) We headed to the Louvre.


Sadly, the thing Jill most wanted to see -- Dutch and Flemish paintings, namely Vermeer -- is closed on Thursdays! There were bars covering the entrance to that section of the museum. We could see in a little bit, so it was as if the museum was mocking us.


We saw some Flemish and French paintings, and some French sculpture.


I love it all, and honestly I love the architectural details of the buildings themselves so much, the surroundings compete with the art for my attention. It's just a happy place to be.

I love taking pictures of Jill taking pictures (so postmodern).

We were all supposed to meet at the Rodin Museum at 3:00. We were all quite concerned about Jana finding her way there, since she had been content to let others lead the way during the whole trip and had a crash course in navigating the Metro just that morning. (And then there is her dangerous propensity to flirt with strange French men! She told Jill she liked to think she was spreading sunshine on the Metro. Needless to say, she was strongly advised against spreading any more sunshine.) Imagine the pleasant surprise it was to see her waiting for us just down the street from the museum!


I love sculpture, and I love Rodin, so this museum is always a good stop for me.




Beautiful gardens are a plus, too! We found more delightful shady benches and plenty of trees made it hard to leave the gardens to go inside the museum.

Collette and I went home afterwards and everyone else went to see the Musee d'Orsay for real this time. (Since I didn't go on all of their expeditions, I don't have photos of everything -- yet.)

When they returned, Jill stayed home with Eva and the rest of us went to one of my favorite restaurants in my neighborhood so they could taste some real French food (I don't think cafes really count) on their last night here! I think everyone had a good dining experience. No photos of this one, unfortunately.

Collette finished packing early and went to bed. Everyone else stayed up until 2:00!