Paris 2010-5

18 Octobre (Lundi) - Woke up in the middle of the night, freezing!  Searched for another duvet, but all I could find was a couple of duvet covers, so I threw them on the bed.  That was a little better.  The temperature dropped below freezing last night.  You would think they would adjust the heat to compensate, but apparently that's like expecting air conditioning, it's not going to happen. There is no way I could ever live in a building with chauffage collectif.  For those who may not know what that is, it means the heating is controlled by the building concierge, or what we in the States would call the building manager, and not by a thermostat over which you have control.

Because Robb isn't feeling well, we're not doing much for a day or two.  We walked around to the pharmacie.  He bought a package of Jour et Nuit (day and night cold medicine) and some Advil.  Then a stop at Monoprix for wine and snack stuff, and then, home.

The oil tank drivers have joined the strike and the gas stations are running out of gas.

Dinner at Del Papa.  It was excellent and we had a good time chatting with the waiter.  We had planned to go to the Hippopotamus.  In fact, we actually did go in, but the place was jammed with people and I over heard one of the waiters tell another guy there would be a ten minute wait.  So, since I knew it was just around the corner, we went to Del Papa, which we loved.  Merci beaucoup, R.

19 Octobre (Mardi) - Robb is still ot feeling too well.  We had sort of planned to go to Italie2 but decided it probably wouldn't be a good idea right now.  We also wanted to go to the auto show and we're hoping we can do that before we run out of time.

I walked down to Pharmacie 24 and bought some Jour et Nuit just in case I need it.  While I was there I got some Prontalgine (medicine with codeine), which can be purchased over the counter without a prescription.

Then I walked around to Monoprix to get some beurre (butter).  And took a picture of one of the cheese sections so you can see there is a huge selection from which to choose. I also bought some chocolate madeleines (cookies) that I've had my eye on for a while.  When I came out of Monoprix, it was raining, but by the time I got back to the apartment, the sun was out.  Of course, that didn't last long.

Dinner at Bistro de 4 Saisons was good and strange at the same time.  We sat at a table in the back.  I was just about to complain to Robb that we were sitting in a draft, when I noticed they had the air conditioning on.  Now kids, it was barely five degrees outside and they had their A/C on!  The good news is that the meal was very good.  We both had magret de canard (duck).  We drank Bourgogne (a red wine).  We both had panna cotta for dessert.

Last night when we came out of the restaurant, I got the answer to 'when would they turn on the lights'.  They were on.  Tonight, when we went to dinner at Bistro de 4 Saisons, just across the street from Del Papa, they were not.  I was disappointed because I wasn't happy with my picture, but when we left after dinner, they were and I shot a short video.  I'm not really happy with that either because it's in black and white.

20 Octobre (Mercredi) - A strange day, weather wise.  It's quite cold, of course, but big white clouds are streaming across the sky at rocket speed.  One minute there is bright sunlight, the next, it's dull and grey.

We had planned to go to the Paris Auto Show today, but when I checked the website, I noticed it had closed on the seventeenth.

So once again the big event of the day was a trip to Monoprix.

One of these is a cat and one is me.  Which is which?

A fantastic dinner at Chez Starman.  We both had the Hachis Parmentier (Shepherd's Pie) with Taboulé á l'Orientale (Coucous with Mint and Raisins). From our exclusive table, we had a great view of the dishwasher, but if we leaned to the right, we could clearly see the micro-onde (microwave).

21 Octobre (Jeudi) - We started by walking down to the local branch of BNP, so Robb could write himself a checque to get some money.  God forbid it should be that simple.  The eye-rolling, tongue-clicking, overweight clerk made him fill out a bunch of forms so he could get a temporary debit card, which he would then have to take out to the ATM, get his money, then come back into the bank and return the card to the clerk.  I suggested to Robb that if an American bank came to Europe and did business the way they do in the US, the European banks would be out of business within a week.

Then we caught the 92 Bus to Étoile, where we boarded the Ligne 1 métro to Hôtel de Ville.  When we got off the métro, I discovered something I hadn't known.  You have the option of taking the exit up to the street, or you can enter BHV (one of our favorite department stores) through the bricolage (do-it-yourself) department, which is what we did.  Since we were there, I bought some shoelaces which were just a tad too short and more AA batteries.  The batteries here do not last long at all, yet they're the same batteries we buy in the US that last three or four times as long.

After my purchases in BHV, we took the escalator to the ground floor (rez-de-chausée).  We left the store by the main exit, which brought us onto rue de Rivoli.  We passed several outside stands where we bought nothing, and walked to rue du Renard.  We turned right and walked up to the Pompidou.  We went inside, and after checking out the exhibits, decided to not buy a ticket.  Robb was feeling hunger pains, so we went up to the restaurant, but the food looked like it had been sitting there all day.

I suggested we go to Les Marrionniers on rue des Archives, just around the corner.  The outside tables were mostly all taken, but there was only one other customer inside.  We got a table at the window, ordered a coupe (glass) de champagne and a Créme Catalane (like a créme brulée but sort of chocolaty) and relaxed.  After, we walked back to BHV to go through there to the métro because I (rightfully) thought it would be warmer.

Dinner at Pizza Trionfo.  Excellent again.  Something new tonight.  I asked if I could take my left over food home and he was very happy to accommodate me. So now I have diner pour demain (dinner for tomorrow).

You can see all the Paris pictures here: Paris 2010


À la prochaine, mes amis.