A Treat of a Day for Us and Well Deserved!
Bonjour,
Today has been our favorite kind of Paris day…discovering new areas by strolling around, not quite sure which way is correct or what may be around the next corner. But more on that in a minute. First, my rant.
Yesterday was not our best day. It’s hot, very hot. It’s dusty and after five minutes outside, I feel like I need another shower. I feel like I’m eating and breathing the dust. Despite all of that, we had planned a reconnaissance to the Eiffel Tower to replicate the time of day, length of lines, etc. for my daughter’s visit. Thinking we were being super smart, we rode the hot bus for 35 minutes to supposedly get closer to a different security line reportedly shorter than the one with our prior company. Alas, the bus left us off at the Champs de Mars which is so dried up and dead that it’s like plowing through dirt only to end up according to Bernie in the very same security line. It wasn’t nearly as long, but we noticed people were all looking at their phones and noticeably agitated. After we got inside, we understood why. The Tower was completely closed, and none of the ticket lines were open. Bernie spoke to one of the attendants who told him that the elevator operators had gone on strike to protest the unfairness of having only one elevator working, creating extremely long lines for people who wanted to purchase tickets.
In preparation for my daughter’s visit, we have already bought tickets for August 10th for 5pm but only to the second floor. The summit was not available until August 17th and that was booking 3 days ago! To get a ticket to the top was $75 or more per person with any number of special agencies. I consider it all a rip off and so sad. I simply will not pay that when the general ticket to the summit is $25 per person. So, I don’t know what will happen. Just have to wait and see.
Needless to say, I left there in a huff, mightily upset over a situation that is so different from what we’ve always known , only to get on the very hot, packed subway and have it malfunction. There was a major power outage about 6pm, and we had to exit and walk all the way home. But a ray of hope brought relief when we decided to eat at a lovely restaurant called Le Trés Or in the Jewish district. Had a delightful meal. (Jim & Peggy for you) . In my opinion, their pommes frites are some of the best in Paris! 
Now to more positive thoughts about today. I started early as soon as the shops opened to try to find some clothes to wear. Ninety percent of what I brought is too warm. So I was out on the street looking for bargains. Dresses can be had for 15 to 25 euros right now which is my kind of shopping.
Our Paris friend Ann Jeanne had recommended a visit to the Montsouris area in the 14th arrondissement and Le Cité Universitaire. It’s the other large university in Paris, the more famous being La Sorbonne. What a delightful time we had.
On the way, a total serendipity… we found a section of Le Petit Ceinture, the abandoned railroad that used to make a circle around central Paris many years ago. Charles Gattis, you would have loved it. We posted about this 3 or 4 years ago, but didn’t know about this section. It’s not a great photo but we were fighting a tall fence.
I had selected by pure chance a restaurant for our lunch from Trip Advisor called Il Far Niente at 1 rue Paul Fort. What a little treasure. (Carolyn Barnabo, maybe this is where we meet next year!) There were no mobs of people, no cars whizzing by, no loud motorcycles, just a short, delightful street, very cool and shady and no dusty road construction. We sat outside and ate wonderful Italian food. Bernie had burrata and jambon with something like a Croque Monsieur. Mine was a plat called Meli-Milo which was a meatball fondue in marscapon cheese with stuffed pasta. Just delicious. Sorry forgot to take pics!!! 
We highly recommend this little hideaway, great service, very friendly and only 55 euros, including all the wine, coffee, everything.
Then we started walking and discovered a private street with specialty houses that were totally captivating and charming in their originality. We’ve seen similar streets like this in the 18th arrondissement a few years ago.
Next, we walked around Parc Montsouris to the university and captured these shots. We presume these are the original buildings. 
Our journey ended back in our area with this little doggie waiting patiently for his master at the patisserie.
And finally, the street scene of the day was this mother and daughter dressed for a photo shoot in front of St. Paul church…all in yellow.
Hope it’s raining wherever you are. Please send some our way!!!
L & B
P.S. To my techie friends—if you use Air drop, tell me if you know how to keep your phone photos in order when you send them to another device. I’ve researched this and it seems there’s no good solution! It drives me crazy.
August 2, 2018 @ 4:42 pm
Your luscious descriptions make me want to spend a whole summer discovering the parts of Paris we’ve missed. Thank you for taking time to describe your daily adventures…dust, heat, malfunctions, and all.
August 2, 2018 @ 4:49 pm
Merci mille fois.
August 2, 2018 @ 4:47 pm
The photos of the specialty houses are wonderful. So happy you discovered them and shared them. Hope you found some bargains that made your shopping worthwhile.
August 2, 2018 @ 4:48 pm
Merci! How’s Arizona?
August 2, 2018 @ 5:21 pm
Would love to eat at the Italian restaurant! Your dress is cute! The tree comment was hilarious. We have so much rain this week and Auburn/Opelika… Wish I could push some across the ocean for you !!
August 2, 2018 @ 5:51 pm
What better than shopping after a total bummer of a day, and lovely meals and stroll to boot! Natalie soon , Yeah!!!
August 2, 2018 @ 7:27 pm
What a great day. You are right, I would have loved the railroad site, but that would have been bad since our day would have stopped while I explored the thing through my camera. We would have missed all the other fun thing. And to my understanding there is not way to keep photos organized through airdrop. Apple does a good job of keeping them in order on the computer in Photos, but after that they seem to believe images should have complete freedom to organize themselves in whatever manner they wish. I suppose the smaller files are completed first and the larger files last and they take on that order when using AirDrop; just my thought.
August 2, 2018 @ 8:41 pm
Loved the street of quaint houses…almost as if a movie set for an earlier time! My vote for the street scene of the day would be the dog owner coming out of the patisserie to greet his four legged companion! Thanks for sharing the good and the bad…it all looks good from here!
August 2, 2018 @ 10:19 pm
Wow, so many wonderful things in this post!
First, LOVE that you’ve had another of your favourite Paris days. After a summer of guiding visitors to more well-known or central places, no-one deserves strolling around a new area more than you and Bernie. Yay!
Next — excellent rant! Can feel the frustration of trying to go to the Tower a different way and then Bernie saying ‘it’s the same line’ – argh. More importantly I’m thankful you got out of the metro before you had to be evacuated and then walk thru dark tunnels. Could hardly bear to read the reports. All prayers sent up for a nice uneventful evening when you take your daughter.
Le TrésOr’s been on our list for years (may have been under renovation last we looked?) and is now moving up, especially since we always like to share une assiette de frites 🙂
Finally well done on your restaurant find near Parc Montsouris! We don’t get down there often but have done a few walks — in and around the park and the cute streets and high-up reservoir near there but not the university or that restaurant street (or we missed it!). So glad you had an enjoyable day and maybe some earlier shopping success, too.
Wishing you a lovely Friday and staying cool if possible.
August 3, 2018 @ 2:18 pm
Linda
Your lemony digestif is called Limoncello or lemoncello. It is very popular as an after dinner liqueur in Italy and is often offered to diners for free which tells you it’s not expensive or hard to make. I bet Bernie liked it just fine.
I have read that much of the dust moving across large parts of Europe is coming all the way from the Sahara. Amazing!
August 3, 2018 @ 2:40 pm
Merci, Dorcas! The dust is just incredibly annoying!
August 3, 2018 @ 7:06 pm
I do so enjoy Bernie’s photos of you “glistening” around Paris and spreading the glistening wonders to us. Thank you, sweet lady and mon colonel! You and Bernie have made Paris one of my very bestest favorite towns!
Vive la Paris!!
August 3, 2018 @ 7:16 pm
Aw shucks! You bring tears to my eyes and a smile to my face!