Bordeaux..not just wine!

Bonjour!  Today is our first day of rain since we got to Europe and it has been so spotty, little rain, little sun.  Really not bad.  Yesterday was "one of those days" where Jerry and I just felt like doing nothing.  So we did. Literally, NOTHING! We went over to our favorite restaurant "Le Roi Carotte" and had the special.

OMG!  Fish fillet on  a bed of rice with steamed leeks and this fabulous sauce of shrimp and cream.  Pretty darned good for 2 hicks from Iowa.  We have discovered that the Plat du Jour (blue plate special) really is special at most places.  Go local or go home.  2 plats, 1 coffee, 20 Euros.  What a deal.

Then we went downtown on the tram and got train tickets to Tours, France, which we will go to on Sunday.  We are getting pretty good at the tram-bus thing now.  The pass we bought at the beginning of the week is worth it's weight in gold.  Just hop on, don't pay!  Love it!

The French love a party!

came home and ate this for supper..  Dirty job and all of that...

Today was lazy again.  Hitting our stride, which is sleep until 9:30 and read, surf, lay around until 11:00. A retired peoples schedule.   Then go out.  We started out for the Musse de la Belle Arts (Art Museum).  It was FREE today.  What a stroke of luck.  And hardly anyone there.

Musse de lat Belle arts

"That's a big knocker"

Stay off the grass!  So much nicer in French.

beautiful flowers all over town

This is a very minor Art Gallery, but a few very nice pieces.  Warning to parents, naked coming up.

Venus of the Water.  Love the little Cherubs

Dying Mozart

Picasso

Mary Cassat

Renoir

Delacroix

Then walked and walked to the Opera, where we had planned on a tour.  We got there, we paid, we found out it was in French.  Oh well.  I got some great photos.  The guide tried to fill us in in English.

The whole building was designed for the beautiful people to be seen at best advantage.
Even the banisters are low so you can see the ladies' dresses better.

One of the main salons.  This would be a great place for a party!

I ordered a couple of these for East Main Street

The whole place was renovated in 1990

sequined divan....so gorgeous

costumes from operas

The hall.  Poor Jerry and his agoraphobia.  This part was hard for him.

Each box holds 10, except the king's box which holds 6.  Guess he didn't have as many friends.

It used to hold 1700, but now it is 1,100.  I guess people are fatter now.

Lots of fun to see it. Of course, they still use it but we didn't get tickets.   We will be in Paris for the opera next week (the 31st) so we can compare the venues.

Took the tram back to the apartment and started to clean.  Our landlady said she would give us the 50 Euro (70 bucks) back for cleaning if we did it.  Yeah!  I brought my Norwex with me.....Duh!  That is a fancy night out in Paris.