Bon Délire

This day we decided to split up as couples and explore on our own.  Gary and I headed out to have breakfast at Copains, the gluten-free bakery just a few blocks from our apartment. On a previous trip we had found only one GF bakery/restaurand in Paris.  It's called NoGlu and it is still around (but not near our apartment this year).  Paris is slowly  coming around to acknowledging gluten free options.  There are several locations of Copains, and another larger GF bakery called Las Manufacture du Sans Gluten (also, not near our apartment).  So off we headed to Copaians.  It was on the adorable Rue Montorgueil.  It's decor is very modern and minimalist; when we got there we noticed a few people outside eating, and another few inside.  Their products looked amazing so we settled right in an ordered!  Gary finally  got to eat a croissant in France!!  They had several types of bread for sale, but no baguettes.  When we asked, t...

 We went to the Palace of Versailles in 2000 with our 3 boys.  We took a guided tour of the palace only...none of the grounds. R&L and J&B had never been to Versailles before, so when we started planning for this trip, we decided we wanted to spend 1 day there.  I booked the tickets long before we left.  This might be a good time to mention that we checked the historical average weather in each of our French destinations before we booked ANY of our plans last year.  Looking back at my notes, I see that it was July when I noted that the average weather in Bordeaux would be highs of 77, lows of 55 at night, Dinan would be 70/54, and Paris should be 72/52.  I checked weather forecasts 3 days before we left just to make sure I packed appropriately and temps were forecasted to be similar to what I had seen in July.  Well, let me tell you, the weather man lies!   We have had much colder temps, and lot of rain in each city, with the heaviest rain...

It's time to head to Paris!  We were picked up by the most lovely man in a Mercedes van and were dropped off in Rennes, about 1 hr. drive from Dinan.  Unlike the other French train stations I have been in, this one is very modern.  No train mishaps this time...just a comfy 2.5 hr ride in 1st class to Paris, during which we read, chatted, and munched on snacks we had bought at the train station. Ron was shy about busting out his new flat-cap...I think it looks great on him.  This one is light blue...now I think he needs to get a darker tweed on for fall/winter...start a collection! A quick cab ride from Gare Montparnasse to our amazing apartment in the 3rd arrondissement.  This is the view from our balcony: Here is the link to the apartment...it is hip and modern inside.  3 comfy bedrooms, a huge living room with a giant sectional sofa, lovely kitchen, in a well maintained Haussman building.  It's across the street from both a Monoprix (kind of like Fre...