B’day Lunch at L’Oiseau Blanc — Paris

Bonjour,

It’s an early morning again for me as I find the best time to construct my blog post is while all of you and my guests are still asleep.  It’s a rainy, cold day in Paris but lots of warm hearts around here to keep us enjoying ourselves.

We greeted Pierre and Laurie Verdier yesterday on the train from Alsace about 11:30, took them quickly to our new apartment and then we were off to a spectacular lunch hosted by Curt and Diane for Bernie’s birthday at the new Peninsula Hotel.  I wrote about it earlier and showed some of the pictures, but yesterday we literally were flying high in the rooftop restaurant called L’Oiseau Blanc or translated into English, the white bird.  Just a bit of history to put things into clearer understanding.  Here’s info from Wikipedia:

“L’Oiseau Blanc (commonly known in the English-speaking world as The White Bird was a French Levasseur PL.8 biplane, that disappeared in 1927, during an attempt to make the first non-stop transatlantic flight between Paris and New York to compete for the Orteig Prize. The aircraft was flown by French World War I aviation heroes, Charles Nungesser and François Coli, who were attempting to win the USD $25,000 Orteig Prize for the flight. The aircraft disappeared after its 8 May 1927 takeoff from Paris. Two weeks later, Charles Lindbergh successfully made the New York–Paris journey and claimed the prize, flying the Spirit of St. Louis.

The disappearance of L’Oiseau Blanc is considered one of the great mysteries in the history of aviation.[2] Many rumors circulated about the fate of the aircraft and crew, with mainstream opinion at the time being that the aircraft was probably lost in a squall over the Atlantic. Investigations starting in the 1980s suggest that the aircraft probably reached Newfoundland, and may have crashed in Maine.”

The restaurant is designed to give you the feeling of flying inside a plane with glass windows all around and an internal feel of steel and rivets.  There are big spotlights out from the restaurant,  There is a replica of the plane right outside on the terrace area and a replica of the motor which is actually the center piece of the small eating area.  There is a fantastic view and since we had a gorgeous though cool day, we got really, really lucky!

Bernie has a wonderful family.  The lunch yesterday from Diane and Curt was such a memory and then last night Pierre and Laurie came in from a surprise shopping spree with another Hermes tie for Bernie and the Pierre Hermes macarons which are the best Paris has to offer.  My, yes, we are lucky.

Hope you enjoy the pictures!

L&B