It was a mix of Vegas show girls (but topless), variety show vaudeville and can-can. They had a juggler guy, a balancing act, a ventriloquist who told jokes in five languages, plus all of the "show" part. A mix of songs in English, French and Italian. All were clearly picked to be recognized by the native speakers of that language. You'd see pockets of people break into song during the show.

We took the Metro back and called it a night.

Eiffel Tower I (photo by Jim Carroll)

On Saturday we hooked up with Ani & Kiki, the teenage daughters of friends who live in Paris, and visited Notre Dame and Sainte Chapelle. We climbed Notre Dame’s towers, oggled the really cool stained glass in Sainte Chapelle, and walked along the Seine. The gargoyles at Notre Dame were incredible.

We got lost on the Metro for a little bit. Ended up a few stops away. Got off, tried switching directions by getting on the other side of the island platform and got even further away. Then we got smart and actually read the map. Back in the right direction, we walked through Notre Dame station to St. Michel-Notre Dame and got back to our hotel. Spent too much time at Gare d’Austerlitz!

Saturday night was dinner on the Bateaux Mouches. Food was really good. Wine was pretty good. The tour was fun. I had forgotten there was a Statue of Liberty on the Seine. The boat took us below it so we had a view of the statue with the Eiffel Tower in the background. For some reason I never saw the sparkly things when I was there last time. Timing was such that the tower was going nuts when the view of the statue was best, but low light and motion don't mix, so I didn't bother to photograph it.

Spiral Stair (photo by Jim Carroll)

We took the Metro back "home". Learned that Metros are less frequent late at night and that youngest daughters get teary when it is really late and you're trying to adjust to a new time zone. We survived.

Up on Sunday. We did food. The local boulangerie is nothing compared to the Gosselin place near the rental apartment where we stayed last year. Still got the “pain au chocolate”, but it wasn't as good. Our local Ernie’s Market—on a good day—is actually better. But, it was the only place open early on Sunday besides the florist. Next trip, I'll scope out the pastry shops in advance. Then off to the Eiffel Tower, the Arc de Triomphe and a bit along the Champs Elysées before heading back to the Seine where we commissioned a street artist to do line drawing portraits of all four of us.

Ani and Kiki invited the girls to sleep over at their place, and their mom invited us over for drinks before we went out. The girls all went for pizza and Joan (Ani and Kiki’s mom) put us in a cab to Ile de la Cité for dinner at Au Vieux Paris. The cabbie got us close, and I figured I could find it from Notre Dame. We walked along rue Chanoinesse, a pretty dark alley, and ended up back on the main drag. I asked a curio shop guy for directions. He explained there is Au Vieux Paris Restaurant and AVP Bistro. We clearly wanted the restaurant and he pointed the way back down the dark alley. This time I looked at street numbers and we found a dark restaurant. All closed up. Not a light on in the place. Locked tight. From the sign on the door, it looked like they didn't serve lunch on Sunday and Monday. But I wasn't sure if it was inclusive lunch-through-lunch or just that lunches weren't served. Regardless, they weren't open that night.

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