Two days in Paris

 I was not up to posting yesterday morning, nor this morning.  A consequence of the excitement of arriving in Gay Paris!  We were up and ready for the transfer that Flo had coordinated for us to get up to Gare Part Dieu in plenty of time for the train to Paris. Everything proceeded smoothly until we got to Gare Aeroport and reached out to our driver coordinated by Pam, but through Sun Transfers.  Hamid was not able to meet us at the station for some reason and we scrambled around a bit to track him down at Departure Gate D.  Relieved to have found him, we piled in to the van for easy drive to the Excelsior Opera.  The hotel entrance and lobby was a bit sketchy, but rooms are clean and comfortable.  I abandoned the clan there and made my way en pied through the drizzling rain for 30 minutes to find the much more pleasant FTLOTG hotel - Les Bains-Douches.  The room I share with Brother Matt was not quite ready, so I retired to the lobby bar for a biere ou duex.  As the FTLOTG Privateers trickled in, became re-acquainted with several and met new friends on the tour.  And so commenced what was to be a long evening. Myles had a reservation at Frenchie with his workmate Amanda and her partner Taylor, and we were able to walk up to the affiliated Frenchie Bar au Vins. Got a sidewalk table and enjoyed a fabulous meal (Scallops followed by delicious Monk Fish) at this popular restaurant

- we might have fared better than Myles did with his proper reservation at the main restaurant.  After dinner, we made our way to meet up with the entourage having taken up residence at Le Frog et Rosbiff, another legendary episode ensued capped off with a visit to a local McD’s for a Big Mac (Mac Royalle?) at an hour I’m not really used to experiencing! Brother Matt and I stumbled back to Les Bains while K et al hopped in an Uber back to their hotel.  Upon arriving at Les Bain circa 02h00, we were surprised to see a large crowd gathered on the street outside our hotel.  They were awaiting the doors to the basement nightclub to open at 2 am?!?  Needless to say, I slept in a bit.  Day two found us linking up with the kids and wandering the streets of Paris until time for our reservation at Pink Momma.

 Notable for the sign indicating it is not a strip club!  Had a great lunch and then made our way up the hill to Sacre Coeurs, a spectacular basilique overlooking the city scape of Paris.  Time was running out so Brother Matt and I jumped on the Metro and found our way back to Reaumur-Sebastopol station and then to our hotel.  Had to get ready quickly for the formal dinner at L’Escarmouche, we linked up with the Privateers back at Le Frog et Rosbiff for pre-drinks.  Then the long walk to the Seine, across Ile de Cite and up a hill to a very fine dining experience in a Cave!  

Our table mates were Rob and Lee Moffat and we had a convivial evening.  Afterwards, with one stop for a biere with new friends, we relocated to Le Frog and closed it down once more after making last call for 30 pints.  Wound up having to share with random strangers passing by.  The kids did their own thing at Les Parisiennes and we will reconnect with them next day for a visit to Le Louvre.