Day 17

Last night we celebrated our "au revoir, Paris" dinner at Ambassade D'Auvergne, a restaurant just down the street and around the corner.  They do two things they are famous for: aligot, a potato, cheese, and garlic dish that is whipped until it becomes almost elastic; and mousse aux chocolat, which is served at the table in a large bowl -- it is rich, dark chocolate.  We had the green lentil salad for a starter.  I believe the lentils were fresh, not dried, and cooked with bacon and onions, with some other flavorings.  It was actually pretty good. I had the duck with aligot while Kathy had the evening's special, which is difficult to describe. Of course, we had the mousse and a glass of wine.

Today is our last day in Paris and we spent the morning packing.  I think I can get everything in -- we'll see how it goes when I get all of my bathroom stuff together tomorrow morning.  Having clean clothes (thank you, Kathy!) really helped in packing.

Once we had our packing under control, we set out in our neighborhood.  I had packed a box of stuff to ship home, so our first stop was the post office.  It cost 53 euros - about half the cost of the stuff in the box. Then we walked down Rue St. Denis, which historically has been a street known for street walkers and sex shops, but it has cleaned up somewhat and now has a lot of cheap clothing shops.  We walked down as far as the Fountain of Innocents near Les Halles, then up along side of the reconstruction of the Les Halles shopping area.  There is an underground shopping center as well as Paris' largest train and Metro station.  The above ground structure is being rebuilt, replacing what was built in the 1970s after the original wholesale produce market was torn down.  Actually, a lot has been done since I was here in 2013, so maybe the next time I come, it will be completed.

We walked over to E. Dehillerin, the kitchen supply store where Julia Child bought her pots and pans and where many of Paris' chefs buy their equipment.  This is like the Cabellas of cuisine.  You can buy just about anything to do with cooking here.  Everything from a small demitasse spoon to a giant ladle.  Copper pots by the dozens, knives, wire whisks, tins, and molds.  Quite impressive.

We had lunch at a really nice Italian cafe - really good pizza - and the decor was really pretty with mirrors and mosaics.  It is a popular spot with the French stock exchange close by.

On our way over to Rue Montorgueil, the local market street, we stopped into a few other shops and looked around, but didn't buy much - now that we know how much room we have (or don't have) to take stuff home, it is easy to hold back on the the shopping.  We also need to keep back enough money to pay for our taxis to the airport, and not have too many euros left when we get there.

Tonight, we are having left over pizza and Picard frozen meals for dinner, and we many feel compelled to stroll down to Amorino for dessert - they really do have good ice cream.