Barring an unexpected return, this will be the last posting from Paris this year.

We had a nice tour of the Les Halles area yesterday lead by a friend of Lisa G's, ending with lunch at Au Pied de Cochon. No, I did not have any pied de cochon. In fact I had french onion soup and a salad.

Lisa G's birthday dinner was at Restaurant 1728 in what was (allegedly) Lafayette's mansion. Very elegant and tasty, much vin was consumed.

Today we got up early, around 10:00, and headed to the Marais and Bastille areas for a walk around the Bastille market and back through the Marais. After a nice lunch of baguettes and ham and croissants we headed back to the hotel, walking a bit faster as it's raining and a December rain in Paris is not so much fun.

We return to the U.S. this evening, we hope (keeping an eye on the weather up the East Coast).

I've uploaded more pictures to flickr. Due to the vagaries of the network connection here I won't be reposting them here until I return to the U.S.