9/22/07 TGV to Paris

Got up early and drove our rental car to Avignon and took the TGV (train great velocity) to Paris. The train is very very fast (200mph) and while we were waiting at the station standing waiting for our train another train blew into the station at full(?) speed and we were very surprised by how fast the train zoomed through the station. It sounded like a jet fighter it was so fast. We arrived in Paris and commented how glad we were that took the early train and got into Paris around 1pm and the skies were just clearing. We found our hotel after carrying the suitcases up and down the stairs of the Paris metro station. We found our hotel the Hotel St-Germain des Pres around 3pm and found the quarters to be tight but comfortable. We can hear a man screaming outside (that stopped). We walked around the Ile Saint Louis for the late afternoon and it became appparent to Chet (at least - since Lynne already knew) that Paris is the world's leader for culture, art and fashion. Chet had never seen so many shoes stores and leather good stores in one place - and Lynne was entranced by the prospect of buying, looking at and having so many beautiful shoes. (I think Imelda Marcos shopped here, and Lynne is NOT a shoe queen in case it seems like that was implied :) .)

We went to Paris's most popular ice cream shop (Berthillon), saw beautiful butcher shops where they cut custom cuts of meat for you and had special chickens and went to the Hotel de Ville, which is where the mayor of Paris has his office. They had a huge TV screen 6 meters by 6 meters so people could watch the soccer games that France was playing in.

Had dinner around the corner from our hotel in a small cafe with lots of college students in it (Cafe du Metro) and had a very tasty meal of tagliatelle with chicken and mushroom sauce (Supreme de volaille). The mushrooms were very good.