Paris and Dinner with the Vincent Jude family

We thought it was funny to see this shopowner or employee mopping the sidewalk this morning in HEELS!!!

Sirloin steak with Bearnaise...this was a very tough cut of meat but the sauce was delicious

Kathy's Omelette with mushroom sauce... Travis ate this yesterday for lunch

Renee's Duck Confit at lunch

Danny and Travis take a riverboat cruise on the Seine

St. Michel

These shoes could go with everything in my closet!

Our favorite shop for scarves...Diwali

Walking in the Latin Quarter

Notre Dame

The most famous view from the Belltower of Notre Dame....hello Mr. Gargoyle!

View from the belltower of Notre Dame

Ile St. Louis

The Seine

Bertillon Ice Cream on Ile St. Louis....the best ice cream in Paris!

Katy said I must try the chocolat sorbet some time. It is very very chocolately

My ice cream with whipped cream....Miam, Miam (yum, yum)

Eating Bertillon ice cream with Katy

Ile St. Louis

 One of my favorite Metro Stations, Cite

Vincent pours champagne before dinner

Edna shows Axelle all of the places she will visit when she comes to the United States to see us

Travis shows Apolline and Augustine photos of his children

This is the carrot salad that Apolline helped to prepare. I have never had carrots prepared this way and they were wonderful. I had to stop eating them to save room for my meal!

Our meal prepared by Sophie and Vincent. I served these (small) portions myself and yes, I went back for more. Magret de Canard is one of my favorites when I am in France and Vincent cooked these perfectly.

Wonderful varieties of cheese

(L to R) Amy, Axelle, Vincent, Anna, Renee, Edna, Sophie, Tom, Danny and Travis

A day in Paris is always an adventure! Our morning started with a delicious breakfast in the hotel. Edna mixed up her time this morning and thought that she and Renee were almost an hour late for breakfast but they were actually almost an hour early! So they began their day a little earlier than the rest of us which Renee said was not so bad. After breakfast, Katy Saulnier came to shop with the ladies around Saint-Germain and the Latin Quarter. After spending a little shopping time with us yesterday afternoon, Danny and Travis decided to do some sightseeing today instead of shopping. Travis had never been to Notre Dame and neither of them had ever climbed the belltowers. They arrived at Notre Dame in time for a tour of the belltowers. They climbed 400 stairs to the top of the belltowers and looked out over the city of Paris. After descending, which wasn't nearly as tiring as climbing up, they went inside of Notre Dame to look around. There was a choir performing while they were there and Danny recognized one of the songs to be Amazing Grace which was in French. They ate lunch on Ile St. Louis and then went to Bertillon, which is the best ice cream in Paris!! While they were gone, we shopped with Katy and then came back to the hotel to greet Tom, Edna's husband, and Anna, Renee's daughter, who flew in to meet us. They were very tired after their international flight so we took them next door to our lunch spot before returning them to the hotel for a nap. While they were napping, the ladies took the metro with Katy to the Latin Quarter for more shopping. Mostly we just walk and look in the windows, but every now and then we find a shop that catches our eye and we just have to go inside. One of the shops that Katy took us to was Patrick Roger, a chocolatier. Katy and I share a passion for chocolate and even though she thinks Mason du Chocolat is the BEST, she said that this shop is the second best. Meanwhile, Travis and Danny went for a boat ride on the Seine River after their ice cream. They really enjoyed seeing all of the beautiful bridges over the Seine and the views of the landmark buildings of Paris. As we finished our shopping and looking, we knew we wanted to eat some Bertillon ice cream so we walked to Ile St. Louis and ate our ice cream at the original Bertillon ice cream shop. Katy told us that ALL of the ice cream served on the island is Bertillon, but she wanted us to eat it at the original location. The ice cream was delicious!! We said goodbye to Katy after eating the ice cream and rode the metro back to the hotel to rest before dinner. We rode the metro again to cousin Vincent Jude and his wife Sophie's house. We met Vincent 21 years ago when he came for a visit to the United States. He is the next to youngest Labat grandchild. Vincent and Sophie have four children, three daughters and one son. Their son Augustin is 11. Axelle is 13, Apolline is almost 9, and Albane is 5. We are planning for Axelle to come and visit us in the United States next year and she was allowed to stay up and have dinner with us even though it is a school night. Sophie is an excellent cook and made a delicious dinner for us. Vincent grilled Magret de Canard (duck breast) which was absolutely wonderful. We also had a carrot salad with a vinaigrette dressing, decorated with tomatoes by Apolline. I believe that Sophie said that Apolline also helped in the preparation of the salad. Served with the duck was a potato/sweet potato casserole, roasted celery root, and risotto with zucchini. Following dinner, a cheese tray was brought to the table with a wide selection of cheese. My favorite is the Comte, because it is very mild. Everyone else was very excited to try the chevre as well as several of the other selections. Dessert was wonderful! Sophie made a lemon tart and chocolate mousse. I remembered that she had made the chocolate mousse for us in the United States when they came to visit a few years ago when Axelle was 2.. She said it was her grandmother's recipe. We had a wonderful time visiting and arrived back at our hotel fairly late. Anna and Tom were thankful for their rest earlier today. We will eat a later breakfast tomorrow to give our newest arrivals time to get a little more sleep. Until tomorrow....