Paris Snow - 16-24 Decembre 2009

16-24/12/09 (Mercredi-Jeudi) - Our Air France 747 was more than an hour late leaving Miami International, but never-the-less got to Aêroport Charles de Gaulle a few minutes earlier than scheduled. Robb and I were seated next to an Italian guy on his way to Florence for a visit with his mother and sister. He claimed to be bi and married to a Cuban-American girl.

Cloud cover was thicker than usual, but as soon as I could see the ground it appeared to be white. Taxiing to the terminal left no doubt that it was snowing in France. Everything was covered with a light dusting of the white stuff. The walk to the passport control area seemed interminable and it was quite cool until we got there. Robb had the sense to bring his leather jacket, but I was wearing only a sweater over a very light shirt. We got through passport control with no problem and began the long, long walk to the baggage claim. We were the last two people off the plane and Robb had to make a pit-stop, so we would have been the last two to pick up our bags. But when we finally arrived, we learned that the bags hadn't even begun to come out. We looked around for one of the FREE baggage carts, the same kind for which we had paid four dollars in Miami. When our bags arrived, I pulled out my leather jacket and put it on. We went out to get a taxi. It was quite cold and still snowing. The further we drove, the heavier the snowfall. Traffic was very dense and very slow. I took these pictures as we drove into the city. The first is through the windshield of the taxi. Then one along the road into the city. The next three are various scenes we passed in the city; motorcycles with cold seats, Picard (a frozen food chain - I just thought that was funny), and

the Jacques Bonsergent

métro station. And finally, the courtyard just outside the apartment. One of my readers will find it interesting that just across the courtyard is the office of an architect, who seems to be quite busy.

The owner of the apartment had arranged for a friend to meet us and give us a brief tour. He had told us she would come around 10h30, but we had barely left the airport. When we arrived at the apartment, she was there waiting and we encountered our first problem. Our French phones weren't being authorized, so we had to use our American phones to make the few calls that were necessary. Once inside the apartment, we were happy to find that it is a little bigger than it appeared in the pictures.

The area of the apartment is very convenient and just about everything we need is practically next door, including a huge Monoprix with a large grocery section. On the corner is a produce market selling all kinds of wonderful things. Just across the street from that and next to the Monoprix is the Fontaine Sully, a very nice brasserie at which we have now eaten four times. Last night, after desert, the waitress surprised us with a glass of cognac. On the other side of Monoprix is a pharmacie, and next to that is Julien de Savignac, a wine store. Another block down the street, rue Saint-Antoine, is the local branch of BNP Paribas, Robb's bank. When I click the link, I get a Google street view. If you get the same view, the light-colored double doors left of the Naturalia, is the entrance to the courtyard.

We went to Monoprix to get some staples; coffee, sugar, milk and couple of other items. We were both feeling really in need of sleep since neither of us slept on the plane, but I was near total exhaustion, so as soon as we got the things we really needed, we returned to the apartment.

Then we discovered problem number 2. The only real heat in the place is in the kitchen and the bathroom. There is a heater that barely works in the living room, and no heat at all in the bedroom. Now, during a normal winter, that might not be a problem. But it is very cold in Paris; below freezing. When we left Miami it was 27C (80F), when we got to Paris, it was -5C (23F). That's a hell of a difference in less than ten hours.

So far, this trip has been almost as bad as the last one, when I ended up in the hospital in Canada. I really thought I could adjust to the cold, and as it warms up a bit, I have. But it takes so much out of me and on those few times we went anywhere, I returned exhausted.

À la prochaine, mes amis

Paris 2008 - 25 Juillet

Vendredi - Went out and re-took some pictures that didn't turn out too well the first time, after which we went to L'Oisive Thé for a light snack.

During our trip to the teahouse, an interesting phenomena occured. When we first got on the bus, a couple also got on. When we got to our stop, they were somehow already there waiting for the next bus. Now, I know they did not get off the bus before us, and, because of their age and walking difficulties, they could not have gotten off at the previous stop and walked there before the bus got there. So my question is; how did they do that? That's at least the second time that has happened since we've been here. I find it really strange.

By the time we got to the teahouse, I was feeling even more tired than usual and I feared I was on the verge of some sort of illness, which later in the evening, proved to be the case. I have come down with something but I'm not sure what it might be. Just another of the joys of using public transportation.

Now, I don't want to leave the impression that I'm against public transportation. Quite the opposite. I love using buses and métros simply because you get to experience the people as well as the city. But you do have to realize that there will be times when you will contract some sort of illness. It's unavoidable.

Plus à venir, mes amis.

Paris 2008 - 30 Juin

Lundi - We walked down to rue Léon Frot, on a corner of which is La Poste, turned there and walked down to rue de Charonne. There we were confronted with the choice of several interesting restaurants in which to have dinner. I had already decided which I preferred, but asked Robb which he liked. He was basically non-committal, so we had dinner at the one I chose, l'Armagnac. I had the Faux-filet with gratin du jour. Robb started with a salad of tomatoes and mozzarela, followed by duck. I had ordered the faux-filet because I was curious to see what it might be. It turned out to be a piece of steak. Why it's called a faux-filet will forever be a mystery. It was good though. Something we've noticed on this trip is that the cuts of meat we've been getting, aren't very good. We were wondering if it's because of inflation and the smaller restaurants can't afford the good stuff. Also, into the mix, we must add that we normally don't eat this much meat, so it may be that we're noticing now what has always been true.

Plus à venir, mes amis.

Paris 2008 - 24 Juin

Mardi - Dinner at Beyrouth.

I think we've solved the mystery of the upstairs neighbors: it's obvious they are vampires. I mean look at the evidence, as soon as the sun rises, they are nowhere to be seen or heard. As soon as the sun sets (actually around 01h00), they're up and re-arranging their furniture, or building bookcases, or whatever it is they do up there to make all that noise when everyone else in the building is trying to sleep.

Plus à venir, mes amis.

Paris 2008 - 19 Juin

Jeudi - We got up around 07h30, packed everything that wasn't packed already, paid our bill and took a taxi to the train station.

One thing I dislike very much about using the trains in France, is that they don't tell you which track it will be on until about twenty minutes before the scheduled departure time, and every once in a while, they change that at the last minute. We waited in the lobby with many other passengers awaitng the track information. Fortunately, we were on track #1 and we didn't have to drag our bags down the stairs, walk to the indicated track and drag the bags up the stairs to the train. We simply walked out to the track area, checked the sign that tells you which car will be in which area, walked down there and got on.

Something we hadn't counted on was that the train would take us to Gare Montparnasse and not Gare d'Austerlitz. It also would go through Bordeaux and not Limoges. In direct opposition to the trip down, this time we got to see a lot of the countryside and the neat little towns along the way, including an occasional chateau. It was a much nicer journey and it was on a TGV, although it took the same six hours to get to Paris that it had taken to get to Toulouse.

The closer to Paris we got, the cloudier it became. Toulouse had been warm and sunny while we were there and when we left there wasn't a cloud in the sky. When we got to Paris, it was very cloudy.

We dragged our bags to the taxi stand and were on our way to the apartment, when LIF called to see where we were. I hadn't called before we left, because I felt relatively certain that they probably hadn't gone to bed until about the time we were getting up to leave.

Maybe because of the weather, Paris seemed so grubby compared to Toulouse. And dirty.

As we got out of the taxi at the apartment building, it started to rain. After we were safely inside, it started to pour. It did stop in time for us to go to dinner at L'Angela, which was disappointing. The last time we were there, Robb had had a terrific Osso Bucco. I ordered it this time, but apparently, the chef doesn't make the same dishes each time. He changes them according to the ingredients with which he has to work. That's all well and good if you don't have your mind set on something in particular, but I was very unhappy with the dish I got in place of the one I was expecting. I'm not sure we will return there.

Plus à venir, mes amis.

Paris 2008 - 10 Juin

Mardi - We did it. We finally did it. We found an area of Paris that we absolutely hate. We took the bus up to the Pére Lachaise métro area. The idea was to find a nice restaurant and have lunch. We thought that perhaps the restaurants right there might be too busy, with all the tourists and such. So we started checking out the area and found a nice place just across the street, but off the beaten path. We settled into a table on the café terrasse and awaited the waiter. He informed us that the only thing they had was salads. So, we took off to find something else. We walked to the corner, looking down the street. We saw a lot of restaurants that seemed to be considerably less crowded. We looked at one after another until we finally gave up in disgust. They were all filthy. One even had a table that had been shit upon by a bird, and they didn't even bother to clean it off. After seeing the table, I noticed the chair was in even worse condition. This might seem like I'm prejudiced, and maybe I am now, but this was a predominantly muslim area, and the restaurants were almost totally muslim owned and run. We couldn't get away from there fast enough. We finally settled on one of the tourist places we had previously shunned.

After the fiasco near Pére Lachaise, it was such a pleasure to go to a new restaurant, l'Angella, in our neighborhood, just next door to the Chinese place to which we went for lunch the other day. It's all very modern with interesting furniture and a large waterfall just opposite the front door. I think our waiter was the owner, but I'm not certain. He was quite charming and we learned that, though he is French and his wife is Italian, he spoke Japanese, among several other langauges. The food was quite good and not dished out in family-sized portions. I had Spaghetti alla Carbonara and Robb had Osso Bucco. Robb's dish was clearly the better of the two, although mine was very good. They presented the veal as meatballs and the whole thing was covered in a delicious tomato-basil sauce. Dessert for me was very thinly-sliced pineapple with cerise. Robb again had the best, coffee ice cream with chocolate sauce. After our café, we left with the definite intention of returning one evening.

