Marche-On, Marche-On

Those words are from the French national anthem and they mean "Let's keep marching". That's the by world for the first de-I Expeditionary Force (dEF) with our mission to maximize our Parisian experience.

Wife and I both over slept on Tuesday. We'd told #1 and 1A to be a breakfast 8:30 sharp, ready to go. At 8:30 sharp, I roll over and check the clock and notice we haven't even woken up yet. Took quite a bit of grief from the young'uns on that one.

Today we headed to the Marais area of Paris which is just to the the East of the center city and is the home to a lot of late medieval and early renaissance buildings. It is a part of the city that I've never been to so I really enjoy it. 1A has downloaded a walking tour of the area and does the guide duty.

From the Marais it is short walk to the Seine river and crossing onto the Ile Saint Louis and Ile de la Cite. These are the islands in the river that were the ancestral foundations of Paris. We just grab a quick bite for lunch, some savory crepes from a street vendor. The guy was really quite the craftsman and they were surprisingly good. We ate them in the park just behind the cathedral. Pretty cool. (By the way, at some point I will try to upload some pictures but

We visit Notre Dame de Paris, the cathedral. I take over the guide duties here because of my knowledge of the area and history readings. After a brief discussion of the design innovations of the Gothic cathedral, we head inside. We're on the cusp of the vacation season, so it's crowded but not insanely so like it would have been a couple of weeks earlier.

Then it's on to the Left Bank/Latin Quarter, the university area. This is my old stomping grounds. I've just finished a book about the educational ferment that led to the rise of the Universite de Paris in the 13th century, so I'm able to give an even better historical background. We visit the grand boulevards; St. Germain de Pres and St. Michel. We go past the Sorbonne and the Faculte de Droit (law school). I show them Rue Tournefort where I stayed when I studied there. Then it was on to the Jardins des Plantes (botanical garden).

By then it was pretty late and we took the Metro back to our neighborhood. IA and #I have gotten very fond of going to the cafe or brasserie and having some beer or wine before dinner (as most restaurants don't even get started until around 8 PM. So we did so tonight again. Then we had dinner at a place near the hotel that was very 'old school' with lots of dishes you don't see often today in restaurants. So I had Tete de Veau (which as the name implies is made from the head of a veal. Wife had a whole roasted dorade (fish), #1 had moules (mussels) frites (with fries) and 1A had Auvergne sausage (from a particular region) and aligot (a potato puree with cheese incorporated so that it is smooth and creamy. Very enjoyable but not light!

We've got another busy day tomorrow. One of these days I will try to up load my pictures.