Sunday July 1 paris

July 1 We are on the train (in first class thanks to Jeanne ) waiting to leave for Grenoble. We made our meeting this morning, late though, with only a small mishap requiring us to walk back and forth four times on the same four blocks ( Jeanne loved the extra walking at top speed ) before a very nice Parisian man helped us find our way.   Marjorie prepared us a "small meal" to prepare us for our train ride. We ate smoked salmon on bread with herbed crime fraiche, salad, red wine, cheese plate, pâté, olives, charentais melon and flavorful strawberries with chantilly (whipped creme)for dessert. Yesterday we went to isle de la cite to walk around and have Bertillon ice cream.  I had pear and rhubarb, Jeanne had chocolate noir and vanilla.  The vanilla was amazing, and I loved my flavors. We are expecting nice weather today in Grenoble but tomorrow it is supposed to really heat up.  ( yikes!)  Our Parisian hosts were excellent! There home was very welcoming and beautifully decorated.  Marjorie cooked for us nonstop and they both could not have done anything more to make us feel welcome, like family.  All meals were made from scratch( a term which has no French equivalent and which took a while to explain) and came in several courses. Yum.  The cheeses which accompanied every meal were superb.  We had several goat and cow varieties. Last night's dessert was tarte tatin ( actually the only pre made food  item), it had the wonderful flavor of French butter. Our hosts own a nespresso machine and to jeanne's delight, espresso was available on demand.  We had our lovely multi course meal last night beginning at 21h ( 10pm)  We spent a lot of time walking around the seine river area yesterday and toured the conciergerie ( principally known as the former prison for soon to be guillotined prisoners.  We viewed  Marie Antoinette's upgraded cell. We also visited st. Chapelle with it's beautiful walls of stained glass. Only my pushy impatience kept us from needlessly waiting in a two hour line to get in.  Sometimes impatience pays off!   We also did a bit of window shopping at BHV on rue rivoli.  The soldes were very hard to resist, but our suitcases are already over full.  After the meeting today we went to a marche de puces ( flea market) and found bargain earrings. There was so much to tempt us that I was glad for our too full suitcases. We are still not over our jet lag and we get waves of extreme fatigue.  I hope to get a full night's sleep tonight and be cured by tomorrow when we are supposed to take our hike in the alps surrounding Grenoble.