Plus à venir, mes amis.

Paris 2008 - 8 Juin

Dimanche - Got up around 13h00, still tired. I think it was a mistake to come to France for so long. Robb just cannot grasp the severity of my illness and it's getting really frustrating for both of us. I simply cannot go day after day. Even simple little things like walking down to Place Léon Blum and walking back, wears me out if I don't get sufficient rest. I think the best I can do is maybe two weeks, but then I need at least two days of down time. Robb can't understand that and thinks I'm just being lazy, which in turn, pisses me off.

He wants to go to Toulouse, then Montpelier followed by Barcelona. I want to do that also, but there's no way I'll be able to do it without a couple days of doing nothing.....no little walks, no trips to the store and certainly no major trips like the one he wants to make tomorrow to the bank.

The problem is further aggravated by the fact that he cannot find his way around without me, so I feel guilty if I don't go with him.

So anyway, I could sense that he was feeling antsy today and I knew we needed some staples plus the weather actually took a turn for the better, so I got myself ready and off we went to Place Léon Blum because that's the only place to find an open store on Sunday. We again went to the Cocci Market. Then, on the way back, I stopped at a patisserie and bought several items; two macarons, two apple tartes and two fantastic cookies with whole hazelnuts.

Of course, once we got back to the apartment, which took a while because I had to keep stopping to get my breath, I was pretty much wasted, so going out to eat tonight is out of the question. As luck would have it, we do have something in the fridge.

Plus à venir, mes amis.

Paris 2008 - 6 Juin

Vendredi - Another cold, wet miserable day spent totally in the confines of this apartment. Robb went out to buy groceries and that was it for the day.

It was a productive day anyway.

A few days ago, I was putzing with the TV when suddenly it presented me with a message to re-install the ADSL (remember. it's all connected: TV - Internet - Telephone) in order to get the TV to work again. I didn't want to mess with the ADSL because I didn't want to lose it, too. The TV I could live without. The internet is my lifeline.

I sent an email to everyone I know in Paris, but none of them responded (they still haven't responded). Then I thought to email Lost In France in Toulouse. He replied within a few minutes with the solution to the problem, explaining that he had had the same problem just a while ago. It was a simple solution; simply unplug everything and plug it back in. It worked like a charm and we once again have everything working correctly.

I spent a good portion of the night listening to the neighbors having sex. It's surprising they didn't break through the wall, or end up on the floor below.

Plus à venir, mes amis.

Paris 2008 - 5 Juin

Jeudi - Hooray! Laundry day. So exciting. So expensive.

I mentioned a time or two, that we were thinking of buying one of those wheeled carts that is used for grocery shopping here. Robb was digging through the hallway closet one day and guess what he found? Yep. A wheeled cart. A nice, big one, too.

So, I filled it with my dirty clothes (not all of them by any stretch of the imagination) and wheeled them down to the Laverie just around the corner. I had way too much for one of the little machines and used the large one. Unbelievably, there is only one large one. Luckily, no one was using it. It cost €7.50 for thirty-five minutes. That's $11.75. On top of that, if one dries their clothes, and I noticed that most of the French people don't, that's another €.80 per ten minutes. I figured at least forty minutes, which brings my total to €10.70 or $16.75 for one load of laundry. It's cheaper to buy new clothes That same wash in the US would have cost no more than $4.00, probably less..

While we were waiting for the drier, we walked down to rue de la Roquette to a nice Chinese restaurant (picture by Robb). I had Poulet au Curry on Riz Cantonnais. Robb had beef on Riz Cantonnais. We drank Cote du Rhone. It was the least expensive meal of any kind we've had here so far. And it was very good.

Back at the apartment, Robb took his wash from the washer and decided to take it to the Laverie to dry it. After he left, I thought I would download the pictures we had taken, but I couldn't find my camera. I looked everywhere and determined that I must have left it in the Laverie. I tried to call Robb but as usual he had his phone on vibrate and had no idea he was being called. I grabbed my jacket and walked over. As soon as I entered, I saw the camera was not where I would have left it. I told Robb I had lost it and he told me I didn't. He had found it on the table when he got there. A huge sigh of relief.

We went back to l'Artiste Café for dinner. Where I got to sing Happy Birthday to a young French boy who was sitting with his family at the table across from us. We were surprised when the place closed around midnight. They actually started folding their tent around 23h30. Even so, they did offer and bring us our after dinner café. Shortly after we arrived at the café, I got to see them light the outdoor heaters for the café terrasse. It's surprising how much heat they put out. I was hoping some of it would come inside with the wind and the cigarette smoke, but no such luck.

Plus à venir, mes amis.

Paris 2008 - 3 Juin

Mardi - Because the French do things the way they do, we had to make a return trip to BNP Paribas for some piddling little reason. I guarantee it won't be the last.

Sometimes, when we ride the bus, Robb and I do not get to sit next to each other We just take whatever seat is vacant. Today, I sat next to a French girl from Strasbourg who is currently living in Paris. The conversation started when she, showing me her copy of Paris Pratique Par Arrondissement (lots of maps of the various areas of the city), pointed and asked if the bus was going to take her near her destination. Since I knew the area, I assured her she would be within a block of where she wanted to go. Then, of course, having broken the ice, we continued to chat until arriving at our stop, where we got off and said "au revoir", she going one way and we, the other.

At least, it didn't take as long in the bank as the first day.

Otherwise, it was pretty much a wasted day and it was cold. It was also wet, off and on.

On the return to the apartment, we stopped at a pizza place on Place de la République. We both had the Quatre Saison pizza; cheese, tomato sauce, peppers, and mushrooms. We each got a pizza the size of Montana. We ate as much as we could, which for me was about half, and for Robb, about two-thirds. Then - surprise, surprise - the waitress suggested we could take the rest home with us. What? Are we still in Paris? Have we been transported back to the US for bad behaviour? What's going on? But, sure enough, she put the leftovers into a pizza box and we were off.

I thought I was feeling better, but by the time we got back to the apartment, I was worn out. This is getting really old

Plus à venir, mes amis.

Paris 2008 - 24 Mai

24 Mai (Samedi) - Every once in a while, life kicks you in the butt just to make sure you're paying attention and to remind you of your frailty. It serves to keep you aware that no matter how cool you think you are, you are not the most important thing in the universe. Today was my turn to get a swift kick. This will probably be the most embarassing post I ever have to write (I hope).

Before I get into the events of the day, I want everyone wherever you are to give a long, long standing ovation to Katia and Frog, two of the most wonderful, friendly, caring people it has ever been my pleasure to meet, and without whose help I'm not sure I would be able to write this today.

The day (actually it was evening) got off to an ominous start when we walked to the bus stop to get the 69 to rue Vielle du Temple in the Marais. What had originally been scheduled as a picnic meeting on the Point Vert, was changed because of the inclement weather, to a bar meeting in the Marais. But it started looking like we might have another bus incident, because there was another manif and, of course, it affected our bus. It has seemed like someone is deliberately trying to sour us on Paris, or at the very least, the Paris transportation system. It's not going to work. We are too far into this romance to let a few setbacks deter us.

It was time for plan-B, but we hadn't formulated a plan-B, so we had to wing it. First I thought we could walk down to Place Léon Blum to get the 56 to Place de la République, but after checking the plan de l'autobus, I decided we should take the 56 to Charonne and pick up the 76 which would drop us off right at rue Vielle du Temple (well, within a half block). We started to walk, but I was already tired so decided we should wait for the 61 down to Place Léon Blum.

We caught the 56 to Charonne, where we awaited the 76. We had time to take a good look around and decided we really liked the area.

Upon arriving at rue Vielle du Temple, I checked the information I had written down from Katia's email, and we took off for the Yono Bar at 27 rue Vielle du Temple. The only problem was that the address was what appeared to be a private residence. We began walking up the street looking for the bar. Robb went into a place and asked for directions. The address was 37 rue Vielle du Temple. It was about 20h20 when we arrived to find no one there. Katia had said there was a chance they wouldn't be able to get in, in which case they would go to another place just around the corner. When we walked in there was almost no one there. We thought about going to the other place, but I decided to call and see where everyone might be first.

Just as I was dialing Katia's number, they all appeared in the dorway. Katia, KylieMac, Frog, Erica and a few people I didn't yet know.

Everyone walked to a table in the back, but KylieMac has serious allergy problems and couldn't stay there, so we all walked to the other bar. We commandeered a large table in the back of the place. There was a championship futbol game on TV between Paris and Lyon. Before the game started they showed some information about a match that had taken place in 2006 and I mistakenly thought that was the game they were showing tonight. I couldn't figure out why everyone was getting so excited about a game that had taken place two years ago. At any rate, some of the other customers were getting quite loud in their enthusiasm for the game, so we all moved to the front of the place where it was a bit quieter.

