Our 55th Wedding Anniversary and Friendly Paris Bees

Started the day with an e-anniversary card from Peg. We ate breakfast and took the #83 bus to the Guynemer-Vavin stop by the Luxembourg Gardens. If you go in the entry there, you walk past the Pavilion Davioud where the Paris bee keeping museum is. Just a little further on the other side is the Rucher du Luxembourg (rucher means apiary). Each year they produce about 450 pounds of honey which is collected and sold every Autumn at the Orangerie du Luxembourg just a few minutes walk up the path. The hives have a color code on them not just for human benefit but also because the bees will associate with these so that they go back to their specific hive, and although these are the modern beehives, there are historical ones called skeps preserved within the Pavillon Davioud, which is where the beekeepers office, the school and the honey extraction center are located. There is even a little fountain just for the bees to get water. Paris has a policy of not using pesticides within any public gardens or parks to help the friendly Paris bees. After passing the apiary, we walked through the gardens to the Musée du Luxembourg and got tickets to the Les Nabis et le Décor exhibit. Not our favorite style, but interesting and pleasant. The Luxembourg always does a good job with their temporary exhibits. I don't think we've ever been disappointed there. [Musée du Luxembourg, 19 Rue de Vaugirard, 75006 Paris; tel: +33 (0)1 4634-3119; Click here for the Luxembourg Museum web site]

Afterwards we walked over to Place Saint-Sulpice and wandered through the Poésie Festival. One year I was chatting with one of the publishers and got a free book of French poetry, but I didn’t get a free book this year. So sad . . .

Then we slowly walked to La Bonne Excuse Restaurant the way we used to walk home. That was fun. We arrived about ten minutes early but they were ready. She gave us “the table you used the last time” which was perfect. I can’t believe she remembered. We’ve only eaten there twice before, our 50th anniversary and again 18 months later when we happened to be in town. We have had the same table all three times. It seems to now be our table. Ed ordered the cod and I got the filet mignon de porc. We started with a kir royal to celebrate our anniversary, and she did take our picture. I remembered the camera this time! For dessert we both got the chocolate moelleux with ice cream and she and the chef (her husband) brought them out with lighted candles and wished us a Happy Anniversary. It was a wonderful meal. [La Bonne Excuse, 48 Rue de Verneuil, 75007 Paris; tel: +33 (0)1 4261-5021; Click here for La Bonne Excuse web site]

After lunch we walked over to the Tuileries Gardens and claimed a couple chairs near the café and duck pond. Gorgeous day and we enjoyed people and duck watching. The world walks by when you are in the Tuileries. We finally walked down to Place de la Concorde, up around the Jeu de Paume and back to the top of the garden and claimed two more chairs.

We finally walked over to the very odd-looking Louvre-Palais-Royal Metro station and hopped the #7 home. Our bakery is closed on Thursday so we walked up rue Mouffetard looking for a sandwich to take home. We couldn’t find one so got a piece of pizza to share and that worked well because it was excellent pizza . . . in France! French pizza has really improved over the years. Hooray.

Got home to e-cards from all the kids. That was fun. One more day . . .