DINNER AT LA TAVERNE DU SERGENT RECRUTEUR......

Wednesday, March 4, 1992 Paris

Breakfast at our hotel…a must per the tour book…croissants, jam, juice and coffee…very elegant. I got upset when Jim ordered 1 juice and 1 coffee…they brought two juices and a small pot. I wanted coffee…finally Jim went to the kitchen and returned with the waiter who showed me the coffee! Jim then surprised me a small necklace he’d brought with him as a gift..(.throughout the trip he kept surprising me with small pieces of jewelry that he'd brought with him....truly a romantic man.) Then on to the Louvre…walked along the street through the market with open stalls with fish…live chickens and geese for sale among other things on the way there.

The Louvre was never ending and full of art treasures. We were there until about four o'clock when we started back for the hotel. On the way back we happened by the small Sainte Chapelle. A royal chapel located inside of an old palace. Downstairs was very plain...but in the upstairs there were breathtaking stained glass windows. Really worth the tour price and climb up the winding steps to the upper Haute Chappelle.

Picked up postcards on the way back to the hotel. We had a lovely dinner out at La Taverne du Sergent Recruteur, a unique, casual restaurant guaranteed to induce indulgence. Stepping inside you are transported to a Gothic renaissance era. The space is dotted with wrought iron chandeliers. And, it is located across the street from our hotel on the cobbled streets of L'Ile Saint-Louis We had a bottle of white wine. Jim had beef and I had Salmon. There was a party of Briton’s across the way. Half loaf of bread came off the ceiling rack along with a basket of sausages and one of vegetables for the salad. Kind of a make your own. They also gave us each a slice of pate to spread on the bread. A lovely meal in a warm and mellow atmosphere. Afterwards we walked the river Seine to Notre Dame; down to the shops and back again for over an hour. Absolutely breathtaking. ( I fell in love with Paris on that day and it's continued to be my favorite city in all of Europe ever since.)