Robb and I hadn't eaten anything and we were getting hungry, so we told the others we were going to get something to eat and then we would rejoin the group. There was a tenative plan to move the party to L'Enchanteur, a gay karaoke bar some distance away, so if they weren't there when we got back, that's the place to go.

KylieMac suggested a well-known falafel place just around the corner (L'as du Falafel) and we thought we might go there, but we didn't see it and opted for a nice looking restaurant instead. We started with a cold soup similar to gazpacho but not. It was very good and welcome because we were feeling a bit warm. Because of the crazy weather for the past week or so, we're never sure how to dress, so we had worn our new leather jackets. We followed the soup with a plate of duck with potatoes and salad. The duck was in some kind of sauce that neither of us recognised, but it was so good. I may have eaten a bit too much. We drank a pichet of vin rouge and finished with a café.

We headed back to the party at the bar. As we arrived everyone was just starting off to the gay karaoke bar, L'Enchanteur, so we tagged along. It was quite the trek and if Rhino hadn't lingered with us, we might not have found it. But find it we did. It is on two levels (it might be more, but I only saw two) with the karaoke part downstairs. OMG! It was like being packed into a sardine can in a steam bath, there were so many people there. Someone explained that they usually do this on Thursday night and it's never that crowded. Frog and Katia started organizing who would sing what. It was determined they would do a duet and Frog, Rhino, Robb and I would do "I Will Survive". It was exciting to be included in the festivities and I was really looking forward to it.

Unfortunately, that was precisely the time life decided to administer its kick in the butt.

Suddenly, I was absolutely exhausted and to make matters worse, I really needed to urinate. I thought if I could just sit down for a minute, I would be okay until I could get to the toilet and relieve myself. But the exhaustion got worse and worse. I put my head down on my arms and tried to suck in as much air as I could, but it didn't help. And then I felt like I was going to throw up. I could actually feel myself slipping into unconsciousness. Then Katia and Frog were there helping me to get up. They were taking me upstairs where it was a lot cooler, and I remember being near the top of the stairs. The next I knew, I was lying on a bench just inside the front door, with Katia and Frog still there making sure I was okay. As I slowly regained consciousness, I was suddenly aware that I had emptied my bladder when I fainted.

God, I was so embarassed! It was bad enough to have fainted like some silly drama queen, but to have peed myself in the bargain was just too much for someone as socially insecure as me.

I hoped desperately that no one had noticed, but now that I think back, I don't see how anyone could not have noticed. But, if they did, they didn't mention it, thankfully. They asked how we were going to get home and I told them we were going to take the bus. Frog said there weren't any buses at night, but I said we would take the Noctilien. The only problem was I didn't know which one or where to get it. He insisted we take a taxi and called one for us. In the meantime, he and Katia sat with me to make sure I was okay.

The taxi arrived and we said our embarassed goodbyes. The cab took off. Sometime during the ride, I regained enough awareness to realize we were going in the wrong direction. I told Robb to ask the driver if he had understood the address we had given him. He had, but we had mistakenly said it the wrong way, and we were indeed headed to the wrong section of the city. The driver was very nice about it and, even though it was our fault, accepted part of the blame for the mix-up. We finally got it sorted out and were let out in front of our building.

I want to take this opportunity to apologize to everyone in our party for screwing up what should have been a wonderdul evening with friends, and to again offer my special, heartfelt thanks to Katia and Frog for their assistance.

Also, I apologize for no pictures on this post. My camera also recieved a swift kick evidently, and the only picture I thought I had taken before it bit the dust did not come out.

Plus à venir, mes amis.

Paris 2008 - 19 Mai

19 Mai - It was borderline freezing today. But we went out anyway.

A few days ago, on our way to the tea house, I saw a suitcase at a little store. I thought about buying it because of a few reasons; I wanted it, I could afford it, it would certainly stand out in the luggage racks (it's orange) and it appears we're going to need another piece of luggage to get all the stuff we're buying back home.

So today we went back to get it. Of course, it was gone and the guy had no more.

Then we tried Tati. They had a bunch of nice suitcases, but nothing like the one I wanted. After Tati, we walked down to another little store I know on Avenue d'Italie. They had one I might have bought if they had had the size I wanted, but it was a no go.

So we hopped on the bus back to the apartment, but when we got to the Museum d'Histoire Naturelle, we decided we had passed by it long enough, it was time to go in. So I pushed open the door to enter and was greeted by a young girl who informed me the the museum was "fermer". It wasn't a total loss though because while wandering around the grounds, I saw this guy and then got a shot of some interesting detail on the side of the building.

On the way home on the bus, I got this shot of one of the columns holding up the metro tracks that ran alongside the street. I think there were eight of them in all.

Yesterday, Robb did some light laundry. This is how it is dried since there is no drier. When we were looking for an apartment, one of the critereria of our search was laundry equipment in the apartment. Well, there is a washer in this place but about the only thing it will hold is a few pairs of socks or maybe a couple T-shirts. Ha ha, the joke's on us. I took a picture of the washer with my coffee cup on top for scale.

It's almost 01h00 and it feels a bit warmer. The temp tomorrow (today) should be near 19C which is around 62F. Not hot, but not really cold.

Plus à venir, mes amis.

Paris 2008 - 15 Mai

15 Mai - This is our NEW favorite French song by our NEW favorite French star:


We didn't really plan to do anything today except go to the store because we had run out of a few essentials (wine). We walked to Franprix, and the local pharmacie, got the things we wanted, plus a few that caught our fancy while we were there, and returned to the apartment. We are definitely thinking of buying one of those little carts with wheeels that people here use when they go shopping. I did think you might be interested in the parking situation in Paris. It is a major hassle and you can pay as much for a garage as for an apartment. Most people just take their chances finding a place on the street, and that's especially true in our working class neighborhood. There are some free spaces, but mostly they are areas in which you have to pay a parking fee. They don't have parking meters like you find in the US, they have one or two machines per block at which you make your payment. I think that's a much more viable method. Of course, that's just for those who own a car. Motorcyclists usually use this method.

We came back to the apartment, sat around for a while, had lunch which was a sandwich with ham, tomato and cheese we had just bought, then sat around some more. We were both getting a case of "cabin fever" after a while, so I suggested we go for a walk. Robb was more than ready for that also.

Before we really got started, we stopped at a shoe repair shop so Robb could check on the shoelaces because the ones he bought were a bit too short. The lady who waited on him was so very nice. She even put the laces in his shoes after he bought them.

My original idea was to walk down to Place Léon Blum, and then follow the bus route down rue Chemin Vert for a few blocks. Everytime we've taken the bus, I've seen a store on that rue that had nice leather jackets in the window, and I wanted to check it out. Of course, we ended up on the wrong street, but at the time I wasn't sure that it wouldn't turn into the street for which I was looking, so we just kept walking. It finally dawned on me that it was the wrong street, and I suggested we try one more street over. Sure enough, that was rue Chemin Vert. So we walked all the way down to Boulevard Richard Lenoir.

I couldn't believe we had walked so far, but then with the Colonne de Juillet staring me in the face, I couldn't deny the length of our journey. As we traversed Blvd Lenoir, we came across an office supply store. It was the famous Office Depot with which we're all familiar. There are several in the city. I have been looking for a refill for my pen in every place that sold pens that we've come across, but to no avail, so I figured why not try Office Depot, and sure enough, they had the one I needed. I bought a package of ten for about €3.

We continued down the boulevard to Place de la Bastille, where we came upon a flea-market-like thing that has been there since we first got here. We checked it out, stopping at an oriental booth, where I bought a couple of oriental jackets for €15. I tried to bargain them down to €10 and thought I had been successful until the guy handed me back €5 change for a €20 note. It was still a bargain. We passed one booth where they were selling incense. It smelled so good and I was hoping Robb would buy one, but he didn't.

Then, we made our way through the crowd to rue de la Roquette where we got the bus back to our area. I've told you before about the cool offer they have here for getting ADSL-TV-Téléphone and today I was lucky enough to come across an advert for it. If you're pc gives you a large enough picture (or if your eyes are good) you can see that the offer is €19.90 for the first three months, then €29.90 per month with a €3 a month fee for the box. But even with the box, that's only about $51 bucks a month. I pay more than that for basic cable. And by the way, their ADSL is faster than our cable internet.

Plus à venir, mes amis.

Paris 2008

29/30 Avril - We are here.....finally. What a time we had. The AirTran flight from Fort Lauderdale was okay, and the Atlanta airport was very nice. Of course, some of you probably already know that it's a lot bigger and nicer than Fort Lauderdale. We had to get off the plane because it was just reloaded and headed straight back to FLL. We checked the flight schedule and discovered that instead of leaving for Newark at 2:15, our flight was delayed until 2:53. Then a flight attendant didn't show up and we had to wait for her. By the time they got it all sorted out, we were not due to arrive in Newark until 6:00 PM. Somehow, the pilot managed to get us there by 5:30, but then we had to wait and wait and wait for the bags to show up.

To make a long story a bit shorter, we got to the L'Avion ticket counter just as they were about to shut it down for the day. Thankfully, they were really nice and we explained that our plane had been a couple of hours late. They checked our bags, gave us our boarding passes and we literally ran to get on the plane, though I'm pretty sure they would have held it for us because I heard the guy at the ticket counter tell someone that two more were on the way.

