24 Hours? Hah!

When you pass by all these brasseries in the neighborhood that promise 24-hour service, don't assume that you can take a long nap after a day out and grab a bite late night. Because while they might serve you beer or wine or coffee at 11:30, good luck getting a meal.

Even our hotel restaurant, the swanky but tourist-packed R'Yves, stays open past midnight, but stops serving... oh, whenever they feel like, it seems. The guy there told us we can order from room service all night, though.

We took a look at the menu - apparently, only items with an asterisk are available after 11:00 pm. Things like Caesar salad, tomato-mozzarella panini, soup du jour, and tarte du jour. I ordered all of them.

Surprisingly, the portions were huge. And while this is a Yank-laden Marriott, the kitchen is still in Paris, so every morsel of cheese, every mouthful of bread, and every hot, warming spoonful of French onion soup was top notch. And surprisingly, it came out to be cheaper than going out for a mediocre meal at one of the supposed all-night joints nearby.

Anyway, that's the last of our touristic transgressions. For on the morrow, we move to a smaller, more French, boutique hotel in the Batignolles neighborhood. Bonne nuit.