Paris 2008 - 2 Juin

Lundi - We had planned all weekend to do laundry, but of course, when the day dawned, Robb decided he wanted to go to BNP Paribas to open an account. He had been told by Rhino that he could do that if he went to the main office on Boulevard des Italiens. He would be able to accomplish that because that is the International Headquarters. So off we went on the 69.

We had to walk past Place Collette, so I took what I hope is better picture of the métro entrance there.

By the time we got to l'Opéra, the weather changed and we found ourselves with raindrops falling on our heads. Robb had not brought his parapluie, so since we were so close to Celio, we stopped in there and he bought one. A very nice one from the appearance. Again I was tempted to buy another, but mine seems to be holding on for dear life, even though it appears to be mortally wounded.

We found several branches of BNP on Boulevard des Italiens. The first, to which we went, was of course, the wrong one. They sent us on a quest down the street. The second one we entered was the correct branch, in fact, I suppose it was the main office. It was just across the street from a lovely restaurant, La Taverne. I waited in the waiting area while Robb was seen almost immediately by a bank conseiller (or whatever they're calling them these days).

Robb was gone for over an hour, so I assumed things were going okay. I was partially correct. He could open the account but he needed a lot more paperwork filled out and submitted (did you forget the French bureaucracy). But it is not the unattainable goal they had made it seem at the first branch to which we went on Boulevard Voltaire.

Having accomplished that, we walked across the street to the Café Gramont where I had a Sandwich Baguette Mixte (ham and cheese on a baguette) and Robb had a sandwich Provençal (that appeared to be a long, thin pizza, and according to Robb was excellent). We each had un verre du vin rouge.

Then, feeling adventurous, I walked us down to get the 20 bus to l'Opéra. As we approached the bus stop, we saw yet another branch of BNP Paribas. We wondered just how many branches they have on this street. We got the bus to l'Opéra. We walked over to rue du Quatre Septembre, just across from la Brioche Dorée, and got the 20 going in the opposite direction, toward Place de la République. Just before we got to our stop, I saw a huge luggage store. We walked back there and, after checking every damned piece of luggage in the store, I bought a huge neon-blue bag. Of course, it was again the rush hour (how do we do that) and there was no way I was going to try to carry that thing on a bus and then lug it to the apartment, so we found a taxi stand and waited for one to show up.

We waited for several minutes, with many taxis driving past, none of which even looked at us, much less stopped. Finally, one stopped. When Robb gave him the address, which may or may not have been correct, he replied that he "doesn't go there". Not to worry, he had barely left when another taxi stopped. The driver got out, put my empty suitcase in the back and we took off. On the way, I took this picture of the luggage store, Rayon d'Or, as we drove past. He was not familiar with the address and I pretty much had to give him directions, street by street. Fortunately, that's one of the things at which I'm rather good.

Plus à venir, mes amis.

Paris 2008 - 31 Mai

Samedi - As usual, the day started a bit late, I didn't get up until around noon. But, after all, we didn't even go to bed until after 02h30, so that's not that bad.

When we were at Place de l'Opéra the other day, we had seen an offre exceptionnelle at the Finsbury shoe store. Robb wanted to go and take advantage of the sale, so we hopped onto the 69 bus and were off. Once we arrived at the Palais Royal stop, I thought it might behoove us to go to the Opéra métro station and renew our passes pour le moi de Juin. We should have taken the 27 bus, but another came along and we jumped on. Do you hear that annoying buzzer again? It barely went a block before I knew we were on the wrong bus. And then, the damned thing just kept going and going, until I thought we might be out of the city before it stopped again. I was wrong, of course, and we ended up only a couple of blocks from Place de l'Opéra and the métro station we wanted.

Once in the station, we had little trouble finding the ticket window. Of course, there was a guy holding up the line of several people while he argued with the attendant, who was quite obviously becoming more and more annoyed with him. He finally left and the line moved quickly. We had our new passes in no time at all after that.

We were both feeling a bit hungry, so we stopped at the Brioche Dorée where we each had a slice of pizza. I had a glass of jus d'Orange and Robb had a café. While we were eating, we thought we saw Frog across the street chatting on his phone while awaiting the bus, but before we could get out to check, his bus came and he was gone. We're still not certain it was he.

Then it was off to find Finsbury's. I wasn't really sure where it was, so we started walking. After a couple of blocks, I remembered that we had been sitting at a sidewalk café when we had seen it across the street. As we continued to walk, I saw the café and, sure enough, the Finsbury shoe store was just across the street. We went in. Robb, in usual Robb manner, took quite a while to choose the shoes he wanted. The feat was finally accomplished and we started the walk down to rue de Rivoli and the quest for the bus back home.

However, when we got to Place Collette, there was a group of musicians playing beautiful classical pieces in front of the entrance to the Palais Royal Jardin, so we stopped to listen. I liked them so much, I bought one of their CDs. Then, we decided to take a walk throught the garden and wouldn't you know, there was another group of three young people playing for whatever people were willing to give them. I couldn't very well just walk past, and beside, they were playing Greensleeves and we both love that song, so I gave them a few euros. I joked to Robb that I couldn't afford to hear any more music, it would break me.

We entered the garden area and began walking to the far end, passing this lovely fountain, notice the daddy playing avec son enfant I told Robb that the garden area reminded me very strongly of the Piazza del San Marco in Venice, with all the restaurants and shops side-by-side all the way around.

After the walk through the jardin, we were faced with a decision. How would we get back to the apartment? We could walk down to the quai and try to find the bus stop, we could take the métro which was right there, or we could take a taxi. It dawned on me that there was another choice: we could walk to rue de Rivoli and take the 69 bus to the Champs de Mars where we could re-board it for the return trip. And that's what we did. But, surprise, surprise, when we got to the Champs des Mars, we didn't even have to get off. We just kept our seats and rode all the way back. It was so nice.

Plus à venir, mes amis.