Nicolas Flamel

It was a frosty freezing chilly day today.  I went down to the boulangerie anyway and choked down a pain au chocolate and a hot café crème.  The windows were steamed up from the cold.

Diane and I bundled up and did two Frommer’s walks this morning: numbers #4 and #6.  There is some hope we can do them all. Both were close to home.  

Walk #4 was near the Pompidou Center and the highlight was seeing the residence of the famous alchemist Nicolas Flamel who, of course, discovered the Philosopher’s Stone in the 1300s.   (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicolas_Flamel)

Walk #6 was even closer to home and at one point we could actually see our apartment window from down the street. 

Bibliothèque Forney also featured in Walk #6, and is formerly known as Hotel de Sens (and has a cannonball lodged in one of the walls if you know where to look).  That library is a great library, and I still think it is cool that I am a member (members only: must show card upon entry).

We stopped for coffee somewhere along walk #4 mostly to try to warm up.  Diane’s feet were pretty cold.  I am now using my Scottish hat for warmth.

After the walks, we stopped by the supermarket and bought a bottle of tomato soup and some bread for lunch, which we ate at the apartment.

I went back to Bibliothèque Forney for a while.  For dinner, we considered foraging for food amoung the kiosks along the Avenue des Champs-Elysées, but we are still burning off blubber, so settled for a simple dinner at home. 

After dinner, we dashed out to buy crepes at our favorite stand beside the Notre Dame, but the guy was just closing up.  He really enjoys us and we enjoy him, so he gave us a free glass of vin chaud.  I have wondered what hot wine tastes like.  Conclusion: it tastes as bad as I expected.  In fairness, it also has spices stirred in.  I believe the correct English translation is “mulled wine”.  That doesn’t make it taste any better.

While sipping our vin chaud, I snapped a picture of the Notre Dame.  They put a tree in front which looks pretty cool.  We'll have to go inside to see if its decorated in there too.