The summer of 2002 my mother, my 10 year old son and I traveled to England and then crossed undersea via the ‘Chunnel’ to France. We visited Paris for a week staying in the St. Germaine district near Luxembourg Gardens. My heart’s desire was to take in the Louvre but besides visiting that renowned museum I fell in love with the Musee d’Orsay. Also a must see is the Rodin Museum, which was his home and studio. In the surrounding gardens you will find many of his famous works including the Burghers of Calais, a favorite of mine. We passed up the Pompidou but took our time relaxing in the plaza area spread out before it. Dining out for us was light. We did go for a few outdoor cafe meals. I ordered escargot and managed to flick the little snail from it’s shell along with a burst of butter and chives which ended up on my mother’s blouse. We had a good laugh at that time as well as the French people sitting near us. Silly Americans! However often we preferred to buy crepes from a street vendor and eat them on route to our hotel where we would crack open a bottle of wine, slice cheese and bread to suffice for the evening. Down the street from us was a historic small restaurant called Polidor on Rue Monsieur de Prince. It was a most authentic dining experience. They had a Turkish toilet in their watercloset which we found very charming! Other notes: we visited Versailles, Sacre Coeur and I took my son to Euro Disney for a day. One fun memory from Paris is the encounter we had with a grand Gay Parade that extended forever down St. Germaine. My 10 year old son’s reaction was quite charming being alarmed at the sight of grown men ‘dancing in their underwear’ on top of a float.