France Day 2 - SheGal joins in on the fun!

After sleeping in MUCH later than anticipated, we started our day off at the Musee D'Orsay. After wandering around in awe for a few hours, we headed towards St Germain and had lunch at the pretty well-known Les Deux Magots, named not for the white worms we all know & love but for the two figurines (aka magots) of Chinese dignitaries at the entrance from 1914.

I had the croque madam, which is roasted bread, ham, cheese and eggs with a limonade a light refreshing lemon soda. Nothing too spectacular about this lunch but here's it's all about the atmosphere! The quintessential Parisian cafe' filled with history (hangout of Picasso & Hemingway) and the perfect place to people watch!

After lunch, we strolled around the streets of St Germain, shopped, (one of us spent a lot of money on a sweater she doesn't need but loved!) had some gelato and then headed to the famous Poilane bakery to meet up with SheGal who was coming in from the airport. The location we went to was a nice storefront with a constant flow of people coming in and out. It is funny and pretty damn cool how the French carry around their baguettes and bread the way we carry around containers of coffee. We really need to start carrying around carbs! But I digress - I purchased an apple tart and a pain du chocolat for the next day's train ride to Beaune. The smell was heavenly and the breads certainly delicious, but I gotta admit, as our journey continued I think we might have found better.

While Mitch & SheGal rested at the room, RRR & I hit the Lourve to see if it was really as overrated as we've been told. I don't think it was overrated at all! We chose what works of art and time periods we wanted to see (besides the Mona Lisa and Venus de Milo) and kept our visit to a minimum without trying to tackle the entire collection. It was beautiful and certainly worth seeing!

After struggling to find a cab, we headed towards our dinner destination Ze Kitchen Gallerie, a restaurant which gives a nod to flavors from South East Asia. We had a few minutes to spare, so RRR & I found a Carribbean type bar down one of the little side streets near the restaurant and settled in for one of the best mojitos I've had in a long time! Of course neither one of us can recall the name of the place or our Texas-born bartender.

When we finally met up with Mitch & SheGal, we caught up and chowed down:

Wine: 2004 Les Gorrigues Domain Clavel

"Gnocci Sardi" (RRR & I split) - actually not gnocci, but orecheitte with spicy tomato sauce, eggplant and an egg. They actually divided the portion for us and each of us got our own tiny little egg. The sauce was creamy, the little egg was downright adorable (don't want to know what "little bird" it came from) and there was a bit of sweetness to the sauce that perhaps came from some thai basil? To me, this was the best dish on our table!

Racasee Cloutee' a la Citronelle - red snapper pan roasted and served on a spear of lemongrass. While Mitch was a bit suspect of fish bones, the fish was bone-free, light and tasty. I didn't really taste the seashell jus the menu said it came with but I really didn't miss it at all.

We decided to pass on dessert since we were all exhausted and needed to say a temporary 'au revoir' to Paris as we head to wine country!

Tomorrow's installment: four women with luggage navigate a train station (hilarity ensues...)