L'Avion was disappointing and wonderful at the same time. The plane was a bit bigger than it looks in their videos and the seats were nice and wide with tons of leg room. However, there was no pre-flight champagne. They did offer it with the dinner, which was pretty good but not great. I think it was prepared in the US. The champagne wasn't too good, maybe a tad better than Korbel but not much. The purser was even better looking in person than his picture and was really super nice. Other than the purser, there were three female flight attendants, who were also very nice. I didn't know there are two Orly airports, Orly Sud and Orly Ouest; we landed at Orly Sud which is not as good as the other.

The taxi ride to the apartment was great and cost about ten euros less than coming from CDG.

The apartment is very nice, but a bit smaller than we were expecting. We were greeted by Mme Chicha's mother who gave us the keys, the digi-code (to get into the building) and showed us how a few things worked. I was happy to find that connection to the internet was easy. I even had the choice of using her ADSL or a wifi connection.

I got a surprise call from Mme. Chicha (owner of the apartment) asking if we would mind if someone showed up to check it out because he wanted to rent it for the rest of the year after we left. A few minutes after she hung up, the guy called. He asked a lot of questions and then said that because we are Americans he was just going to take our recommendation and rent the apartment, instead of coming in from the airport to check it out during his layover as he had previously planned. I suppose that meant that he thought, "If those nit-picky Americans like it, it must be okay".

We're very tired because neither of us slept much last night. We did run out to the local store, a very nice Franprix about four blocks away and picked up some coffee fixins. Our first dinner in Paris consisted of ramen noodle soup that we found in a kitchen cupboard, because we were just too cold to go back out into the raging ice storm that greeted us upon our arrival.

1 Mai - Today is a big holiday in France (May Day) so almost everyone had the day off which resulted in a lot of noise for most of last night. People were still coming in at 2h00, slamming doors and stuff like it was the middle of the day.

Neither of us slept very well; me because my feet were freezing and Robb because he didn't eat enough. We managed to rouse ourselves around 11h00.

We had coffee and then took off to find the métro that is somewhere near Cimetière du Père-Lachaise. We located the métro with no problem, and on the way back to the apartment, found an unexpectedly open Petit Casino where we bought a few things that we didn't get yesterday.

Because today is our "official" anniversary, I booked us on a Champagne Cruise on the Seine. Only seven of us showed up for the cruise and we all drank a bit more than we probably should have. But it was so good. It was an interesting group; two girls from London, a couple from North Carolina, a girl from someplace where they speak French and Robb and I. We sampled three different kinds of bubbly. Most of us preferred the second offering which was a bit sweeter and smoother. I'm sorry I didn't get the brand names, but at the time it just didn't seem to matter. I'm sure you understand.

After the cruise, Robb and I checked out a carnival-like thing that was taking place just opposite the point of the cruise embarcation point. Then we walked up the stairs, across the street toward the Tour Eiffel to a taxi stand. We got a taxi to Le Fregate, a restaurant on the Seine, where I had Oignon Soupe, then Sole with potatoes. Robb had Canard Foie, then Duck. We shared a demi-bottle of Sancerre and finished with a café.


2 Mai - After suffering all night with a headache, the day began in a rather curious way. The doorbell rang. When I answered it, there was a little old French lady there with a cat. She started talking at a mile-a-minute and, of course, I had no idea what she was saying. But by watching what she was doing, I figured out that she was asking if the cat was mine. I told her it was not and she left to check all the other neighbors.

We had our coffee and left for our meeting with Katia and Kyliemac. They do a podcast a couple of times a week to which we listen. I had told them we were coming and would like to get together. Yesterday, Kyliemac called to set up the meeting point. It was agreed we would meet outside the Gare Montparnasse at the Odessa exit. The only problem was that when we got there, there was no Odessa exit because she was confused about the location of the exit (the Odessa exit is actually in front of the Tour Monparnasse, though I didn't know that at the time). But she did mention a Hippopotamus restaurant just across the street, and when we found that, I called her to see where they were waiting. They were standing just a few feet from the Hippopotamus, near the métro station entrance from which they had thought we would emerge. We walked down Boulevard Montparnasse to Le Select brasserie. We got a nice table on the terrace for people watching, I gave them the Mint Crisp M&Ms I had brought from the States, and then we started the process of getting to know each other. They are very different and yet, at the same time, very similar. They were cute, warm, funny, and very easy to like. We are glad we had the opportunity to meet them. They insured us that we would be invited to a lot of ex-pat get togethers during our stay in Paris. That is going to be a lot of fun because I already know most of them from their blogs. We chatted for a couple of hours and then they had to take off to keep an appointment across town. Oh yeah, while we were sitting there chatting, les pompiers (firemen) showed up and put out a fire in La Coupole (a famous brasserie) which was just across the street.

After the girls left, Robb and I wandered around the area for awhile, then headed back to the apartment, where I pretty much just crashed for the rest of the afternoon and most of the evening.

Around 10h00 we left to have dinner. Robb wanted to go to a restaurant we had seen on our way to the métro station, but I didn't want to walk that far. As a result, we found a very nice place just a couple of blocks from the apartment, called L'Artiste Café. On the way inside, I saw the specials and had Osso Bucco. Robb had lamb chops. The Osso Bucco was great and there was so much that I couldn't even come close to eating all they gave me. Robb wasn't too happy with his lamb chops. He claimed they were too fatty without much meat. Even though I couldn't finish the Osso Bucco, I had desert anyway; créme caramel, while Robb had a fantastic fromage blanc with raspberry sauce. I will definitely have that the next time we go.

I forgot to mention, when we were walking to the Champagne Cruise, we were stopped by a lady who appeared to be either Japanese or Vietnamese, looking for directions to Place d'Italie. She thought we were French and was so happy when we spoke to her in US English because she was from California.

3 Mai - Yesterday, we tried to buy a métro pass for the month at the closest métro station, Philippe Auguste, but were told we had to go to the Père Lachaise station, so today we went down there and got the pass. It was a bit more than I was expecting, but it's good on the métro, the bus and the RER, so it's not too bad. And, of course, it's for unlimited rides.

After getting the pass, we wandered down rue de la Roquette to small park just a block from the apartment. Do any of you remember the 2CV?

We hung out at the park for a while and then came back to the apartment so I could rest before we went out to dinner.

Last night, after leaving l'Artiste Café, I saw a place just a couple doors down that looked cool, so that's where we went.

Bistro Expo was was practically empty inside, everyone was sitting on the café terrrace; smoking of course. That was okay by us. We checked out the menu and decided on a tagine with chicken, olives, potatoes and lemon peel. It was fantastique! We shared a pichet du vin rouge (a small pitcher of red wine). For desert, Robb had a pomme tarte, but I had le gâteau du chocolat fondant (soft-center chocolate cake). If you love chocolate, you would have been in heaven eating this confection. Beside being soft-centered, it was swimming in the richest, darkest choclate sauce I've ever eaten.

Paris 2008 - III

Monday, May 05, 2008

Here are some miscellaneous pictures. Originally, I had the pictures here, but Blogger really sucks at stuff like that, so I had to put in the links.

A South American band that was playing at the carnival-like thing after the Champagne Cruise.

The entrance to our building.

Robb entering the elevator to go to downstairs. The elevator is about 2 feet by 3 feet. We are on the 4th floor (5th in the US).

I could never figure out what everyone found so fascinating about rooftops in France, but here's a couple of shots from our apartment. One. Two.

This is typical of the way drivers park in Paris. You can see he's on the corner. I believe in the US that would guarantee him a parking ticket, but here, you see it all the time. This was taken about fifteen feet from the door to our building.

4 Mai - We didn't do much today. We walked down to Place Léon Blum, about five or six blocks south of us. I recognized it from the good ole days of Parispourvous which had a lot of fantastic webcams around the city. Sadly, they sold out to Orange who has progressively screwed it up. Half the webcams don't work, they got rid of a bunch more and the ones they've added are so small that even with my 23-inch screen, I can barely see them. At any rate, the purpose of our visit there was the only open pharmacie in the area. I got really lucky and discovered that I can buy my meds there with no prescription, and just to make it totally outstanding, they cost about half as much as they would in the States.

We left the pharmacie and started back to the apartment. We stopped at a patisserie, where I bought a couple of croissants. Then we wandered across the street to a little store that sold a little of almost everything. I bought a euro extension cord and a package of screws so we could fix Robb's suitcase.

Just across from parc de la Roquette, there is a small café, where we stopped to have a café and enjoy the weather.

Around nine-ish, we walked back to Place Léon Blum to have dinner at Au Cadran Voltaire. I wanted to have the Coté d'Agneau, but they were out of it, so we both had the Poulet Roti. Again, there was so much food I could barely eat half of it. They gave me a piece of chicken that could have fed a family of four. Needless to say, Robb ate every bit. We ordered two small pichets of Saint-Émilion. No dessert for a change. The usual café to finish off the excellent meal.

Except for the night before the holiday, this place has been exceptionally quiet.

I would like to apologize in advance for not keeping up with all your entries. I'll try to catch up from time to time.

