With nothing on our agenda until dinner, we decided to be tourists for the day.  What a wonderful way to bring in the first day of summer.  We strolled down to Notre Dame and from there we caught the Hop-on / Hop-off bus.  It was a beautiful day – plenty of sunshine and not too warm.  We were able to switch buses and ended up taking two of the three routes that they cover.

There were plenty of people around town today.  The major sites like Notre Dame, Les Invalides, the Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triomphe were all packed with people,  but all the parks and gardens were full too.  As you might guess, there was a lot of traffic on the roads that slowed us down to a crawl at times.  It was good for picture taking though!

All-in-all, it was really a great way to see most of the iconic monuments without walking our legs off.  While we did end up with a little sunburn, the fresh air and beautiful sites totally offset our red noses.  I have some pictures to share, but you should really play some French music or at least sing “Frères Jacques” while viewing them.

On the way back to the hotel, we stopped at Les Deux Magots for a bit of lunch and some wine.  We had a nice bottle of Rosé Sancerre along with a croque monsieur for me and Sue had warm cheese with toasted Poliane made bread.  Everything was delicious and the people watching was awesome.

Today is also a special day in France.  Each year they celebrate the return of summer with the “Fetes de Musique” throughout the country.  There are concerts and performances throughout the city here in Paris, plus there are impromptu concerts in various locations.  Hopefully we will find an accordionist or two to celebrate with.

Before heading back to the room, we made one quick stop.  That stop was at the Alain Ducasse Chocolate shop.  I’d tell you how much I want to share them with you, but they’re gone.  They were delicious though.

Dinner was at the Jazz Club Chez Papa.  It’s just down the street from our hotel and is a decent restaurant with live jazz music.  The club is kind of funky.  People have scratched or written their names everywhere on the beams, the walls and even the ceiling.  Some of the all-time jazz greats have performed there.

Tonight we would be entertained by a talented woman named Leslie.  She was accompanied by a piano and upright bass.   She had a wonderful voice and the musicians were terrific too!

‘We were seated so close the piano player could have spun around and joined us for dinner.  It was really cool.

During their first break the bass player stopped over to say hello.  We were able to chat for a few minutes and we found out that he was originally from the Bronx.  After he left us, the singer stopped by to see if we were enjoying the show.  She was very pleasant to chat with and told us that the piano player is her husband and that they sold it all in California and moved to Paris.  I can’t remember her last name, sorry Leslie, but I’ll note it later if I can find it.

So dinner was good, but not great.  I had a salad of buffalo mozzarella and tomatoes and Sue had warm goat cheese and toast points as a starter.  We both had grilled prawns as our main and then I had a Creme caramel and Sue shared it with me.

We left after the second set having enjoyed our evening.  On the way out we got a wave and a “Goodnight Buffalo” from the bass player.

On the walk home, we came upon one of those impromptu concerts just outside of St. Germain des Pres church.  We stuck around for a few songs before feeling a little chilly, so back to the hotel we went.  With the windows cracked, we could hear the music in our room.

After a little while we both got tired, so off to dreamland.