After a late breakfast we set off for the Yves St Laurent museum. But on the way we did a little shopping. Enough that we had to return to the hotel with our purchases. But, so much fun. Traveling with a girlfriend is so nice.

By then we were ready for lunch. We looked for something near the museum and found a nice Lebanese place with great service and lovely outdoor dining. This is notable because we first went to a pub sort of place and were ignored even as the waitress stood by the bar. But, we lucked out because we were not very excited by the heavy meat centric menu and the Lebanese food was just right.

We expected the Yves St Laurent museum to have a lot of clothes on display. Instead it was all about the design process and located in the former building with exhibits of drawings, patterns, shoe and hat forms, and buttons. And, a video of fashion shows. Impressive.

The rest of the day was in Montmartre. Metro, climbing stairs and live music inside the Sacre-Coeur. Getting lost wandering around the hilltop and finding a Rick Steves restaurant that was wonderful. Phone batteries dying from all the GPS work but we made it back to the Rue Cler and a good rest. Wonderful day!

Chamonix

As you can see, the views are nothing short of spectacular — with more to come. We’ve gone for a short hike each day, which won’t exactly prepare us for the Haute route, but should give us a nice warm-up. We’ve been eating good food and having fun walking around town to see what’s out there.

Paris September 2

The Rue Cler is a wonderful neighborhood. Full of lovely distractions: leather stores, card shops, and – today – an amazing fan store. All on the way to Galleries Lafayette – a cathedral of fashion. We had a nice lunch and shopped the 50% off racks. We both found something nice. Would didn’t have our passports with us so we could not recover the VAT tax. So, we have to go again tomorrow!!

Round 2 was a food tour. From 4 to 7:30 we had bread, cheese, pate, sausages, jams, chocolate, pastries, and wine. Besides us there were two guys from NYC who just arrived this morning and a man from South Africa who is leaving tomorrow – like us. All friendly food lovers. The “tastings” were sizable and we started to get very full. Natasha was big on visiting award winning producers. She said that butchers are the most highly paid people in the food industry. The French need a good doctor, a lawyer and a butcher. Dinner party success is judged by the quality of the meat! According to Natasha the first restaurant ever was in France. (Valerie just Googled it and confirmed it – 1765). At the end we just headed back to our hotel with a quick stop for some gin and tonic and a lime to have a drink in our room before bed.

Another lovely day.

The Haute Route

No description other than the photo. Byron (face hidden), David (sunburned), Mike’s friend, Mike, Carmen, Mike’s other friend.