Lunch with Claude at the Trumilou in Paris

On Monday I was in Paris with my friend Cheryl and we met up with Claude, who blogs at Blogging in Paris in English and Vieux C'est Mieux in French. We met at the Trumilou restaurant, an old-style Paris bistrot on the north bank of the Seine not far from Notre Dame cathedral. For years I had been wanting to have a meal there, and it was worth the wait.

View of the Seine and Notre Dame from the
street in front of the Trumilou restaurant

Then we all three did what we often do when we are eating a meal in a restaurant: we shamelessly took pictures of each other and the food we were served, as well as the décor of the restaurant. We laughed and talked over old times and friends and thoroughly enjoyed the food and drink. You'd think we were a bunch of tourists or something.

Here's Claude doing what she loves to do.

We are not tourists though. Claude lives in Paris. Cheryl lived in Paris and has been spending time there for many years. I myself went to Paris for the first time in 1970, when I was 20 years old. And then I lived in Paris for about five years in the 1970s and 1980s, and now live out in the country in France.

The Trumilou seen from the Ile St-Louis across the river

So why do we act like tourists? We don't. We act like crazy bloggers, I guess. Or a little like we didn't dare to act back in the 1970s when we thought we were happy-go-lucky and enjoyed wandering the streets of Paris. But back then we were too afraid to just be ourselves. At least I was, I think.

Svelte Claude saying hello to a big street lion
as we left the Trumilou

Thanks for reading this blog and continuing to give us a reason to find new experiences and new friends to blog about. More about the food tomorrow.