Day 24

23 October 2022

It was a much better night last night. I could even lie flat after a little while without going into coughing fits.

So, to today. Not a lot to report unless you like shopping.

We had a lazy start, as we were both in need of a good lie in and a catch up. We had decided to return to Moncler on the Champs Elysee  to purchase the sun glasses that Kirsty had really liked yesterday, but didn’t in fact actually need. What has need got to do with it ?? I was also tempted and lashed out and bought a T shirt. Mind you, it costs almost as much as Kirsty’s glasses.

We did get to have a coffee and water while we waited for our packages to be wrapped. Bargain !!

We then headed to our next destination at the Palais Royale, only to find it was closed on a Sunday. I must have misread the website. Anyway, we still have tomorrow.

We checked out Le Grand Vefour, the restaurant I took Kirsty to for her 50^th. It is still there and still looks the same. The stain is still there on the century’s old carpet from where I knocked over a vase of flowers. There is a small sign now “An Australian was here”.

We then headed towards Les Halles, found an open market with lots of food stalls. We also found a nice café for lunch, a light lunch, as we are out to dinner tonight at 7pm, not a time we are used to eating at. We have adopted the French way of eating dinner at no earlier than 8.30pm.

We had texted with Kate, as she was wondering how were spending our penultimate day. She kindly advised that both Chanel and Louis Vuitton were open on a Sunday. This prompted Kirsty to reveal that in fact, she wouldn’t mind a new cross body bag. I mumbled something about putting Kate into a body bag.

So, off we went to find LV. The crowds were out and about again, it being a another stunning day in Paris. It does look very stormy though, so maybe tonight it may come down. We have been so lucky with the weather.

Unless you have a booking at the major fashion/bag stores, you normally have to que to get in. This we did, but it wasn’t all that long. Once inside you can wander until someone is assigned to you to take you through their products. In the meantime, you can have a champagne, which we did. Although Kirsty found a lovely bag, we had forgotten to bring a passport which you need for the store to process the 12% tax refund. When you spending money at places like LV, you certainly need to get the refund.

OK, so tomorrow we will re-visit LV, with passport, and we can also revisit the boutique that was closed at the Palais Royale. Time to head home for an hour or so before our dinner booking. We are going to Bofinger (pronounced “bo fan jay”) a classic Belle Epoque restaurant just around the corner. It promises “the best sauerkraut in Paris”. Mmmmm, this will be interesting. Kirsty has already decided to have anything without sauerkraut.

We are back from dinner. I needed a flying buttress to support my stomach up the stairs. OMG, huge meal. My fault, I went for the house special of the home made sauerkraut, pork knuckle, 3 different kinds of sausage and smoked ham plus potatoes and mustard. Too big. Kirsty had steak and chips, but did have half a lobster as an entrée. And, then we had dessert.

As ever, the tables are so close that one table has to be pulled out to let a person into their seat. It is all very strange and tense to start, with everyone whispering. However, by the end we were in deep conversation with our neighbours, well at least Kirsty was, as she had enough Italian to get by. They were from Switzerland, she was German and he was originally Italian, and her English was very good.

It was a great evening to finish with as our last dinner in France.