May 9 - Istanbul, Turkey
Well, I'm going to try this one more time. I failed to post after two times in Paris. What I wrote just disappeared, and I became really frustrated.

I had a great time in Paris. Among other things, Pat and I toured the Opera Garnier, a Belle Epoque opera house. It's grand staircase has probably been in the movies lots of times. In 1984, I attended the opera Werthier and a ballet. For the opera, I had a loge seat, but for the ballet, I sat in the 6th balcony. It was July, and there was no AC. I almost passed out. At any rate, on the tour of the Opera last week, I got to see a lot of parts of the building that I had not seen before, and I was especially pleased to see the mural on the ceiling by Chagal.

Another highlight of the time in Paris was the dinner at Le Procope, the oldest restaurant in Paris, which they claim has been open since the 17th century. If you Google it, you can get an idea of what it's like. I had my escargot fix, and Pat settled for French Oinion soup as a first course. My main course was trout amandine, and Pat's was halibut. My dessert was isle flottant and Pat's was creme brulee.

Pat had an agenda, which we were able to fulfill. We had a drink at the Cafe de la Paix. I just had a glass of wine, but Pat had a kir royale--beaucoup d'Euros. And that was just one item on her agenda. The same afternoon, we stopped by the Hotel Meurice, located on the Rue de Rivoli. She had read that the German General surrendered there.  That bill was even more shocking than the one from the Cafe de la Paix.

Perhaps my favorite activity was our night at the Caveau de la Huchette, a jazz cellar. The group playing there is called The Swing Society (Google them if you'd like a sample). The music was excellent, and the dancers were incredible. We stayed until a little after midnight, then took the Metro back to our apartment. Afterall, we had to check out of our apartment at 10 the next morning.

My next blog will be about Istanbul.