Days 9 & 10 - Paris

Yesterday afternoon most of our group checked out of the hotel because there were previous reservations for the rooms. Luckily we found another hotel room close by, which the three of us are now sharing. Those still remaining from our group are now scattered over three hotels in Paris.

Tuesday's edition of the International Herald Tribune announced that the airport in Paris was opening that day with limited commercial flights over Europe.

With signs of improvement showing we carried on with our sightseeing and headed to La Basilique du Sacré Coeur. After touring the beautiful church we sat by the plaza of portrait artists for a few hours enjoying rosé and pizza at a café.

Last night we had dinner at Le Chalet de Neuilly, recommended by the front desk clerk/concierge at our new hotel, Hotel Maillot. Right when you walk into the restaurant you can smell the Reblochon cheese. The presentation was very unique: a chunk of the cheese was placed on a heated metal stand, then served with roasted potatoes and meat.

Now that our group is spread out over the city, we have begun to meet in the lobby of our hotel in the mornings and split off depending on which area of the city people would like to explore. We walked around the city with the representative for Hand Picked Selections for the state of New York today. During our walk we stumbled upon a very wealthy residential area, and stopped at a cafe for lunch. We were completely ignored by the waitstaff, taking over 30 minutes to get three out of four of our drinks, and never even receiving a menu to order food from. So needless to say we ended up leaving after our Chablis and Heineken's.

At the end of our days our group gathers again in the hotel lobby, each with a bottle of wine to share while we discuss our day and our plans for dinner.

Tonight we went to another restaurant in the area, Sébillon. The ambiance was very classic, and although I felt underdressed when we first walked in to the empty restaurant, by 9 o'clock it was bustling with locals in casual dress. The food was unique and delicious. Bill started with raw oysters from the southwest of France, known to be the finest in the world. They were large and very meaty, with great flavors of mineral and mild saltwater. He had the duck breast for his entree, done with a sweet, red wine reduction sauce.

Patty and I shared appetizers for our meal: we had a crab dish layered with eggplant and red peppers; escargot; raw scallops, sliced thinly and served with lettuce; and smoked salmon balinis with crème fraîche.

For wine we had a Sancerre with our appetizers, and a Côtes du Rhône with our main courses. Patty and I split a dessert of homemade coffee, Californian pistachio, and New Guinean dark chocolate ice creams.

Tomorrow we'll contact American Airlines and see what our chances are of flying out sooner than our Saturday reservation. The first American Airline flight from Boston to Paris came in today, bringing back passengers to the U.S.

A family in our group went to the airport to try to make a reservation for a flight home on Air France and were told that there were three seats to New York available, however they didn't have their luggage with them, so only one of them flew home.

We'll keep you updated tomorrow, and who knows - my next post may be from home!