Current Location

Stuart is currently in Paris, France

Wednesday, May 28, 2014

Un jour sans photos

Once translated from French, the title of the post is "One day without photos." I didn't take any pictures today, at least none with my camera. I did capture many memories in my head, and those pictures will be with me for a long time. It was another beautiful day in Paris, France, even though the weather report said it wasn't a good day. I think that you, the readers, know that I feel that every day is a beautiful day in Paris! If you're counting along with me, it's day 8 with 52 more to go.

Darlene and I had breakfast as we were coaxing the sun to break through the clouds and show itself as it did so majestically on Sunday. I don't think that our intercessions were strong enough; it stayed cloudy most of the day.

I took the Metro and met a friend, Alessandro, who was here from Rome to "close escrow" on his new apartment. "New" was relative as the building was built in the 1870s. We had a most delightful lunch at a Paris tradition, Le Boullion Chartier, founded in 1896. Starting with a Kir Royal, then an entree, then a plat -- what a delightful meal. Of course we had a vin rouge with the meal!

We then went to look at his new apartment that he just got the keys to last night. It is on the sixth floor, at the top of a building that has delightful views -- even a glimpse of Sacre Coeur! I told him I would gladly rent the place the next time I came to Paris -- it is such a beautiful setting for writing, painting, thinking, enjoying Paris life.

After a trip into the Latin Quarter, we visited the millenia-old Roman arena, walked to one of the mosques, where we had outside tea and pastries. A lovely stroll through one of  the numerous gardens brought us to the Metro where we had to part ways for the day. I do hope we are able to get together again before he has to head back to Rome.

I stopped at our favorite fruits and vegetables shop after I got off the Metro so I could get a few items to have in the apartment. A fresh baguette was necessary at the corner boulangerie since they were out last night when I went down there to get one. We decided to go out for dinner tonight and we chose to go to Mme. Swan, a Thai restaurant that had been recommended. Darlene had Pad Thai (no surprise there) and I had Ginger Chicken (ditto). On the way home we stopped at the nearby Gelato store and were greeted with a "Buonna Serra" as we entered. I guess he thought we looked more Italian than French (the greeting would than have been "Bonsoir"). Since we're neither, he spoke English to us! Get this -- the calendar on his wall was the 2014 Idaho calendar that we have at home, and his brother lives in Idaho! SMALL WORLD!

We plan to take some pictures on our walks the next few days, so we'll get back to posting photos soon. I hope you're having a good week no matter where you are or what you're doing. Until next time,

Au revoir!

Stuart (and Darlene)

No comments:

Post a Comment