Paris, Thanks

27 Novembre, 2005 - We had planned to have Thanksgiving dinner with Robb's niece, Wendy, but Wednesday night, Geoff was at our place drinking a bit of the juice of the grape. He mentioned that he was going to Paris on Thanksgiving. Then, almost like thinking aloud, he said it was too bad we couldn't go with him because we know our way around Paris. Then he mentioned something about getting us into business class (which used to be first class) and before we knew it, we were booking the flight.

Geoff had said we could stay in his room, but we didn't think that was such a good idea, because if he had been caught smuggling us in, it could have resulted in very bad circumstances for him. I got up Thursday morning and booked a room for Robb and me at the same hotel the airline uses (Sofitel Paris Forum Rive Gauche in Montparnasse).

So on Thanksgiving evening (6:00 PM) we flew to Paris.

We arrived Friday morning around 9:00 AM Paris time (3:00 AM US time). Robb and I took just a carry-on bag with one change of clothes, so we only had to clear immigration and leave the terminal. Goeff, of course, was taken to the hotel in the employee shuttle. Robb and I decided instead of a taxi, we would take the RER since we had only one little bag each (The RER is a train that runs through the city and goes to some of the outlying areas like Versailles and the airport. There are five lines in Paris, the "B" line is the one that goes to the airport.) . I had been wanting to do that for a long time. It was really neat. Just as we approached the outskirts of the city, Sacre Coeur appeared in all its glory. What a beautiful site on a clear, crisp morning! I had checked the weather on the internet before leaving and snow had been predicted. Although it was very cold, it did not snow.

We got off at the Denfert-Rochereau stop and walked down Boulevard St. Jacques to the hotel. It was really, really cold. As you know, we were here for Christmas and the New Year one time, but it wasn't as cold then as it was today. Still, it's Paris! It wasn't that far to the hotel from the RER station and once there, we signed in, prepaid our room, got our key and went up to our room on the sixth floor (seventh floor in the US). It was an interesting turn of events, because we were in 655 and Geoff was in 628 at the opposite end of the building. He had a great northern view while we had a view of another section of the building. We cleaned up a bit and walked down to Geoff's room.

We spent a while discussing what we wanted to do and it was decided that we wanted to go to a nice store to buy some wine and other stuff to bring back with us. We also wanted to go to lunch in a real french place. We decided to have lunch at a nice little bistro that I knew on Avenue d'Italie, Le Canon de Tolbiac. From the bistro, we could walk down the street to Monoprix, a large super market/department store. The Glaciére métro stop was only about a block from the hotel. We took the line 6 to Place d'Italie where we got the line 7 to Tolbiac. At the bistro, we had moules et frites (mussels and fries). There's something about the way they make fries in France. I think it's because they use fresh, real potatoes. Robb and I drank wine, Geoff had a french beer. We walked down to Monoprix, stopping to check out a few places on the way. In Monoprix, we bought some wine, some tea and some chocolate. We made our way back to the métro and rode back to the hotel. We were all pretty tired after the long flight and the shopping trip, so we decided to get some sleep before deciding where to go for dinner.

After a nice, but short nap, Robb and I showered, dressed and walked down to Geoff's room. Originally, we had thought that we might go to one of the oriental restaurants on Avenue de Choisy, but it was so cold that none of us wanted to walk that far. We decided to check out the area around the hotel. There was a restaurant in the hotel, which I thought looked great, but neither Robb nor Geoff wanted to go there. There was a pizza place right next door (although pizza was their speciality, they did have regular stuff also). We walked a bit further and found a really nice looking Italian restaurant and went in. The owner actually was Italian. I had Penne alla Arrabiata (lord it was spicy), Robb had Veal Marsala and Geoff had the Viande Plat du Jour. Everything was great. Robb and I ordered a bottle of Italian wine and, again, Geoff had a beer. Desert was Panna Cotta for the three of us. Robb and I finished with our usual café noir.

We walked back to the hotel. Geoff wanted to go the the airline crew room and check on the number of available slots for tomorrow's flight back to Miami, but when we got there, there were only two computers. One was tied up for quite a while and the other was not working. Since we couldn't use the computer, we decided to spend the rest of our time in Nellie's bar. It was nice, but it was all I could do to keep my eyes open and we finally called it a night around midnight.

Saturday morning, I woke up, looked at the clock and let out a shout. The alarm had not gone off and we were forty-five minutes late getting up. Somehow, we managed to get ourselves ready and got a taxi to the airport only twelve minutes later than we had planned. It was total pandemonium in the aiport. I've never seen so many people in one place. To make matters worse, the airline ticket counters were not clearly marked like they are in most airports, so we had to look for little signs to know where we were. We finally got our boarding pass and made our way to the security check point. Our plane was to begin boarding at 10:35, at which time we were still in a long line waiting to be checked. But the security check point is near a window and I saw that it had begun to snow pretty hard. The last time that happened in Paris, the flight was delayed by seven hours. This time, it was only four hours. It was an extremely bumpy ride. But thanks to the lovely stewardesses and several glasses of champagne, it was a good flight.

We arrived in Miami at 9:00 PM, five hours later than scheduled. We got through passport control and customs in pretty good time and met Geoff just at the door from customs to the transportation lobby. We all boarded the employee bus and rode to the parking lot to Geoff's car. We were home by 10:00.

Paris 2004

28/29 Avril - Our Air France 747 left Miami International Airport at 6:00 PM. It was fifteen minutes late taking off. It turned out to be the Flight From Hell. Robb's dinner sucked, there were several screaming kids and there was a lot of pretty rough turbulence (especially while I was eating). After bringing it all back up, I managed to actually get a few minutes of sleep.

We arrived at Aéroport de Paris Charles de Gaulle at 8:15 AM Paris time. A few minutes ahead of schedule. We got lost in the airport while trying to find the baggage claim. The weather was cold and windy but sunny. We got a taxi into the city. I recognized the area from all my webcam viewing and gave the driver pretty exact instructions to reach the apartment we had rented at 18 rue Raymond Aron. You can see pictures of the apartment HERE.

We had to wait quite awhile for the concierge, Monsieur Caulier, to show up with the key. His wife took us up to the apartment which was on the third floor (Paris - fourth floor in the US). It was a lot bigger and nicer than it appeared in the pictures on the agent's website. It is directly across the street from the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, which consists of four twenty-four story buildings, each L-shaped which is representative of open books, of which twenty-two are above ground. There is a huge courtyard in the very center of the BNF which, when looking down into it, appears for all the world like a tropical rain forest. To the left of the apartment (north), is the Seine on which we can see several cruise boats (bateaux-mouches). On the other side of the river, is the Palais Omnisports de Paris and Cour St. Emilion. To the south of the apartment are the train tracks going to and coming from Gare Auzterlitz. Though we were less than two blocks from these tracks, we never heard a train the entire time we were in the apartment, although we heard several leaving the station while we were walking.

Monsieur Michel Malaval, from whom we had rented the apartment, left some excellent directions to various places we might need during our stay. One of these was a small grocery store named FranPrix. We walked the three blocks to Boulevard Vincent Auriol and got stuff for coffee and some salad stuff. While in the store, I heard a woman speaking to her daughter in English (real English) and on the return to the apartment, we got acquainted. She was in Paris with her Egyptian husband, an engineer. They were living in a building just down the street from us.

It began raining, lightly, about 4:00 PM. At about 9:30, we took the métro to Place d'Italie and had dinner in Café de France. We both had Veau Grille et Frites (grilled calve's liver and french fries) and shared a carafe of red wine. After desert and a café each, we métroed back to the apartment. We watched a bit of TV before going to bed. It rained rather hard for the rest of the night.

I had forgotten my umbrella.

30 Avril - I tossed and turned most of the night. It was cold in the apartment because we couldn't figure out the heating system and, also, I had developed cramps in my feet. First one foot and then the other, all night. Robb couldn't sleep either. I finally gave up at about 8:00 AM, by which time Robb had managed to get to sleep. He slept till noon. I set up the coffee pot and made coffee. Ahhh, good French coffee!

The first order of business was to go to Avenue Italie so that I could buy an umbrella. I had planned to just leave it in the apartment for whomever might need one, but it was so nice that I may take it with me. We walked back to Italie2 (a large, three-story shopping mall) to see if we could find a scarf for Robb, since he had forgotten to bring one. We found no scarves, but he bought a nice shirt at Armand Thierry. Then we went to the pharmacie where he bought shaving cream, toothpaste and shampoo. We stopped at Brioche Dorée for a ham and cheese baguette with an Orangina. Then we métroed to the Latin Quarter and walked over to see Ste. Sulpice, a cathedral on my list of things to see. It was really quite nice and well worth the walk. From there, we decided to walk to Boulevard St. Germain to find the New Man store for Robb. He thought the address was 155 but when we got there, it was something else. We drove past the address a few days later and it had magically appeared where it should have been. We're still puzzled about that.

We had walked quite a bit and we were both tired, so we métroed back to Quai de la Gare , the métro stop nearest the apartment. Robb thought most things would be closed on 1 May, which is Labor Day and a BIG holiday in France. We got some sandwich stuff and cookies at FranPrix.

Robb poured us some wine and and we drank that while enjoying some pâte. After, he tried on his new shirt. It fit him nicely.

