Big Birthday in Paris

Mark celebrated his 65th birthday in late October, and what better place to do it than Paris!  We hadn't been to the City of Light for a number of years, though we have been lucky enough to visit it several times.  So we decided to do just a quick trip -- just two nights -- to celebrate the big day.

We landed at Orly airport, and on the Uber ride into town, we came upon this lovely sight.  It was nice to be back in Paris again. 

​After a quiet first evening, we did a little walking around the city on the next morning, before going to the Musée d'Orsay, which houses the largest collection of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist paintings in the world.  In addition to their permanent collection, the museum had an exhibition entitled, Van Gogh in Auvers-sur-Oise: The Last Months.  The small French town of Auvers-sur-Oise, just northwest of Paris, is where Van Gogh painted his final works before taking his own life in 1890.  

Other artists are also well represented at the Musée d'Orsay, and the building itself -- a former Paris railway station -- is architecturally spectacular.

But let's face it.  The real reason we were in Paris was to eat.  While walking through Paris, we happened upon the first three-star Michelin restaurant we ever dined at, Lucas Carton.  It was founded in 1880 and has hosted a wide range of luminaries including General de Gaulle and Winston Churchill.  Though no longer a three-star, it reminded us of where our fine dining adventures began.  

​For Mark's birthday, we dined at Epicure, a three-star Michelin restaurant in the Le Bristol Hotel.  The food and service were wonderful, one of our best meals ever.

We truly enjoyed our birthday jaunt to Paris!