Wednesday, last exceptionally nice day in Amsterdam before the weather turns cooler and rainy.

Direct from Amsterdam CS to Paris Gare du Nord. Easy trip.

Arrived in the rain which subsided by the time we got to our hotel. Two rooms later, did not like the shower arrangement in the first room, and then reserved a different room for the rest of our stay- larger windows, same class. Finally settled in enough to think about dinner.

Cafe du Commerce above, before the hordes showed up. Sat next to a nice couple from Savoie region. Intercambio. Not Trump fans, culture fans. Good discussion.

Perfectly prepared duck breast and veal-pork cassoulet. This is one of the best places we have eaten so far on this trip. Thanks to Dee for the recommendation.

Dessert was Paris Brest which was explained to us originated with the tour de france about 1908 when it went between the two above cities.

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Thursday – overcast and much much cooler. Needed light jacket.

A fine start of the day. Our stuff is being moved as we head out to breakfast; moved to another room (turns out it is the best of the three so we will happily stay in this one).

Breakfast at Angelina on Rue de Rivoli. A well know, and fancy cafe. Reminds me of Fishers in London except Fishers has excellent coffee and excellent service. The food was excellent at Angelina but not so much the service. Finally I just got up and hung around the cash register until we could pay – tried unsuccessfully for 15 plus minutes to get the bill.

Mostly a day of wandering to and near Galleries Lafayette with its four stores, possibly only three buildings. We were never able to find the pharmacy, just gave up after a while. Day ended up with 10+ miles or 12+ miles depending upon which OS one believes.

Nice breakfast mostly healthy breakfast. WF is it not. Weak coffee here.

Galleries Lafayette:

Yes, that is sort of a trampoline under the dome. Six layers of balconies one of which is just visible in the lower right hand side of the pic.

Dinner at La Tourelle, thanks to Elizabeth and Dennis. Many thanks.

We walked over from the hotel but avoided the Tuileries due to QB suffering from severe allergy – tree related – attack. A bit better today as the weather is much cooler.

Side note: Tom has informed that a plugin has been set up right all the rotated PC/Mac pictures. Let me know if indeed they are all correctly rotated.

At Galleries Lafayette QB saw some biscotto pistachio, brought her to tears for a short bit. Naturally we bought some.

Today was a day of noise and crowds, bird and lime scooters, police sirens, tourists like us, cars, busses, bikes and smokers everywhere.

Dinner was excellent and once again no vegetables. Have had none in 10 days, other than lettuce (which George calls a veggie).

A new dish to me: pain de poisson Basque

Not new but good, duck confit.

Tomorrow: Monet and Giverny