After a short nap, we went out to find a place for dinner. We walked down to the quai and walked west along the Seine. Right on the corner was a Buffalo Grill. We passed on that. Then we came to a Quick (a French fast food place). I suggested it, but Robb nixed the idea immediately. We continued along the quai until the street was blocked by construction work. We walked up Boulevard Vincent Auriol and found an interesting looking place and went in. It was very nice. Kind of modern but classic at the same time. There was a neat mural on the ceiling very reminicsent of the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. The name of the place was Djoon.

We were seated and ordered dinner and wine. Everything was excellent: the ambience, the food, the decor, the staff and the clientèle. We will return there before we leave.

After dinner, we walked along Avenue de France and found another interesting looking restaurant: Brasserie Au Bureau. We'll try that one night.

1 Mai - I couldn't sleep and got up around 7:00 AM. Robb slept till noon, again. I made coffee, then we decided to walk to Gare de Lyon to check out Le Train Bleu. Because today is a major French holiday (Labor Day), we weren't sure it would be open. It was quite a long walk. We began our journey by walking down to the Seine to check on what we thought was a floating restaurant, but it was just a boat with an advertisement. We continued along the river to Pont de Bercy where we crossed to rive droite (north side of the river). While we were walking along the Seine, Geoff called from Rio. Is that amazing to you guys or am I just a babe in the woods? Oh yes, I guess I forgot to mention that I had taken my cell phone with me and this time, it actually worked in Paris.

We finally got to the train station and found Le Train Bleu. It is an absolutely beautiful restaurant. All the pictures I've seen do not do it justice. We made a reservation for 10:00 PM.

We left the train station, re-crossed the river and walked up Boulevard Vincent Auriol to Place d'Italie. We stopped at a small store to check on pillow prices because the pillows on the bed in the apartment were like hotel pillows - way too small and thin for my liking. They were closed because of the holiday. Since we were so close, I decided to check the computer place. It was open, so I rented an hour, wrote a quick FOD entry to let all the wonderful folks there know where we were, then Robb and I both checked our email.

We walked back to the apartment. Robb made a nice salad, then we rested until about 9:00 PM. We caught the métro to Nation station, where we got the #1 to Gare de Lyon. We arrived a bit early for our reservation, so we just sat in the station for awhile watching the people coming and going, then went up to the restaurant.

We started with a Kir Royal, during which we discovered that our waiter (whose name I did not get and Robb cannot remember) had been to the States as many times as we had been to Paris and absolutely loved Key West. Robb told him that he had lived there and from that point on we were treated like royalty. When we had drunk about half of our Kir Royals, he refilled the glasses with champagne. Our first course was Gros Escargot de Bourgogne. It was so much better than snails with just butter sauce. We had a glass of white wine with that. The main course was Pavé d'Espadon (Swordfish steak), with a glass of red wine (one recommended by our waiter). For desert we asked for his recommendation again. Robb had a rum-soaked cake. He brought the cake and a bottle of rum. I had puff pastry that had been halved and filled with vanilla ice cream and covered with a really rich chocolate sauce.

Although we had been in the restaurant for hours, it seemed like we had just gotten there when it was time to leave (they were actually closing the place down when we left).We got the #6 at Nation. At the next stop, a group of 6 - 8 young guys and one girl got on. They were all wearing big, red clown noses. The girl brought out another and I asked, "C'est pour moi?" She seemed surprised but put it on my nose anyway. That was all it took to become bosom buddies with the rest of them and I had a great time until Robb and I got off. The train departed with all of them saying, "A bientôt, amis!"

2 Mai - After last night, we were both exhausted and slept till noon. Robb made coffee and we discussed what we might do today. I was so worn out, I didn't feel up to much of anything, but decided a walk would do me good. We walked up rue Raymond Aron to Avenue de France. We stopped to check out the MK2 and found a couple of nice restaurants there: Jules and Jim, Limelight and Café Bibliothèque. Thought we might try one for dinner tonight. As we continued down the avenue, we discovered even more nice looking restaurants. We turned onto rue de Tolbiac and walked all the way to Avenue d'Italie, where we stopped at a small store and bought some napkins.

We crossed Place d'Italie to Boulevard Vincent Auriol and began the long walk back to the apartment. We wanted to stop at ED (a supermarket) but it was closed.

When we got back to the apartment, we tuned the radio to Chante France (90.9 FM). After awhile, we turned on the TV and watched some news. I slept a bit, then we had tea and cookies. Monsieur Malaval was supposed to have called to set up a time for meeting tomorrow, but had not called by 9:00 PM when we left for dinner. We checked out the Café Bibliothèque, but it seemed like a snack and drink place. Jules and Jim was closed until Mai 2005. The stairs up to Limelight were blocked off. We decided (as if we had a choice) to keep walking and looking.

We cut through the second part of MK2 and discovered it is a place where you can go to the movies (there were 12 theatres), buy movies (VHS or DVD) or buy books and/or CD's. One of the movies playing at MK2 was "Mambo Italiano", which I had been wanting to see ever since I had found a synopsis of it on a movie website. We kept talking about it, but we never got around to actually going.

After MK2, we found a nice place just down the block - L'Avenue. There were lots of outside tables (café terrace) but it was a bit too chilly for me and we opted to sit inside. The decor was moderately modern. There were music videos (some French, some American) being shown on a large screen on the rear wall. We ordered moules (mussels). I had Moules Marinière, Robb had Moules à la Provençale. They came with a side of frites. We split a bottle of Sancerre. For desert, I had Panna Cotta, Robb had Souffle de Cointreau. They were both excellent. To finish the meal, Robb had his usual café and I had a cappucino caramel.

I was too tired to walk tonight, so we just returned to the apartment.

3 Mai - Up by 10:00 AM, coffee and then off to ED for groceries. Good grief, what a terrible store. As bad as FranPrix is (compared to Monoprix, FranPrix is tiny and only marginally sufficient), it's many times better than ED. It was dirty and very poorly organized. We got most of what we wanted and returned to the apartment.

We métroed to the Richelieu-Drouot stop and walked down Boulevard des Italiens. Robb stopped at a shoe store (Heyraud) and bought a pair of brown shoes. We continued down the boulevard to Boulevard des Capucines, looking for yet another New Man store. This one was actually where it was supposed to be. Robb bought a pair of slacks and a matching lightweight jacket. We left there and walked to Springfield just down and across the street. Robb bought two pairs of slacks and another lightweight jacket. I bought two pairs of slacks. They will be ready for pick up on Wednesday.

We métroed back to the apartment. We were barely in the door, when Monsieur Malaval called and asked if he could stop by for a few minutes. He was knocking at the door about twenty minutes later.

He is a very distinguished looking, older man. He told us he is an engineer and that he had bought the apartment for his son who is in a wheelchair. We chatted for quite a while. He told us that he and eight other couples had rented a huge chateau in Avignon, in the south of France. He went on to explain that Avignon is a place where during the summer, there are more than six hundred theatrical shows in various places around the town. I offered him a glass of wine but he refused, explaining that his wife was downstairs, waiting in the car. We talked a few minutes longer, he recommended a couple of nice, very French, restaurants, and then he left.

Robb and I had some wine and watched a bit of TV until about 10:00 PM. Well, okay.....I fell asleep. Hey, I was tired.

Then we went to the Limelight for dinner, but discovered that it's closed on Monday. We decided to check out the Buffalo Grill. It was better than we had expected. We had no sooner sat down than the waitress brought us a very nice salad. Robb ordered a carafe of wine. We had the "dinner menu", which consisted of salade, entrée (we chose filet de Dorade - a white fish), and desert (we had the pear tarte). Ended dinner with an expresso. There were very few people in the restaurant. It was amazing to sit at a table eating dinner and looking out the window to see one of the most famous rivers in the world. While we were there, several bateaux-mouches went by. We discovered there is a place to board them just across the river. After dinner, we crossed the street and walked along the Seine for a short while.

4 Mai - We got up late. Even though it looked like rain, we didn't take our umbrellas. It had gotten colder and, to make matters worse, it was very windy. We métroed to the Châtelet area. We went to BHV, where I bought a hand-held shower head very much like the one we had had in the place on Avenue de Choisy, which I had really liked.

Afterwards, we walked up rue de Temple. It had begun to rain lightly. We stopped at a gay clothing store (rue de Temple is reputed to be the western edge of the Marais, which is very gay). I bought a neat metal belt and Robb bought another shirt. We continued our walk, stopping at a small place to get a couple of cheap, but serviceable, umbrellas. We walked as far as Square du Temple, then started back to Hôtel de Ville. We stopped at a small bistro for a sandwich and coffee. While we were eating, the weather took a turn for the worse. Métroed back to the apartment area and stopped at FranPrix to pick up a few things for dinner.....just in case it was too miserable to go out.

It was a good thing we prepared for the worst, because that's exactly what happened and we spent the rest of the night in the apartment. It was so cold. I slept for an hour or so, then we watched a little TV but mostly listened to the radio. We ate dinner around 10:00PM, after which, I took a few thousand mg's of vitamin C with juice. Went to bed around midnight.

5 Mai - Got up about nine. It appears to be a continuation of yesterday - cold, windy and miserable with a light rain. We had our morning coffee and I consumed some more vitamin C. Robb, in a moment of supreme confidence, decided to walk to FranPrix alone. I made certain he had memorized the address, but for once, he had no problem.

