Luna de Miel, Day Ten

There's no discussing where we are eating for breakfast. Our bodies simply carry us there. American Husband is so happy with the B.I.A. revolution in Parisian breakfast eating that he agrees to walk around the Marais with me in "secret" hope that we can eat at the Marais location B.I.A. for lunch. Wife sees right through this naturally, but agrees, as she wants to walk around the Marais.

A visit to the Pantheon follows breakfast. Husband and wife debate whether 8 euro entrance fee will be worth it, but ultimately decide they've spent more money on more useless endeavours. 8 euros ends up being well worth it. It's actually a really cool attraction. We see Foucault's pendulum (as well as Sassy Cat's Egyptian cousin who serves as watch-cat) and the crypt which houses the remains of Voltaire, Rousseau, Dumas, Hugo and the Curies, to name a few, and as husband points out, many of Napolean's cronies.

Onto the Jardin Luxembourg. We learn that the Palais Luxembourg was built by the Medici that married the French king. It now serves as home to the useless French senate. Al Gore (our name for the internets) details just how ludicrous this governing body is. We decide to find our creperie and share one last crepe and coffee on our Paris visit.

Onto the Marais and lunch at B.I.A. Wife learns very quickly that husband didn't bother reading the lunch portion of the menu while at breakfast because he orders another hamburger. "Husband," says wife, "I thought you wanted to come here because you've been complaining about having to eat hamburgers all the time." Husband retorts, "I thought they'd have a chicken wrap or something." Because of his aforementioned limited French, husband mistakenly thought that "Breakfast in America" meant "Chipotle." Still, the fries are good, and husband's chocolate shake is even better. Perhaps the walk to the Marais was unnecessary, but husband and wife have now covered all of the arondissment that form the city center, and that's a lot to accomplish in four days (and makes us all the more impressed that we did almost as much in 2.5 days last April).

We walk back to the hotel with intention to ask reliable concierge for a bar that serves a lot of wines by the glass. Have to settle for bell-boy. This is a mistake. We make reservations at Le Coupe Chou, this really old restaurant that we went to on our last trip. He recommends two places near Le Coupe Chou.... a hotel (which has no bar) and a cafe (which isn't nearby and has only four non-descript (literally, there's no description beyond "Bordeaux") reds). Order a bottle of a slightly more descript burgundy as we have time to kill and it's pretty cheap. Strike one for bell-boy. As a note, I'm utterly dismayed at wine selections by the glass in Paris. I've honestly seen better selections by the glass at The Palm. This is France people! You are supposed to be snobs about this stuff. You've let an American girl from Wacko Texas out-wine-snob you! You should be ashamed. Wife's new plan is to open the Paris branch of Casellula in the middle of St. Germain de Pres. This might happen.

Getting back to the subject at hand - we eat a lovely meal at Le Coupe Chou with a nice 2001 Bordeaux (Chateau Clarke - by some Rothschild).

We arrive back at the hotel and spend our last moments savoring the lovely view from the balcony. We vow to return to this wonderful city soon. Wife vows to return speaking more French.