Rendevous

So we’re in Paris. We arrive on Friday afternoon, just in time to jump the Metro to Invalides and tour Napoleon’s tomb and prowl the early-evening streets. We wind up at my favorite little card and game vendor — Rouge et Noir (Red and Black) on Rue Vavin — where I pick up the intriguing Tarot de la R’ea: an out-of-print deck featuring trumps illustrated exclusively with masked, caped figures.

After this, we hit the streets to find a place for dinner. We wind up eating in a chain — Bistro Roman — in order to take advantage of the 20% discount for early diners. This turns out to be an easy discount for us, as we tend to eat between 6:30 and 7:30 … and most of Paris doesn’t even think of dinner, it seems, until 9:00 or so.

We conclude the evening with a quick trip to the Eiffel Tower — only to find, once again, that the top level is closed to the public. (Is it ever open??? Three trips now, and the third level has been closed each time.)

Even the view from the second level, though, delights us, and we steal a kiss at the top of the hour, when the entire tower pulses with tiny strobing lights.

Back down on the ground, we cross the street, pick up a quick ham and cheese sandwich from a street vendor, and make our way back to the Hotel Garnier Opera … a great hotel, just seconds away from the St. Lazare train station (and therefore, by extension, just minutes away from anywhere in Paris).