When he returned, we métroed across town to Springfield to pick up the stuff we had bought on Monday. I bought two shirts, like T-shirts, but not. Robb wanted to go to Au Printemps to get perfume for his mother, so we walked up there. While he was doing that, I strolled around and found a cute set of Swarovski penguins and bought it. Robb got the perfume, then while browsing, he found a beautiful multi-blue sweater, which he bought. On the way to a pharmacie, we stopped at a Habitat (a home accessory store). They have a lot of really nice stuff. Robb bought some candles because, at home, we dine by candlelight every night. At the pharmacie, Robb got some stuff for his contacts.

We caught a taxi back to the apartment. We tried on all our new clothes and had tea and cookies. Have I mentioned the wonderful butter cookies they have over here?

We hung out till about 9:00 PM, then took the métro to Corvisart and walked to La Touraine for dinner. Robb had Salade de Coquille St. Jacques (salad with scallops), I had Salade d'Asperges (salad with asparagus). My main course was Saumon avec Champignons et Pommes de Terre (salmon with mushrooms and potatoes), Robb had D'Agneau de Cordon Bleu (Lamb Cordon Blue). We both had the Chevre fromage (cheese) course. For desert, Robb had Crème Brulée and I had Crème Caramel. We split a bottle of Sancerre. Finished with a cup of Café Colombe.

We checked out Brasserie Au Bureau several times. It seems to be lunch only.

6 Mai - Robb jumped out of bed around 7:00 AM thinking it was past nine. Métroed to Boulevard Montmartre and Musée Grévin. It is a wax museum. What I thought was going to be a few wax figures, turned out to be so much more, and from the lack of people while we were there, very unknown to the average tourist. There are wax figures from just about every period in history. All costumed expertly and placed in settings in which you would expect to see them. Napoleon, Josephine, Marie Antoinette, Louis XIV, Joan of Arc, Voltaire, Molière, Dubya, Tony Blair, Putin, Clint Eastwood and John Wayne, Laurel & Hardy, Marilyn Monroe, Elvis, Julia Roberts, Ghandi and, yes, even Michael Jackson. They are all so very lifelike. At one point in the display, which takes you through room after room, up stairs and down stairs, there is a special surprise, but I'm not going to tell you what it is. You will have to go and see for yourselves.

After the Musée Grévin, we walked to Place Vendôme. Robb was hoping to get a parasol for his aunt, but evidently, they no longer make them. Place Vendôme is where you will find Van Cleef and Arpels, Chanel, Dior, Bulgarie and the Ritz Hotel, among others.

We left that area and walked down to rue de Rivoli, stopping at Regent and B, where Robb bought another nice shirt and a cashmere scarf. We finally made it to rue de Rivoli and turned to the east, past all the souvenir shops to rue de Richelieu, where we checked out the Palais Royal. There was an art class there, apparently completing an assignment. As you would expect, some were rather good while others should perhaps think of a different vocation.

We métroed back to the apartment and had some tea and cookies while Robb tried on his new stuff.

We were going to go to one of my favorite oriental restaurants for dinner, but Robb decided, because I sneezed a couple of times, that it was too cold for me to be outside. So, we had dinner in the apartment - a very nice salad, prepared by Robb, then Quiche Lorraine, washed down with a few glasses of lovely Saint-Emilion wine.

7 Mai - After morning coffee, we walked down to Pont de Bercy, crossed the river and walked down to Marina Bercy to check on the prices of a Seine cruise. They only have lunch and dinner cruises. The prices are very reasonable, but we didn't want a dining cruise. Perhaps we can take the cruise and just have a glass (or two) of wine. We'll think about it.

After, we re-crossed the river and got the métro to Place d'Italie, cause Robb wanted to go to one of the nice pharmacies there to get throat lozenges and more vitamin C tabs. He got his stuff and we stopped at Le Canon de Tolbiac for lunch. We both had the Omellette Mixte (sort of a Western omelette). Robb had the salad, I did not. We split a demi-carafe of red wine. It was so nice sitting in the bistrot drinking our wine, that we had another demi-carafe and just sat there enjoying the wine and the bistrot and the crowds of people walking and driving by.

A couple of hours later, we decided to go to the Monoprix, just to remind ourselves of what we were missing in the new neighborhood. While there, I bought a pair of heavy socks to wear like slippers in the apartment and Robb bought some conditioner. We stopped at a patissierie and I bought a couple croissants.

We went to Italie2 because Robb was going to buy some cologne, but he changed his mind and bought nothing. We métroed back to the apartment.

9:30 PM we left for dinner at Limelight but it turned out to be a bar with a DJ. We decided to go to L'Avenue again. I had Spaghetti avec Sauce Bolognaise, Robb had Spaghetti Carbonara. We split a bottle of Saint-Emilion. For desert, I had Darquoise Fruit Rouge (three kinds of red-fruit sorbet) and Robb had the Panna Cotta I had had last time. Of course, café to end the meal. We had a different waiter this time, but on the way out, the cute guy we had last time, stopped us and stated that next time we came, he would like us to give him a few more pointers in English and he would help us with our French. I think we've made another friend.

8 Mai - The day the French celebrate the end of World War II.

What a lousy day it has turned out to be - cold, wet and windy. I can't handle this kind of weather. I can take cold and windy. I can take cold and wet. But all three is too much; I become like a bear, I look for a nice cave where I can hibernate until warm weather arrives.

Robb (bless his heart) told me I couldn't go out to play today. And I did not. I spent the whole day either sleeping, watching TV or listening to the radio. There are no English-language channels on the TV in the apartment, but I guess that's a good thing from the stand point of learning real French.

For dinner, we had sandwiches of roast pork and cheese, a salad and wine.

9 Mai - Because of his continued success, Robb has decided to venture even further from the nest today. He wanted to go to the pharmacie which is in a different direction than the FranPrix. I explained the directions a couple of times and he took off. He returned a while later. The pharmacie was closed, but he had continued his walk all the way to Gare d'Auzterlitz. I'm so proud!

While he was gone, I got myself ready to go.

We métroed to Place de la Bastille where we checked out the Opéra de la Bastille and the Colonne de Juillet (July Column). The opera building is a relatively new structure built in 1989 by Canadian architect Carlos Ott and very modern in appearance. There was nothing being presented during our brief stay but the next program was to be Don Quixote. The Colonne de Juillet is a huge column in the center of the Place which commemorates the storming of the Bastille - an event that never actually took place, at least, not in the way it is commemorated (although the date, July 14, marks the beginning of the French revolution).

We walked from there to Place des Vosges, which is a park surrounded on all four sides by very old, very expensive apartments, one of which was formerly occupied by Victor Hugo of "Hunchback of Notre Dame" fame. For a fee, you can go in and have a look around. We did not.

Around 8:30, we métroed to Place d'Italie where we changed trains to rue de Tolbiac. We walked down to Au Village de Choisy for dinner. We started with some delicious spring rolls. Our main dish was Coquille St. Jacques Imperiale, accompanied by a bottle of Sancerre. They used some very hot chilis in this dish. Desert was a Mocha Parfait with alternating layers of mocha ice cream, cream coffee sauce and whipped cream. It was sooooooo good! And café.

10 Mai - We awoke to what appears to be a carbon copy of Saturday - except it's not quite as windy.

We said, "The hell with it," and métroed to Etoile-Place Charles de Gaulle. Before you even get all the way up to the sidewalk, l'Arc de Triomphe looms before you. It really is an imposing, massive structure. We hadn't been here since our second time in Paris, and the weather had turned really nice, so we decided we would walk the length of the Champs-Elysées (see it HERE and HERE) to the Place de la Concorde. Then we walked along rue de Rivoli to rue Royale. We walked up rue Royale to the Madeleine. Just across the street is a store that sells nothing but Maille Moutarde (mustard). We stopped in there because Robb wanted to get a jar of Moutarde à l'Ancien, which is a mustard that is very spicy, but it's difficult to find in the US. We had a nice chat with the salesgirl. got the mustard and left to pick up Robb's pants at New Man on Boulevard des Capucines.

After getting his pants, we stopped at a brasserie for a late lunch. Then, we walked to les Galeries Lafayette so Robb could get a nice scarf for his cousin (who is quite a bit older than he). She was married to a Frenchman and still has relatives in Paris. We did not visit them because the French are very formal and don't appreciate "strangers" popping in unannounced.

He found a nice scarf, we left and caught a taxi back to the apartment. We deposited all of Robb's packages and went out to go to the pharmacie and FranPrix for wine. We met our "landlord", Michel, as we got off the elevator and made a date to have drinks on Wednesday evening at seven.

Because of the big, late lunch (we'll try not to do that again anytime soon) we decided to just have a sandwich for dinner - with wine, of course.

About 11:00 PM, we decided to go to L'Avenue for desert. Boris, the cute waiter from the other night, was our waiter again. I keep saying that he is cute, so let me try to describe him. He is about 5'9", early twenties with jet-black hair and a swimmer's body (though we only saw him wearing clothes). He is half-French, half-Russian and lives in a hotel because he cannot yet afford an apartment. Comparative look-alike? Dean Cain (or maybe Rob Lowe when he was a lot younger), but Boris is much better looking. Robb and I had desert with champagne. After we called for the check, Boris gave us each a glass of champagne, compliments of him.

