Paris - Day Four -Saint Honore and Hotel Costes

Monday was a crisp, but sunny day and our first destination of the day, after a repeat of yesterday's satisfying breakfast, was 211 Rue Saint Honore...and more specifically The Chantal Thomass Boutique  and the trendy and uber cool Colette, next door.

http://www.google.com/search?q=colette+paris&hl=en&client=safari&rls=en&prmd=imvns&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=2CHGTurHEIapiAK3ubH6Dw&ved=0CE4QsAQ&biw=1302&bih=576

There is a new man in D's life and some fine French lingerie is never a bad idea.  She also wanted to buy him some unique little thing at Colette.  I told her that the proper modeling of the lingerie after cooking him a nice dinner was the best gift she could give him, but, well, I'm just her mother. What do I know?

Chantal Thomass Boutique on Rue St. Honore

We took a taxi to the shop and after browsing around a while and seeing some things she liked,  she decided she wanted to check some other places out before making a final purchase.  We headed over to Colette next door and the place was very crowded but interesting.  I loved browsing some of the expensive dresses on the mannequins and the different designer shoes.  It was also fun looking through the great book section. The store is such a melange of different things, none of them cheap and after spending another hour browsing and people watching, we ended up buying nothing.

We walked further on Rue Saint Honore stopping at a few boutiques and another lingerie store before walking to our other destination for the day, The Hotel Costes for champagne and a late afternoon snack.  Seems one is always eating, drinking wine or coffee when in France and why not, they are some of life's
finest pleasures.

THE HOTEL COSTES

Patio Restaurant- View from Above

Hotel Costes Patio - Day

Hotel Costes Patio - Night

Under the Canopy

In addition to a very nice sparkling Rose' we had truffle risotto, a very colorful salad and some crusty bread with butter.

Avocado and Tomato Salad

Black Truffle Risotto

The Flower Shop at the Hotel Costes was tres chic and very beautiful.   D couldn't take enough   photographs.

Hotel Costes Perfume Shop (above and below)

After several glasses of the lovely Rose', we followed up our "late afternoon snack" with profiteroles and  tea over some good conversation and some interesting people watching.  We were in some very pretty company, including a designer I knew by looks but I couldn't put a name to him and some very well dressed model types, as well as several business people.  A newly svelte Kirstie Alley was also having drinks with friends.

The servers were quite pretty too and I couldn't help thinking that a certain Scottish actor would definitely have asked one of them out.  She was a very tall,  leggy girl of mixed race with very beautiful face and lithe figure.

The patio of the Hotel Costes was a very inviting  place to spend a large part of day and our bill reflected it (over $200.euros).  It WAS a very nice bubbly, after all!

After leaving the hotel, we walked around a little more and since it was getting dark, we took the Metro to the Champs Elysee and Laduree to pick up some gifts to take home.

After spending another small fortune on candies and chocolates for my sisters and  a few others, we decided it would be a good night to visit  La Maison Angelina (Tea Room) for the "to die for" Hot Chocolate l'Africain, served with Whipped Cream.  It has a wonderful history which can be viewed here:

http://www.angelina-paris.fr/en/#/history/

Unfortunately for us, after hopping a taxi to the Rue de Rivoli and being dropped off, we discovered that it was closed on Mondays.

After pondering what to do and still in the mood for hot chocolate, we decided to walk back to Cafe d' Flore, which entailed going back across the Seine and past the Tuilerie Gardens and around I'l St. Louis.

We arrived back in Saint Germain and were lucky enough to find a seat outside where D had another glass of wine and I ordered the very thick hot chocolate with a side of Grand Marnier to ward of the now very cool evening.   Hot chocolate is heavenly with Grand Marnier added.   It looked so pretty, she photographed it.

Thick Hot Chocolate  topped off with Grand Marnier

After some more people watching and making plans for the next day, which was supposed to be a rainy one, we walked the few blocks back to our apartment, where I washed my hair, wrapped it in a towel, and again soaked my bones in the lovely big tub (where I almost fell asleep) and, after going through my bedtime beauty ritual, I hit the bed with a book, tired but happy, and promptly fell asleep.


Songs out of tune, the words always a little wrong...Canzoni Stonate