Paris day 9: The Louvre and our best meal yet.

This is one of two bakeries we frequent everyday, sometimes twice in a day. We wanted to get an early start so headed straight here for breakfast on our way to the Louvre.

We detoured first to St. Germain des Pres, as we had not been there and it was "on the way" to the Louvre.

I needed to stop and commune with my buddy St. Anthony, the saint of lost things.
He and I have a great relationship as I am known as a "finder".

I love this stained glass window, with its Illuminati symbol.

 

They had a particularly lovely statue of St. Genevieve.

The first place we went in the Louvre was our favorite room of LARGE paintings.

Here is the famous painting of Napoleon crowning himself. I included the tourists to give perspective.

This is about as close as you can get to the Mona Lisa.

I was happy to find these fanciful faces again.

 I loved the expression of impatience on this damsel's face and the detail of the sea creature.

Did you know that some angels have colored wings ??

 

And that there are devil babies.

Sometimes just wandering around got us to some great unexpected places. This is an Easter Island Moa.













We enjoyed the halls of sculptures.

Sated with art we returned to our flat to rest up before our reserved dinner at a restaurant less than a block away. On some blog of Paris I had read about this tiny, literally stamp size restaurant called Le Timbre. There is seating for 24 diners maximum and you are quite close to your neighbors, which allows you to check what they have ordered.

If you look closely you can see Genna and I and the chef and his one sous chef.

We began with white asparagus which is now in season.

It was light and nutty and succulent.

Unfortunately the photo of my lamb shoulder with split peas did not come out. We were trying to be discreet ;-)hard in such a tiny place.

Genna's duck confit was perfectly cooked and nestled on a bed of marinated radish  shavings. They tasted almost like coconut, a brilliant paring with the dense, rich duck.

Bob was delighted with his trout, the skin crisp and very edible. The ham went well with the green asparagus.
Genna and I shared a coronet filled with jasmine cream and the darkest hot chocolate sauce I have tasted.

Bob opted for a cheese plate and was very happy with his choice.

We so enjoyed this place that we have reservation to return on Tuesday !