Happy Valentine's Day from Paris!

1) Chateau Malmaison; Josephine’s “little” place;
2) Grand Arche at La Defense;
3) Me in our local wine shop, Caves du Pantheon;
4) On the corner outside the wine shop, looking toward the Pantheon.

Happy Valentine’s Day, Everybody! We hope that you and yours had a wonderful day!

Here we started with great ambitions. The plan was to head out to Versailles for the day, and then (even if the little golf carts weren’t running!) to make our way to the Petit and Grand Trianons. However, as with all good plans, there is the “personal” element that needs to be added in … when the alarm went off at 7, there was NO WAY I was getting out of bed! Way too tired! (More jet lag, do you think, or am I just getting old???)

So, instead, we slept in for another hour, getting up at the more reasonable 8 a.m. and, after breakfast, took the RER down to Cluny to connect to the metro heading out to La Defense. Got off there and made our way to the bus station included in the La Defense complex, and found our way out to Malmaison, Josephine Bonaparte’s house. It truly is a lovely small chateau, in beautiful grounds. We had been there several years ago, and wanted to see it again.

The bus lets you off about ½ mile away from the Chateau, and ordinarily, the walk is a lovely one! The only problem was the weather! After all the wonderful things I said about February in Paris, today, some cold weather moved in. It actually took the form of ground fog, which didn’t burn off until after noon! That managed to keep the temperatures down, and for the first time since we’ve been here, it didn’t really warm up as the day went along, as it has the past week. Fortunately, we traveled with layers, so we weren’t really cold – but I did notice a definite difference between wearing a t-shirt under my jacket as opposed to my turtleneck! Back to the turtlenecks, for sure!

Malmaison is truly lovely, and has been restored using much of the original furnishings. Fortunately, after Josephine’s son died, the house remained in private hands for several years before it was purchased by a philanthropist who restored it and turned it over to the country. Josephine bought it several years after she married Napoleon and became Empress, and it became her permanent home after their divorce.

Very, very few visitors on this chilly Thursday and we basically had the place to ourselves! Thank heaven for central heating! Had a good look around and then headed back to town. R wanted to take the scenic route, so we took the metro back from La Defense to Porte Maillot, and from there caught the 82 bus which meandered all around town before finally depositing us at the Luxembourg; Yea! For a central location!!

It was past lunchtime by now, and after buying yet another wonderful baguette (or 2) from our corner bakery, we made wonderful sandwiches with Comte cheese, ham and salami. This cozy repast, coupled with the sun warming our flat (our flat is really well-placed for getting LOTS of sun in the afternoon – makes everything SO nice and warm…and sleepy!) So we napped … almost two hours! Got up around 4 as we were totally out of wine and water, and needed to get to our local wine shop before it closed … which we did, you’ll be glad to hear!

Back to the flat, and R worked on some Caltech business, and I did some laundry … used our new detergent, and it’s GREAT! NO smell!! Yea! Of course, having no dryer, we do have laundry now spread around the apartment, but I’m sure it will be dry sometime in the next few days!

Dinner was pasta – R’s wonderful spaghetti sauce that he made yesterday – with salad and more bread.

The plan for tomorrow is still up in the air, but as the weather forecast predicts that it may be cold for the next few days before warming up a bit, we’re going to put off Versailles until next week … one of the great things about being here for 3 weeks!! So, instead we may go to Sainte Chapelle (I LOVE that glass!), the Institut du Arabe Monde to see an exhibition on the Phoenicians as well and then to the Galleries Lafayette – their semi-annual sale ends on Saturday, and I just want to see if there might be anything I’d be interested in!

So, early night tonight – no bussing around anywhere, and we’re sure that all the restaurants in Paris are packed tonight! So again, Happy Valentine’s Day, everyone!!

Much love,
m