Today we are preparing to go to Germany tomorrow. That means doing laundry and packing.
For dinner we decide to have some tempura shrimp and vegetables. We saw a place when we were on one of our neighborhood walks.
After dinner we go back to the apartment and finish packing for Germany.
We were awakened this morning by the sounds of drilling and some other noises at 9:00 a.m.. I think they are remodeling a unit across the courtyard from our bedroom. I can’t sleep with the noise so I get up. Do some dishes, make coffee, and check emails and Facebook. It is 56 degrees and raining. Looks like another day in the apartment.
Thankfully, we get a break in the rain and we go out in the afternoon to go to the Post Office to mail a check for a payment that is due. We only need 1 envelope but they sell them in packs of 10. The postal clerk spoke a little bit of English and she opened a package and sold us just 1 envelope.
The sun is shining now and so we look for a place to get a light lunch. We checked all the restaurants, cafes brasseries, etc. (just to see what was in our neighborhood). We finally decide to have the FORMULE (special of the day) a chicken panini sandwich, french fries and coke light at a place 2 blocks from the apartment. It was nice to have a warm sandwich.
Below is a picture of our apartment building, the #80 bus stop is on the left and our entrance door is the brown door, Our grocery store, the Le Marche Franprix, and pastry/sandwich shop, Vennoiserie, are very convenient.
I love the sign at one of the restaurants a couple of blocks away from us, Le Verre Galant - little “French Wine Glass Guy”. I looked up the translation of the name and it means “Glass Lover”. I think it probably really means wine in the glass lover. This restaurant is a traditional French cuisine and as such is on the pricey side.
Monday - Well, here in Paris we are having cool temps and rain. Edward is still trying to get rid of the cold and cough but is not making much progress. We have decided to stay in and see if we can get him to feeling better. We ventured out late in the afternoon when we got a window of sunshine and found a restaurant for dinner.
We had a small pitcher of wine (about 12 oz.) which was about 4 small glasses of wine and that was only about half filled. The wine glasses are much smaller than we have at our house.
After that, we had a cup of espresso – note the coin and the cup. I don’t think there could have been more than 2 teaspoons of espresso in the cup!
We called it a day and went back to the apartment.
Tuesday – same as the day before. We stayed in the apartment most of the day. I watch some of Wimbledon on the TV and Edward read on his Kindle. We are still trying to get enough energy to get out and do some more sites but we do want to be feeling better when we go to Germany on Friday to visit Sven’s Family for a few days.
We decide to go to dinner at an Indian Restaurant we passed by walking around the neighborhood. We wanted something different and I thought something spicy would be good for the head congestion. The food was good.
We called it a day (again before the sun goes down). I think it has been light almost every night when we go to bed unless it was raining and very overcast. The sun does not set until 9:58 p.m, so it is still somewhat light until about midnight then begins again about 3:07 a.m. and sunrise is 4:49 a.m. It makes it nice to be able to go places and not be concerned about it being dark when we come home.
Since we got to the art museum too late yesterday we decided to go there first today. We get to the Musee de l’Orangerie and there is a long line waiting to get in the museum. They have 2 lines, one for people with tickets/passes and the long line we are in without tickets. They are only letting in people as others come out and, of course, the line with tickets goes first. Needless to say it took about 45 minutes for us to get inside the museum, then we were able to buy the tickets. At least we were inside as it was very windy and cool outside. This museum is an art gallery of impressionist and post-impressionist; Paul Cazanne, Henri Matisse, Claude Monet (one of my favorites), Pablo Picasso, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Henri Rousseau, and a few others.
The d’Orsay Museum is on strike so I’m sure that was one reason the lines were long at the Musee de l’Orangerie.
After the museum we took a break to rest from all the standing and walking. I’m looking over the map to see where we should go next
We decide to go to the Paris Chinese Area. We get on the subway and go to the end of the line Olympiades. As you come up from underground you can see the tall buildings of the Olympic Village of the 1975, 1987 World’s Fair.
As we move on down the street it becomes evident we are in the Chinese area. It is not so spectacular as San Francisco but we had fun walking around and we did have a nice meal at one of the many restaurants.
It is raining again so we stay in the apartment this morning since Edward is still not feeling well and we don’t want to get caught in the rain. Later in the afternoon we venture out as the sun is shining. I am having some problems with my iPad so we decide to go to the Apple store near the Louvre and stop at a museum. On the way to the Apple Store we see an Alsace Tourist fair. We get some info and they were very helpful.
We still have not found the Apple Store. Finally we stop at a phone store that sells iPhones and the guy says “it is just down the street 5 minutes on the left” (from the direction we just came from) . We go back. Well about 15 minutes walking for us we finally find the address but it says La Carrousel du Louvre. We go inside and find out you go down some escalators and it is a giant shopping center under the Louvre. We find the Apple Store in this center. They are helpful at Apple but cannot fix my problem. I think I will have to call the Verizon Support. Verizon recently changed the email design and now there is something not working correctly with the iPad.
As we are getting near the Plaza Concorde we see 100’s – no 1,000’s of motorcycles., estimate is 10,000 motorcycles. Reminded us of the 100 Anniversary Harley Parade in Milwaukee. They are protesting lane splitting (going between cars which is tolerated now) and other reasons. Earlier in the day they completely closed one side of the ring road around Paris and now they are blocking the Metro Station. Of course, we were right in the middle of the whole thing. As it turned out there was no violence or disruptions.
We find the art museum we were going to visit and it is 5:57 pm and they close at 6:00 pm. We will have to come back another time. It is starting to rain again so we scurry off to find a restaurant to wait for the rain to stop. We have a nice meal at a restaurant on rue Saint Germaine. After dinner the rain has stopped and we make our way back to the apartment.
