Paris Snow 03-04 Janvier 2010

03 Janvier (Dimanche) - Today was another "meet-up" day. We met Rhino75 at Les Marrioners. We rode the bus over to the Hôtel de Ville stop and walked up to the bar/restaurant. I checked my watch and noticed it was already past the time we had agreed to meet. I called Rhino to let him know we were on our way and just a couple blocks from the place. He evidently was waiting for us to call and tell him we were there before he left his apartment. The place was packed. We barely found two seats. There was an empty table next to us, but when I tried to pull it over, the people sitting on the other side told us they were expecting another to join them, and since they had been there first, we conceded it to them. Rhino showed up a few minutes later, and a few minutes after that, a table opened in the corner by the door, so we sat there. Rhino was good enough to let us have the "inside" seats. They weren't too bad and we were fairly comfortable. We chatted for a couple of hours and he was on his way to wherever. Since it was dark, we headed down to l'Hôtel de Ville so I could get the videos I wanted. Sadly, they didn't turn out any better than the ones I had already taken. Luckily, I had thought to bring my camcorder and I used that, so they should be okay, but I can't download them until I get home. If you want to see the sucky videos, you can look at these: Hôtel de Ville, Skaters, BHV.

Tonight, instead of walking all the way over to Pont Neuf, we grabbed the 76 bus at the Hôtel de Ville stop and rode it to the end of the line. When the driver told us the line was "terminé", we told him we wanted to go to the Birague stop and he very graciously let us stay on. I love the bus drivers in Paris.

Dinner was, of course, at Fontaine Sully. They make a dish they call "Tartiflette Maison", which is, in my humble opinion, cassoulet made with potatoes. It is super delicious.

04 Janvier (Lundi) - I decided I wanted to buy the leather jacket after all, so we bundled up and went out to catch the bus over to rue des Archives. Lordy, it was cold...below freezing. We got off at the Hôtel de Ville stop (everything seems to be right there, doesn't it?) and walked up to the jacket store. It was closed, but the sign on their door stated that they open at 14h00 on Lundi. We walked back to the Open Café and nursed a cup of coffee for forty-five minutes. There was an interesting looking guy seated next to us who kept texting someone, or, at least, constantly checking his phone for messages. A few minutes later, a very cute guy joined him. We learned through listening to their conversation that the cute guy was Italian and was in Paris to complete his studies in pursuit of a PhD. The other guy was an American. The witching hour (14h00) finally arrived and we walked back to Roganel, the jacket store. It was still closed. I remarked to Robb that it was so typically French for them to be closed at the time they were supposed to be open. In better weather I would have waited for them to open, but it was just too cold to do that today, so we took off to get the bus back to the apartment.

Once inside, I swore I was never going out again until the weather warmed up. Of course, that was when we discovered we needed milk.

À la prochaine, mes amis

Paris 2008 - 14-15 Juin

Samedi -

Sometime after 17h00, we walked down to the bus stop to get the 69 to rue de Rivoli, the Pont Neuf stop. The weather was not my idea of picnic weather. We started to go to the marché to get a bottle of wine to take with us, but then decided that wouldn't be too wise if we got there and the others had decided to go to a bar, as was the contingency plan. First, we would be going to a bar with a bottle of wine and secondly, we would have to carry the damned thing around with us for the rest of the evening.

There was an English couple already waiting and debating the probability of the bus arriving. According to the bus time indicator, it was service perturbe, but we had just seen a bus going in the opposite direction so we thought it might have to come back past. Hopefully, it would be in service and pick us up. The English lady said that one time she had been on the bus when it stopped and the driver announced that everyone had to get off, so getting on was no guarantee that you would get to your destination. The bus finally arrived and we boarded. Luckily, we arrived at our destination with no problem.

We walked to the middle of the Pont Neuf, where there is a little square-like area with steps that go down. When we got there, I called Katia to see if they were indeed there because I didn't want to have to walk down those steps only to have to climb back up. Once you get to the bottom of the steps, there is a green area with a walkway on either side that extends to the very point of the Ile de la Cité. A few feet before that point is where we found the K&K gang, with cloths or various types spread out, upon which were many bottles of wine and cheeses, crackers, bread and other goodies. I recognized Katia (that's Katia and Daragh ), KylieMac (in the foreground), Frog With A Blog (on the left), Samantha (sunglasses), and Sebastien and Kathryn (guy with camera, girl with black jacket), Lisa and Georges (guy in black shirt, girl in red sweater). Rhino was not there as he is currently in the US (the last I heard he was in Memphis). There was a couple I had met before, but I can't remember their names. Of course, there were several people I had never met and still don't know. There were more pictures, but for whatever private reasons, some people don't want their pics on the internet, so I took them down.