11 Mai - The original plan was to take the métro and, after a couple of changes, we would arrive at the Sully-Morland terminal from which we could cross the Pont de Sully and walk around Ile St-Louis, the island east of Ile de la Cité and Notre Dame. But before we got to the métro station, we decided the weather was nice enough that we could walk along the Seine. We weren't certain exactly how far we could go and once we reached Port de Plaisance de Paris Arsenal, we had to leave the river and use Quai Henri IV. We walked down the quai to the Pont de Sully. We crossed over and walked about the island for awhile. Other than a lot of very old buildings, some nice restaurants and one famous ice cream shop (Berthillon), there isn't much of interest - unless you happened to have read a book titled, "The Married Man" by Edmund White, since most of the first third of the book takes place on this very island. What a unique and magnificent experience!

We left Ile St-Louis and walked to rue de Rivoli. We strolled down past BHV to rue du Renard where we turned north toward rue de Rambuteau and the Centre Georges Pompidou. We thought we would go to the restaurant on the top floor for lunch. Sadly, the Centre is closed on Tuesday. We continued down rue de Rambuteau to the Forum des Halles and found a nice place. Since the weather was so beautiful, we decided to eat on the terrace. We each had a ham and cheese baguette with a glass of wine.

After, we stopped at a parfumerie and Robb bought some for one of his co-workers. We continued down rue de Rambuteau to L'Église Saint-Eustache. We had passed it many times in previous trips, but had never gone inside. We did that today. It is quite large inside and, while not on a par with some other cathedrals we've seen, was interesting in its own right.

After, we walked back past the Forum des Halles and the Fountaine des Innocents to a fountain conceived as a physical representation of Stravinsky's music. The fountain has a lot of ultra-modern sculptures. Some are stationary and some spin around due to water pressure.

We left there back down rue du Renard to Hôtel de Ville, where we caught the métro back to the area of our apartment. We stopped at Djoon and made a reservation for dinner. Then we walked to MK2 so Robb could see if there were any books or CD's he couldn't live without, but he bought nothing.

At 9:45 PM, we left for dinner. They had told us while making the reservation, that they were expecting a large party of people, but when we arrived there were no more than ten people in the place. During the course of our dinner, that changed and the large group showed up in pairs and more, until there really were a lot of people. Evidently, it was a birthday party.

Dinner began with a great entrée: Croustillant de Chevre (Chevre cheese in a puff pastry with a wonderful salad). That was followed by Curry de Lotte (a white fish in a delicious curry sauce, with sides of Saffron Rice and a combination of Baby Corn and Okra). We had a carafe of red wine with the entrée and a carafe of white wine with the fish. For desert, we asked the waitress to choose something for us. She brought out two fantastic dishes. The first was Champagne Sorbet in a Vanilla Sauce with a brulée-like sugar crust. The other was a wonderful, molded chocolate-mousse-like confection. There was a guy and a girl at the table adjacent to us and Robb remarked, to me, that she was very beautiful. As soon as she turned, I had a look. She was indeed beautiful. Then, her bag fell to the floor and a magazine fell out. We were somewhat amazed to see that she was the girl on the cover!

We left the restaurant once again stuffed and very happy.

12 Mai - Robb rushed out to the store to buy coffee. Then we gathered a bunch of stuff together and left to get soap powder with which to wash them in the laundromat across the street from FranPrix, but when we got there, we found that the place was closed on Wednesday. So we lugged all the stuff back to the apartment.

We métroed to Place d'Italie because Robb discovered that the shirt he had bought at Armand Thierry was flawed. They gave him a bit of a hassle at first, because he had lost his receipt, but eventually gave him a replacement (because the manager happened to stop by and recognized Robb from all our previous shopping excursions there).

We were left with most of the afternoon to go, so we decided to go to Montmartre for lunch. After several train changes, we arrived in Montmartre only to find that neither of us was hungry. We figured as long as we were there anyway, we might as well go up and check out La Basilique du Sacré Coeur (click on the picture and move your cursor). As can be seen by any exterior shot, it is a really beautiful thing. What can not be seen, since interior pictures are prohibited, is that it is just as beautiful inside. They have changed the website since I first wrote this. Somehow, they have included a 360-degree video of the interior of the basilique.

Monsieur Malaval was late for his 7:00 PM meeting with us because of the Parisian traffic, but he did call to let us know that he was on his way. He arrived a bit after 7:30. We sat chatting and drinking wine until after 8:30. Then he offered to show us a couple of restaurants that he prefers when he is in the city. We chose Au Bon Coin (the Good Corner). He asked if he could join us and we were more than pleased to have his company. The restaurant was crowded when we got there and we had to wait, behind the bar, until a table (there were only ten in the place) opened and we could be seated. Michel seemed to be on excellent terms with the owner. When we were shown to a table, we asked him to chose the meal and he, in turn, asked what we liked. Then he ordered. The entrée was: Michel - Herring with Potatoes, Robb - a Charcuterie (cold cuts), me - Escargot (even though they were prepared in the traditional garlic-butter sauce, they were excellent). The main courses were: Michel - Roasted Duck, Robb - Sea Bass, me - Sole (it was the whole fish). For desert: Michel - Crème Brulée, Robb and me - Crème Caramel. After desert, Michel ordered three different kinds of brandy - Calvados, Alignac and Vieille Prûne. We all had a sip of each.

During the course of the meal, we talked at length about a lot of subjects and, of course, we eventually got around to Bush and Iraq. Now, I think, is a good time for a bit of background on Michel, He is an engineer who works for an American company and spends a lot of time in the US (mostly in California). He likes the people (Americans) but he, like most Europeans, thinks Bush is totally lacking in understanding what and how the world outside of the US conducts their affairs. Bush is perceived as a bully and a typical American christian who wants to shove his beliefs down the throats of everyone else. Michel told us that all of Europe was surprised when it was announced that Bush had been "elected" President. He asked how we could have voted for someone like that. Robb and I tried to explain the election hi-jinks that had occured, but it is difficult to understand at best and I don't think we did much better. I asked him about the European opinion of Bill Clinton. He brightened at the mention of the name and told us that Clinton had been highly regarded in Europe and the "scandal" of his sexcapades, only made him appear more realistic to them. They thought the whole affair was terribly funny because their view of sex is so totally different than the Puritanised version practised in the US. The only thing they found disagreeable was that he found it necessary to lie about it.

After dinner, as we walked back to his car, he introduced us to another French innovation. They now have a device which is about the size of the average credit card, that locks and unlocks the car doors and turns the lights on and off. The new thing is that once it is set, it does all that automatically. When one is a certain distance from the vehicle, it shuts off the lights and locks the doors. As we approached his car, and got into range, it automatically turned on the lights and unlocked the doors. What a super handy device, especially if your arms are full of packages.

Michel drove us back to the apartment, where we said our goodbyes and promised to keep in touch. He also suggested that since we now have his phone number and email address, if we wanted to rent the place again, we could just contact him and avoid the agency fee (which is about 25%).

Back in the apartment, Robb called to have a taxi pick us up at 8:00 AM. The company was represented by an answering machine, so I suggested that perhaps he should try to get one where he could speak to a real person, just in case, so he called another.

It was a bit after one when we finally crawled into bed.

13 Mai - We arose at 6:30 AM. We were supposed to leave about 8:00. Robb was worried that both taxis would show up, but in fact, neither showed up. Since we had left the key in the apartment as per Michel's request, we had no way to call another. As luck would have it, Monsieur Caulier was working in the atrium and I asked him to call for us. He tried several numbers, but none of them would send a taxi. We still do not know why! He suggested we walk down to the corner where, maybe, we could flag down a passing taxi. So, off we went, luggage in tow. We saw a lot of taxis, but they were all occupied. It was getting late and I was beginning to think that we were not going to make the plane.

Just as things looked pretty hopeless, I saw an empty taxi heading in the opposite direction and waved him down. He made a U-turn and picked us up. He was a Greek who was born and raised in Marseille. About five years ago, he moved to Paris. He was a walking bibliothèque of French history. He also talked the entire trip to the airport, which took quite a bit longer than usual because the traffic was basically stop-and-go the whole distance. But he somehow got us there with over a half-hour to spare.

The flight home was long - about ten hours, but a lot better then the one going. 747's are nice, but I think I prefer the Airbus, which I remember being a bit roomier plus the added bonus of having individual TV screens with which you could choose what you wanted to see.

When we got back to Miami International, the customs people gave Robb a bit of a hassle because he honestly reported that he had bought about $1,000 worth of clothes. They did not make him open his bags, but still it was obviously just them being assholes because they could. And who would have believed that in an airport the size of Miami International, there would be only ONE ATM machine? I mentioned that to Geoff and he stated that there are at least six ATM machines in the airport. But every time I asked directions to one, I always got the same advice. So, until I see for myself that there are more, I will assume there is only one. And that was so small and badly placed that I nearly did not find it. To add insult to injury, the taxi home cost twice as much as we had paid in Paris.

I think we have decided that we will never fly out of Miami again.

I hope some of you liked all the picture links I tried to include. I feel it definitely adds to the experience.

A bientôt, mes amis.