Magnolias' Day 13

  The remaining four magnolias rise and shine a little earlier for our final full day in Paris.  We head to our breakfast café on the Rue Cler and the server recognizes us immediately and knows what we will order.  We have already become regulars.  After enjoying our breakfast and café au lait, we head to the metro and on to the Louvre with our own personal guide in tow.  Patsy previously spent a whole week in Paris by herself doing nothing but going to the Louvre each day.  Having studied and prepared in advance of her lone visit, not to mention her Latin, Italian and classics background, she covered every square foot, all 555,000+ of it, and was prepared to give us the Greatest Hits tour.  We began with the Winged Victory on the staircase and saw such things as the Mona Lisa, The Wedding Feast at Cana, Venus de Milo, and other works by Michelangelo, Leonardo de Vinci, Caravaggio, Raphael, Jacques-Louis David and too many more to list.  We learned about the lives of the artists, their teachers, and students as well as the history and symbolism depicted in the works.  How fortunate we were to have Patsy’s knowledge and appreciation of the arts and her willingness to share with us neophytes.

  From the Louvre we walked to the famous prestigious street, the Champs-Elysees, and sat at an outdoor café drinking our afternoon vin while taking in the great Arc de Triomphe.  Patsy tried to entice us to walk up the 234 steps to the top of the Arc but we decided we had done enough stair climbing to last a lifetime.

  We decided to have dinner at La Fregate a restaurant near the Musee d’Orsay where we previously enjoyed the great lunch with escargot.  Once again this proved to be a great choice.   The food was plentiful and very, very good and of course we enjoyed the vin.  We each ordered a different dessert and unanimously voted the chocolate mousse to be the best.  This being our last night we decided to forego the metro and had a luxurious Mercedes taxi ride back with a delightful Parisian driver.

  Tomorrow being our last day and Patsy having the first flight out, we once again bid our adieus in anticipation of reuniting at home.  Patsy is on to Rome in the morning joining another friend who is traveling from home.  They will spend a little time in Rome and head on to Sicily for several days.  Although leaving the rest of the magnolias her journey continues, but sadly, it is the end of the line for us and with that said we bid our final adieu to you and you and you.

  Thank you for interest and letting us share with you our experiences on this wonderful trip and again many thanks to Gina Morris who so wonderfully told our story.  A bientÔt!

THE END

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