Katia and KylieMac

Frog With A Blog

Samantha

Lisa

One of the new people I did meet was an Irishman named Daragh, who had just spent several years in Australia, and has lived in many countries, including the US. His girlfriend (in the middle with the light jacket) is a dancer at the Moulin Rouge. As you can see, she is quite pretty. They were with another couple who left shortly after we got there. Daragh's girlfriend had to go to work, so she left with them. He spent the next half-hour or so, chatting with us. He is one of the funniest people I've ever met, a natural comedian.

Even though he was wearing a leather jacket Robb was cold and shivering most of the time we were there. Surprisingly, it didn't bother me that much and I'm not sure why.

We stayed for a couple of hours, then left to find a place to eat. I figured as long as we were that close, we might as well pop over to the Latin Quarter. I've mentioned in other trip blogs about the fabulous restaurants in the Quartier Latin, and nothing has changed. I had hoped we could return to the Italian place where we had eaten with Cynthia and Ana a few years ago, but when we got to the place it used to be, it was no longer there. Every place we looked was filled with people. The tourist season is in full bloom, after all, and they are here in hoards. We opted for a semi-inside table at Le Petit Pont, where we had our first experience with the outdoor heaters. Wow, do they ever put out some heat. After a few minutes, I had to take off my jacket and I was still warm. Believe me, I am not complaining. I was so comfortable, I didn't want to leave, but it was getting late (after midnight) and in spite of the fact that the métro runs until 01h00 or 02h00 on the weekend, what with all the manifs and perturbances, I didn't want to push our luck. We did walk down the street to have a Look at Saint Severin and checked out Saint Julien-le-Pauvre, where several concerts were scheduled. A quick look at Notre Dame and we made our way to the métro.

I decided on the métro because it would have been too much to cope with trying to find a bus stop. Luckily, the heaters, the wine and the walking had me sufficiently warm and the métro station was only a couple of blocks away. We had to take two trains and it was the usual crueling challenge for me, but in the end it was worth it because we got off at Philippe Auguste and walked downhill to the apartment.

15 Juin (Dimance) - This afternoon, we walked down to La Poste so I could replenish my very diminished supply of euros.

Ce soir, we walked down to Le Royal for diner, where we got to see the Czech Republic snatch defeat from the jaws of victory in a soccer match (they were winning 2-0 and lost 3-2). Had dinner, ate too much, drank some wine, crawled home in the cold, cold night air.

Tomorrow, we are off to Gare d'Austerlitz and the train to Toulouse.

Plus à venir, mes amis.

Paris 2008 - 22 Mai

22 Mai (Jeudi) - Robb fell in love with the jacket I bought yesterday and decided he had to have one too, so we headed for the bus stop. When it came, I decided we should get off at Place Léon Blum and take the 56 to Place de la République. While we were waiting for it to show up, someone came and put up a notice about another damned manifestation. According to the notice, the manif would last from 13h00 to 18h30, during which time the bus service would be disrupted. A woman came along and saw the notice, but like we, she also noted that the bus had just driven past and it was well after 13h00, so we all just sat there and waited and hoped the bus would come by. Sure enough, it did. But when we got to Place de la République, we got to see the actual manif. The notice had said something about the police, but the people we saw demonstrating were blacks. Yesterday, we had seen a black guy handing out brochures, but he only gave them to black people, so I assumed and still believe, it was some kind of black thing. Of course, that meant the second bus we wanted to take would not be running.

We started walking in the general direction of our goal and finally came across the police manif. Then we had a choice. We could continue to walk or we could take the metro. I figured walking was the lesser of the two evils. Does anyone hear that annoying buzz? So off we went. I thought we were following the correct street, but somehow we missed a turn. We stopped at a shop because I was hoping to get another man-bag just a bit larger. They had one that I liked but I decided to shop around a bit more. We asked the salesgirl for directions to rue des Archives. She supplied the info and we set off again.

People in France, and Paris in particular, love their plants and they can be seen almost everywhere.

As soon as we got to the corner of rue des Archives, I recognized it immediately. We walked down to the clothing store where Robb got his jacket, which I like more than mine and, indeed, looked at yesterday but they didn't have it in my size, although I might have been able to get into one a size smaller which is the size Robb bought.

We left the store and walked down to rue de Rivoli and the sidewalk shops outside BHV, where Robb bought a scarf. I was going to get one also, but they didn't have the color I wanted.

We then walked down by l'Hotel de Ville. We were going to just walk past on our way to the Notre Dame area a couple of blocks away, but I saw they were having some kind of exhibit and I suggested we should see if we could get in. No problem. We approached the gate to the entrance and a guy handed us an information brochure and we walked in. Just after entering, we had to stop and let them search our stuff, which was a simple formality. We entered l'Hotel de Ville and began looking at the stuff. It was about a French Navy aircraft carrier, le Charles de Gaulle. It was a great exhibition. They actually built a mock-up of the carrier in one of the rooms and there was a big screen movie showing life aboard the vessel, including the diferent planes taking off and landing, the section in which the guys slept and lived when not on duty, the mess hall and of course, the operational areas. Except for the cute sailors, I think Robb was kind of bored but I loved it.

We left and headed over to the Notre Dame area because the tourist shops there are the least expensive place in town to get souvenirs. The shop to which we went had the kind of scarf I wanted in the color I wanted. Than just to make the deal irresistable, they offered three for the same price everybody else in town was asking for one.

We were both getting hungry, so we stopped at a cafe just around the corner. I had a ham and cheese sandwich; Robb had a salad.

After eating, we walked down to the Pont Neuf and got the bus back to the apartment.

Plus à venir, mes amis.

Paris 2008 - 20 Mai

20 Mai - The day started by going to the marché where we bought way too much stuff that we had to carry back to the apartment. By the way, that group of things in the picture foreground are the Velib stations and the place where you pay. You can see there are only a couple of bikes left in this rack.

After lunch, we caught the bus to l'Hôtel de Ville, from where we walked to rue des Archives. On rue des Archives, there is a very gay-friendly bar/restaurant called Les Marronniers at which we were to meet yet another blogger. A Brit this time who writes under the name of Rhino75. The meeting was scheduled to take place at 18h30 but because we weren't sure of the time on the bus, we got there about a half hour early. This was not a bad thing because we got to take a brief tour of the Marais.

A couple of doors from the bar/resto is what used to be a church. In the courtyard an artist, Ostoya, was having his show. Aside from being interesting in their own right, most of the pieces had moving parts so that you could rearrange them or, like me, just play with them. 1, 2, 3, 4 Number four was my favorite. There were two or three more like it, of varying sizes.

Then we went to the bar, got a couple seats inside and waited for Rhino. He arrived shortly after 18h30, having walked from his apartment not that far away. I think it was an instant mutual attraction. We got along famously, as we have with everyone we've met over here. We chatted for about three hours until Rhino needed to leave to eat the dinner he had already prepared. Robb and I decided to have dinner in Les Marronniers. We both had the l'entrecôte grillée with potatoes and salad.

Unfortunately, it became time for us to return to the apartment. I knew from the last time that we couldn't get the bus on rue de Rivoli, so we walked down to the quai. We had to walk past l'Hôtel de Ville, and I got these shots of the back side and some detail. We also happened past Saint-Gervais. We looked in both directions, but saw no bus stop. We were confronted with the possibility of walking down to Pont Neuf or walking the other way, the direction in which the bus would travel. We chose that. It's too bad the universe doesn't utilize one of those annoying buzzers that buzz when you make an incorrect choice like on the quiz shows on TV. So, we walked and walked and walked and walked. We finally found the correct bus stop and waited. And waited. And waited. We noticed that the time thingy wasn't listing the 69, but we've seen that before and it just meant the thing wasn't working correctly, so we kept waiting. There's that buzzer again. We watched several 76 busses go by and finally one stopped and I told Robb to ask the driver if it went to Voltaire, meaning Place Léon Blum, of course. The driver said the bus would go to Voltaire, but the one of which he was speaking is not the one we wanted. When I realized it was not going where we wanted to go, we got off the bus. Unfortunately, I had no idea where in Paris we were. Or even if we were still in Paris. We started walking back to who knows where, when we luckily came upon a taxi stand. We hopped into one and were off. It turned out we were only a few blocks from the apartment and the taxi ride was relatively cheap.

Plus à venir, mes amis.

Paris 2008 - 14 Mai

14 Mai - We were up and about by 10h00 today (yes, even me). Though we didn't get started doing anything until around 12h30 or so. Robb wanted to go to a Geox shoe store. We checked the internet and found the closest one was in the Opéra area in which we were just yesterday. So walked down, grabbed the bus and rode to the Palais Royal again. But this time, instead of walking all the way up to the Opéra, we grabbed the 27 bus and rode up. The good news is, there was a Geox at the address we had. The bad news is that it was just the corporate offices. It was in the same building as Celio, so we wandered in there. We each bought a nice belt.

After leaving Celio, my first thought was to have lunch at Café de la Paix, even though it's a really touristy place, but after checking the ridiculous prices, we changed our minds. We were approached by an English girl who thought we were French. She was looking for Notre Dame. She evidently wanted to walk and it really is close enough to do that, but she wasn't sure where she was. When I pointed out that the Louvre was just at the end of the street, she seemed to get her bearings and, thanking us, took off.

We started after her down the street but stopped at a sidewalk sandwich stand, got a sandwich and then sat at a table at the café next door, where we ordered a café.

After the light lunch, we walked down toward the Louvre, stopping once to take a picture of a fountain. There are two fountains, actually, one on each side of the street. I had taken a picture of the other fountain yesterday. Then, at Robb's urging, I took a picture of all the motorcycles parked around the fountain. I stopped a couple blocks later to get this picture of Place Vendôme, a few blocks away.

We were going to walk through the Louvre (there is a street that runs through the center), but then I saw the sign for the Carrousel du Louvre, and we figured we would go in, have a look around and get a cool drink. Not many people know of this entrance to the Louvre, most think that one must enter through the Pyramid. This entrance brings you in to a place where you can see the upside-down Pyramid (if you remember the DaVinci Code). This entrance also brings you in through the Carrousel which is like a mini-mall with all kinds of stores. I saw this interesting display of fossils in the window of one store. Then we walked through the room which contains a remnant of the original wall that surrounded the city of Paris back when it was first built. We ended up at the restaurant area and stopped to get an Orangina and sit by the railing overlooking the upside-down pyramid. It was great for people watching.

We left the Louvre by the entrance through which we had entered and continued our trek through the courtyard, where I stopped to take this picture of the Pyramid. Then we left the Louvre and walked along the Seine. I took this picture of l'Institute de France, the body entrusted with the preservation of the French language. I followed that with this picture of le Pont des Arts, which is usually full of people doing all kinds of things when the weather is good. Next, I took this picture of le Pont Neuf and Ile de la Cité. The green area in front of the island is the Point Vert, a little park, in which we will be going to a picnic in a couple of weeks. In the background to the left of the picture, you can see a couple of pointy turrets; that is the Conciergerie where Marie Antoinette awaited her fate after the revolution. Then I spotted Saint-Germain l'Auxerrois, which is just opposite the eastern side of the Louvre.

We walked down to the Pont Neuf, where I stopped to take this picture of the crazy motorcyclists riding in the middle of the traffic, then we walked midway to the entrance to the Point Vert. While we were checking that out, it started thundering, so we headed back to get the bus before the rain came. We didn't make it. We were only about half-way back to the street when the rain began. Luckily, I thought, I had brought my umbrella, but the damned thing wouldn't open correctly and I had to hold it open. We made our way to the Pont Neuf métro station and ducked inside just as the real downpour began.

The rain only lasted ten minutes or so, and then we set off to find the bus, which I thought would be on rue de Rivoli, but I forgot that rue de Rivoli is one way in the wrong direction at that point. So then, I figured we had to go back to the street along the quai. We walked down there, but the only bus stop I saw was for several buses, but not the 69. I thought we were going to have to walk further down the quai, but Robb somehow spotted another bus stop next to the one I saw, and that was the right one.

We hopped aboard the bus which showed up almost immediately, happy to be safe from any remaining showers that might happen along. None did. The 69 bus passes the Bastille both going and coming. It stopped in the perfect spot for me to shoot this picture of the Opéra Bastille.

We got off a stop before our regular stop because I wanted to stop and buy another umbrella, having deposited the other one in the first trash container I found after leaving the Pont Neuf métro station entrance after the rain had subsided. I got my umbrella and we continued back to the apartment. It began raining lightly, just as we were almost there. The rain continued pretty much for the rest of the night.

Plus à venir, mes amis.