Another birthday. Gosh, they come fast. Anyway, when Maurice asked me what I wanted to do I picked lunch at the Grand Vefour, a Michelin stared restaurant that has been around since 1784 and where such people as Napoleon and Josephine and Colette dined. I have passed it many times when visited the Palais Royal grounds looking in at the ornate ceiling or drooling at the menu in the window. Another thing happened that made me want to eat there: the chef, Guy Martin, liked one of my photos (one taken near the restaurant) on Instagram. It was like a sign.

The entrance.

Isn’t that a great ceiling?

How a spoon was placed on the table. I liked the decorative back.

The spoon was for this very good soup, a sort of squash called potiron. It had a ginger under taste.

Really tasty duck.

About fifty cheeses to choose from.

I had my chocolate dessert served on a silver platter with a bouquet of flowers and a candle. Rather classy.

A view of the restaurant from up above. Such fabulous ambiance.

A nice place to have a birthday lunch.

I don’t get up to la Defense very often. It’s a long way for one thing, at the very end of metro line 1, and it’s sort of barren to me in many ways. There are tons of buildings and people but it still has an empty feeling. Maurice’s dentist is here and he makes the trek to see him.

The Grande Arch, which lines up exactly with the Arch de Triumph a long way down the way. I went up in it once and couldn’t believe that you didn’t get a jaw dropping view. What were they thinking?

There are all sorts of art there including this giant thumb.

Statue, as you can see.

Pretty.

One of the many tall buildings there. It’s a huge business center. In fact, Maurice once had an office here when he worked for IBM.

If I am anywhere near the Champs Elysees, I always stop for the George V Hotel for a look at the flower arrangements by American, Jeff Leathum. There are usually huge vases with leaning bouquets of flowers but I guess he wanted to do something new.

This was in the main lobby when I walked in.

And this.

A little more of the same with a few vases but just in green.

I personally liked this bowl of tulips on the piano in the tea room the best but then, Jeff didn’t call me to ask my advice. I met him once, by the way. A very nice guy.

I did a long walk all the way down Champs Elysees to Concorde and took this photo on one of the lamp posts there.

A few photos of Easter things around Paris:

Chocolate eggs inside little cake rafts.

A little nautical theme going on here too.

Not really Easter-y but, oh my. I’m not a fan of the chestnut puree but I’d still like to taste this.

These kind of look like owls but they are bunnies.

Happy Easter to one and all!

The 16th Arrondissement of Paris is a posh area, full of wealth and grandiose architecture. After a visit to the Palais Galliera I strolled around a bit having a look.

The windows of this patisserie held jewel like desserts. This one looked like it was made of gray suede cloth. I forgot to find out what was inside and how they came up with that color.

This was a lemon tart. Yum.

A swanky florist.

Loved these flowers.

I just liked this statue with the pigeon sitting on his outstretched arm.

There is a museum in Paris, the Palais Galliera, which is a fashion museum showing mostly historical types of fashion. The last time I was here I saw clothing by Lanvin. This time it was about the clothing of la Comtesse Greffulhe, who was a well known Parisian at the end of the 1800’s, known for her fashion sense and her support of artists and musicians. Her clothes were fabulous, very rich and beautiful. I liked them best when they were long and with trains. I wasn’t as impressed when her clothing entered the roaring 20’s.

As I headed toward the museum I noticed this statue of George Washington. I don’t even know if he ever made it to Paris. Sort of surprising to see him.

This is the front of the Palais Galleria.

You can see that it is near the Eiffel Tower.

No photos allowed but I got two before I realised. These were some of her many fans and gloves. She had really beautiful shoes too.

A look at some of her dresses. I liked the ones by Lanvin the best, full of texture and designs. I saw a document that she wrote detailing what she wanted to be buried in. There were also photos and you could see that she had a really small waist, maybe 19 inches or so.
I am very unfashionable but I enjoy seeing those who were, or are.