Again, we go to the “Pharmacie” to get some type of medication for Edward.
We head out to a small art museum today. One the way we see the hotel we stayed in last time we were in Paris, The Claude Bernard:
Then Edward would like to eat something but doesn’t know what he wants. I remembered a place we read about Breakfast in America (B.I.A.). We decided some comfort food would be good for him. I had a cheeseburger and fried and Edward had 2 hotdogs and fries.
We did not make it to the art museum. Edward was not feeling up to much more. Back to the apartment for rest and re-cooperation.
Below is the hallway at our apartment. The door on the right is the 2 person elevator the stairway and our neighbors door center and left (may not be able to see the one on the left) .Very cozy but we have not seen anyone but the Manager since we have been here. They must have different hours than we do.
Edward is feeling better and it is sunny today. He thought the fresh air and sun could be good for him so we have ventured out. We went to the Luxembourg Gardens.
We were watching some people playing tennis and a bird dropped his business on Edward’s wind breaker. We were able to find a WC (restroom) at the tennis center and he was able to get it washed off. Lucky he had the wind breaker as it was quick to dry and we didn’t need to go back to the apartment.
We walked up the steps to the top. Yes, 170 steps. They did have 2 stops, 1 just above the floor of the Pantheon.
Another stop just below the dome.
It has been an exhausting day and I think Edward is ready for a nap. He probably over did it today.
Sorry but this day is a total bummer. Edward is not feeling well with a sore throat etc., so we are just napping and watching what little English TV we can find. I do miss all the channels in the USA!!! Hope he will get to feeling better.
The Seine River in Paris.
This was a slow day for us. I think I have given my sore throat to Edward. He does not want to walk around too much. There is a bus stop right out side the apartment entrance – and I really mean literally. We decide to take this bus as we are on the longest street in Paris and just see what is on this line. Well, Bus 80 is the quickest and easiest way to navigate between the Eiffel Tower and Montmartre (Sacre Coeur Area). It crosses the Champs de Elysees but just before that we go down a street, Avenue Montaigne, that has every expensive high fashion stores. Everything you can imagine from Chanel to Versace.
That is so cool to have that bus so convenient.
We found another excellent deal for lunch at the Café DuPont Versailles just on the corner from us on Rue de Vaugirard and Boulevards des Marechaux (the tram stop is across the street). We, again, got the Formula (Express Lunch). This is a much nicer place so the meal was not served like fast food. We ordered the quiche, a large slice of salmon and spinach quiche, drink of choice, dessert of choice. Dessert, I picked a chocolate cream puff looking dessert. It not only had cream but it was filled inside with a chocolate pudding/pie filling. I could not eat all of it. That is a first for me not to east all a dessert that I really like. Since we were here so close to the apartment didn’t want to leave it and I couldn’t eat it all so I brought half of it back with me. Edward got a fruit salad. Well, again, that is what they called it. It was a very large bowl (a think it was actually a serving bowl) with several strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, grapes and banana, in a syrup. The berries and grapes were all huge and fresh. I really don’t know how these people are so thin.
Today we decide we should now get a weekly transit pass. We go to the ticket booth and the cashier does not speak any English so we attempt to tell her what we want to get. She tells us she doesn’t sell them. We don’t understand why so I decide to find a young person (because most of them know English) and I find a young man very helpful. He tells the cashier that we want to purchase the weekly pass and she tells him that it will be 5 Euro each then $18.60 Euro for the pass. We say OK. She wants us to pay 5 Euro for 1 then another 5 Euro for the other – this is for the plastic holder. Then she will process for the weekly passes. She wants 18.60 Euro for one pass then another 18.60 Euro for the other one. We get through all of this then we find out we have to take a photo and attach it to the card, They have one of those self-photo machines and we attempt to take a photo. I push all the buttons and finally see they have it in English. Should be easy. Wrong. There are several options to choose from Passport, portrait, 4 pictures, or a page of minis, etc. I get in a take a picture. I put in 2 Euros as I only need 1 picture BUT what came out was a 4x6 portrait photo – much too big for the card. Now I have to pay 5 Euros to get the other pictures. We thought it would be 2 Euros so now we don’t have enough change for the machine. We go up to the street level to the grocery store by our apartment and get change. Great, we think, they also have a photo booth but NO, it is not working. Back down in the subway to the photo booth. Now there are 2 girls and a boy trying to take photos. They are from the US just got here for 3 months and are trying to figure out how to use the machine also. They finally figure out the right buttons to push and help us get our photos for the cards. So far, this has taken us a total of 2 hours and we have only been 1 block from the apartment. We almost decide to call it a day but then change our mind.
We went to the Arc de Triomphe and actually found our way to the stairway and the underground passage to get across the street. We stood in a long line to go to the top and then found that the lift (elevator) was broken. We decided we wait and not take the 300+ steps up and down today and to come back another time.
For lunch we stopped to have the “Formula” (daily special) any sandwich, any drink (soda, beer or wine), any dessert and coffee or tea for 7.50 Euros. Best deal we have found since we have been here. The sandwich was very good and on a footlong baguette. For dessert, Edward had a strawberry tart and I had a creamy chocolate tart with bananas. We ask about the coffee/tea and the guy told us to just come back after we eat our sandwich and get it then. The French love to linger over dining – no rush-in rush-out for them.
The guy below was on the subway that evening. He has his little plastic bag of groceries for the evening and his baguette. We see people carrying baguettes all the time. I saw one lady with 4 of them – nothing else, just the baguettes. My flash was not on so he had no idea I took his picture. Doesn’t he look happy.
