A Relaxing Day in Paris

Slept in this morning…about 9 am I walked down to see the concierge about the shower.  Dina came right up with her plunger and within minutes had cleared the drain of too much hair from previous tenants.  We now have a shower that works well; we’re happy campers!   About 10 am we walked out  

to the shops and found an Orange Telephone Shop and put time on my French cell phone from last year and purchased another disposable phone for Jim.  Now we can each go places alone and still keep in contact with each other.  Calls within France are free we’ve been told. 

Then we were off in search of a large grocery store to lay in supplies for the next ten days.  A very nice Frenchman gave us directions; his English was perfect.  Said he’d lived in San Francisco in the past and wanted to give back some of the help he’d been given when he was in America.  He went several blocks out of his way to walk us to the store.   Soon we had filled both backpacks and the bags we’d brought with us.  Fifty Euro’s worth of breakfast items, wines, snacks and all kinds of good things to eat.  Luckily we were only a few blocks from home as the bags were heavy. 

About 2 pm we headed out to walk to Notre Dame Cathedral.  We made several stops along the way:  Arenes Des Lutece, a Roman Ruin that was made into a sport field in 1892; The Institute du Monde Arabe; and finally the Seine River.  Soon we were strolling on one of our favorite street, rue Saint-Louis En L’Isle, where we stayed during our first five years of visiting Paris back in the 1990’s.   Crossing the bridge to The Cite and Notre Dame Cathedral we enjoyed watching the street artists.  

Jim was surprised at the front of the Cathedral; they are celebrating 850 years and have built a large structure in the square for viewing.  They also have twelve new bells installed and the sound of them ringing is beautiful. 

On we walked along the left bank all the way to the walking bridge that has all of the locks attached to the wire fence.  We tried looking for our lock but there are probably five times more here this year.  And we saw some that are in the shape of a heart and about 4 inches across. 

 We’ll have to look up more information for the next trip over to see if we can find our lock.

The sky was threatening but it didn’t rain, only a few drops came down.  Soon we were over to Rue Rivoli on the other side of the Louvre and headed for the Metro Station.  We arrived home about 5 pm; we got turned around when we came out of the Metro but finally found our way home.

By 7 pm we were dressed and headed for our dinner reservation down the street at Au Vietnam Restaurant. 

 What a fun evening to put on fancier clothes, real shoes instead of the sandals and enjoy an evening out in Paris.  Jim enjoyed Peking Duck and I had stuffed crabmeat.  Delicious!

Afterwards we walked over to the nearby Rue Monffetard, made famous by Julie Child as her favorite place to shop.  Most of the shops were closed but restaurants were just opening.  Two trumpet players entertained as we strolled several blocks up the street. 

Soon it was time to call it a night.  A wonderful and relaxing day in Paris.

Hope you enjoy the slideshow below: