Today has been a fairly quiet day because it is warm and humid. It will take us a few days to acclimatize but it is wonderful to see the sun. We started fairly late in the morning and walked to St Paul at the rue de Rivoli and then over the bridge to the ile St Louis. There we wandered through narrow streets, bought some food and went to the end of the island from which one can see the mainland and the ile de Cite on which is built Notre Dame. We sat and ate lunch with a picturesque view of the Seine and the other island. We could not, however see Notre Dame as it was hidden by many apartment buildings. It was very relaxing and we could probably have sat all day but there was a higher duty to be attended to - an ice cream which we were told is not to be missed and how right was our informant. We agreed it was certainly the best we've tried. The brand of ice cream is called Berthillion and worth it if your ever on the ile de Louis. see picture of extreme concentration!
We paid a momentary visit to the Institute de Monde Arabe which was closed and to which we will venture another day. The architecture was amazing, one building being a big bubble and the other being an ordinary block shaped building the windows of which were decorated in designs reminiscent of traditional Arabic patterns- see photo- and we learned are motorized and change hourly.
The rest of the afternoon was spent wandering around the Latin quarter and the small streets around St Germain. Although we sat outside Shakespeare and Co near the fountain pictured below, we didn't see anyone famous but we did fill our water bottles.
I'm not sure whether Sue has ever sampled a Berthillion ice-cream! She has certainly had quite a few over the years. Perhaps she'll make a note of this one for future reference!
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