Started off at the Grand Epicierie of Galleries Layfayette; such fun to wander through their aisles upon aisles of fresh and packaged food. I'd love to buy so much of it but it would take more than a suitcase to get it home so I settled for a package of Angelina Chocolate Chaud and a jar of Christine de Ferber white peach jam (as recommended by David Lebovitz) which they didn't have on our 2015 trip. The vast amounts of ham, cheese, fresh vegetables are truly overwhelming. Then visited Notre Dame de Champs - the first stone was laid in 1867 and it was consecrated in 1912. Then went to the Saint Vincent de Paul Chapel, a Lazarist chapel where you can go up behind the altar where there is an interesting view and a memorial to ? . Went to lunch at La Closerie des Lilas, an historic brasserie and haunt of Hemmingway. After our usual kir for an aperitif, I had oysters with a glass of Viognier and Leas had Pike quenelles with a Pouilly Fume. Both of us loved our lunch and my oysters were some of the biggest I've ever eaten. For dessert we shared a lemon, basil tart which was outstanding. The restaurant is truly old school Paris, beautiful and a place not to be missed. Then we went through Montparnasse Cemetary which is 46.2 acres. Found the graves of guy de Maupassant, Jean Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir, Jean Seberg (Marshalltown, Iowa) and a few others. Then went to Notre Dame de Travail which was built in 1901 and influenced by Eiffel as it has an ironwork nave. It's very unusual and worth visiting.
Dinner was at Yves Camdeborde's restaurant Le Comptoir, which we had been really looking forward to since Leas scored the reservation two months before we left. The room is tine but very nice; typical bistro with the tables practically on top of each other. We were seated next to a mother and daughter from Chicago and they were delightful dinner companions. The menu is a set 5 course and we started with a kir and tuna with mushrooms and several other vegetables in a viniagrette. The entree was cod with potatoes and vegetables in a foamy seafood mousse followed by the main course o roasted veal with Kalamata figs and olives and cabbage with parmesan. Note: the veal was very tough and somewhat tasteless which we have found to be true on several ocassions when it's been served to us. The cheese plate was served next and it was placed between two tables to share. It consisted of 8 choices and included honey and two jams - it was pretty spectacular and each cheese included a card noting what it was. We had a bottle of Chateau d'Arche 2009 Haut Medoc, cru Bourgeois with dinner. Dessert was pears poached in red wine on a pepper shortbread with grapes and a very good vanilla ice cream. The dinner was very good but we both felt it didn't quite meet our expectations, though we can't say exactly what was missing. The food (except for the veal) was delicious but the meal wasn't spectacular and we never felt special or like they were glad we were there.
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