Sunday night, the glories of Cerise – four cherries in each little cup – at Lapin Agile gave way to a foggy morning on Monday. The fog in our heads matched the atmosphere; none of us had slept much.
Bobbie, a tremendously good sport guiding her old mom around gay Paree, got up early enough to meet me at L’Institute Nationale de Jeune Aveugnes (National Institute for Blind Children), the world’s first school established to educate children who are blind. I’d made an appointment for a tour of the place with Marie-Renee Hector, who it so happens, manages foreign exchange programs for the school and is the English department head – so, no worries language wise! Bobbie was thus released to go back to her dorm and rest. Marie-Renee and her adorable guide dog Bishka showed me the historic campus where Louis Braille, himself, had been a student of A. Valentine Hauy.We all rendezvoused at Aux Saveurs du Marche in the posh Pont Neuilly section for lunch with a Dartmouth chum, Anne Bagemary, and her family. A true high point: at Bob’s recommendation, I had the “duck burger” or “tartare de canard” for lunch. In fact, every item we tasted would qualify as a gastronomical high point!
As if that wasn’t enough food and great company for one day, we met up with the Snell family back in the Marais, Yes, that’s right, Bobbie’s friend since 7th grade, Carolyn and her mom, Diane, and sister, Katie. All the way from Lexington to have dinner with the neighbors! Strolling down the street, we ventured into a falafel joint and had terrifically fresh pita wraps stuffed with amazingly crisp ingredients including, well, falafel!
Back to the hotel to crash…sleeping until we were good and ready to get up on Tuesday morning.
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