Thursday afternoon was a beautiful sunny one so it was perfect for a leisurely trip down the San Martin Canal which is part of a canal network developed under Napoleon. It takes two and a half hours and involves passing through 9 locks, under bridges, and eventually through an underground tunnel that lets out into the Seine. The boat we took also passed by both islands and dropped us by the Musée D'Orsay.
My friend John says he likes the trip because you have to relax. Perhaps some took that idea too seriously
Then again, it does have a lulling effect
The part in the tunnel is pretty cool - in both senses of the word
Afterwards we had some time to kill before our dinner reservation so we hung out for a while at a sweet pop-up cafe on the Seine
After a bit of caffeine and people watching, we headed over to Pasco, a restaurant in the 7th Arrondissement that I just happened to find on TripAdvisor. It was fabulous. The people were gracious and patient with our bad French and varied dietary issues, the ambience was great (looking out on the dome of the Madeleine as the sun got lower), and the food was outstanding. Pictured are buffala with pine nuts, raspberries, and roquet, salmon with roasted fennel and avocado, dorade with artichokes and a lemon-mustard emulsion, bread crusted rabbit with potato bacon cake (hopefully this program will upload them in the correct order)
The desserts were also fabulous- baba au rhum (you add the rum), strawberries with meringue and ice cream, profiteroles, and a fruit tarte
As we waited for our cab, we got to enjoy the view a bit longer
What a great finish to a great day!