Day Six: 27 Aug. 2002

We stayed up late last night, and sleep later than ever this morning. We set off, finally, for the Centre Pompidou area. If we feel ambitious, perhaps we'll get to the Musée Carnavalet as well. We bought our Cartes Musée on the 23rd, and they'll expire after tomorrow. Before we see any museums, today, however, we must eat! We choose Le Chien Qui Fume (The Dog Who Smokes), one of the many smoking-themed restaurants, near Les Halles, and are pleased to get a table in the non-smoking section. Everything is very good - we have the soupe a l'oignon, salade chevre, cocon lapin (rabbit stew) and a killer mousse au chocolate - and the service is delightful. Lots of dogs-playing-poker style art on the walls. Cute trio next to us - an older man who looks like Anthony Hopkins's happy-go-lucky French cousin, a thirtyish man, and a spanish-looking 9-year-old boy. They all laugh, tease each other, and look very happy. We then meander down Rue Berger to Centre GP, but have trouble finding an entrance. Hey, is that an Apple Store on the other side of Rue du Renard? It's not a designerly American version, but it's cool anyway - full of French Macs, and a friendly sales guy. Kathryn tells him I'm a web designer, and he gives us invites to the upcoming Paris Mac Expo. Back around the other side of Centre GP, which seems to be under renovation, we finally see the sign: Closed Tuesdays. D'eau! My fault for not reading all our guides more closely.

Kathryn understands, and we continue east, into the Marais, staying on the narrow, less-trafficked streets. We've clearly entered a very gay neighborhood. One street is even called "Rue des Mauvais Garcons" - Bad Boy Street! The area feels light-hearted and safe. On Rue du Bourg Tibourg, we check out Mariage Freres Tea Shop and sit down for a cup in the tea room. Very pleasant atmosphere, and sans fumer. Kathryn chooses the birthday tea, and is very pleased with her choice. My tea tastes more like buttered spinach than like the vanilla and caramel I'd been advertised, but that's okay. As a diuretic, it is flawless. We take the Metro from the St. Paul stop to the very conviently-located Louvre stop, right around the corner from our hotel. The Louvre stop is the poshest yet - it's fitted with marble and reproductions of Greek and Egyptian statues. Nice! We powerwalk back to our hotel room's bathroom, and then relax for a while. Soon it's time to pick a restaurant for dinner. Ahh, Paris! The concierge is very helpful, finding out if our choices have any non-smoking tables available. We make reservations at the Chez René for 10pm.

We take the Metro from the Louvre stop back to the St. Paul stop, and walk south across Ile St. Louis to our restaurant on Blvd. St. Germain. We're early, so we walk around the block, past the Institute du Monde Arabe on the left and a gas station on the right. It's the first gas station we've seen in Paris. We turn up Rue du Cardinal-Lemoine again and it's a very non-touristy, utilitarian area. We go into Chez Réné and are seated in the non-smoking section. It's still fairly smoky, and the room is warm, stuffy and humid, but the meal is good. I try some saucissons from Lyon and then have the wonderful Coq au Vin. Kathryn has a Chevre Salad and the Boeuf Bourginon. Lots of Americans in the house. We're hot, and walking in the cool night breeze afterwards feels wonderful, until, again, we have to pee. Dang. We take the same Metro stop back (we see the maintenance boys at St. Paul sweetping the cigarette butts off the stairs for the night) and return to our hotel. We talk about how glad we are that we're here, and that the trip has turned out so well in general, despite the grey and rain of the last few days.

On to Day Seven