PARIS

Mark, Steve, Arturo at the Tuileries

Arturo & Mark being tourists

lunch in Montmartre

Okay, Paris, I forgive you. The first time I was in Paris, Christmas 1998 with Hector, it was so cold I wished I was dead. We were staying in Paco & Franck's empty little studio above their cafe and I was sick with a cold. All I remember is the all-night rumble of the Metro. The second time we went through, in 2001, Hector developed pneumonia in Prague and was so ill by the time we got to Paris we thought he would die. He was literally unconcious the whole time while I was so stressed I was hardly in the mood for the City of Lights.

So finally, with Mark & Arturo, this trip was just great. Our wonderful hotel, the Westminster, was located a block off the Place Vendome. How could you get a better location than that? We upgraded to a suite and had a gorgeous room with a balcony that overlooked Rue de la Paix with Cartier, Tiffany, Van Cleef & Arpels below. The four of us walked all over the place, spent a day at Versailles, hit the Louvre and the Musee D'Orsay. We had a great dinner at Paco & Franck's new restaurant, Le Reminet, on the Left Bank. Old friends Tom & Yoshi hosted us for an over-the-top French dinner (cooked by Mark) one night in their 18th century apartment right off the Champs Elysee.

For a whole week we shopped, we drank gallons of wine, we ate tons of bistro food and pastries, walked for miles and miles and, believe it if you can, even the locals seemed happy to have us.

Dinner at Tom & Yoshi's flat

It was such a pleasure to have some non-U.S. news to pay attention to. Since France has a new President there was lots of talk about Sarkozy but no riots, alas. People I talked to seemed willing to wait and see... Paco and Franck, as business owners, are disgusted by the atmosphere of entitlement among French workers. They basically said you can't get French people to work, so they hire mostly foreigners in their restaurants. EVEN BIGGER NEWS: Paris is going smoke-free later this year. Smoking will be prohibited in bars and restaurants. Never thought I'd live to see it!