A Certain "Je Ne Sais Quoi"

We had too much fun last night, so the blog for Wednesday (9/3) had to wait.

Wednesday, the four of us took a subway to the train station, then took an hour train ride to Chartres. It was rainy, windy and cold. We ate lunch at a local brasserie, then went to Chartres Cathedral which was built in the 1100's. We spent a couple of hours touring it and just sitting and staring at the magnitude and craftsmanship of this church. Beth and Martha thought the crypt beneath smelled like Kathy's card table! We had a snack at the cutest little brasserie across the street where the atmosphere had that certain "je ne sais quoi". (According to Beth who took French many years ago, that is a term used when something is just indescribable.) We then checked out the shops and Beth found a gorgeous tapestry to add to her collection. (Note, Martha did not find it, nor talk her into buying it.) On the train back to Paris we all fell asleep, totally looking like tired tourists.

Once back in Paris, we found a market, bought a bottle of wine, some cheese, bread and peanuts (sounds strange, but the peanuts were outstanding!) and ate our picnic while sitting on a park bench at Trocadero, watching the Eiffel Tower slowly light up as it turned from dusk to dark. It was pretty chilly but but we had fun eating, taking pictures, people-watching and singing (strange, but true). Then we went to Cafe Trocadero where Jeff and I had eaten a few nights ago. Interestingly enough, Tom and Beth had eaten there a few years ago which is pretty amazing considering how many hundreds of restaurants there are to chose from in this city. Since we were cold, we ate at a cozy little table inside and had a great corner view where we could see the Eiffel Tower glowing as we feasted on bread, wine and yummy onion soup loaded with cheese.

We took a cab to the Arc de Triomphe so Martha could see it lit at night (this was on the must-do list, both daytime and nighttime) and it was beautiful all bathed in a golden light. We strolled down the Champs-Elysees which had that certain "je ne sais quuoi". We had a long walk back to our hotel and hopefully burned off some of the calories we ingested today.

Click here for today's pictures. Click on Slideshow, then click on Full Screen mode in upper right.