Good Neighbors, Street Walks, and Blessings
Bonjour mes amis,
Hooray for good neighbors who fix broken faucets. Yesterday, we got a functional kitchen sink again thanks to our upstairs neighbor. Life is back to normal after a difficult few weeks. How we take the simplest things for granted.
Sunday afternoons are wonderful in Le Marais. The whole world comes out to shop when the sun is out and walk the streets as I did, just ambling along looking for interesting photo opportunities. They are not hard to find. Bernie met me after a while at the beautiful new café at Le Musée Carnavalet. We had two unused coffee vouchers and sat a spell enjoying the beauty and the refreshment.
Yesterday after spending much of the day in the apartment with the sink repair, we did a little more strolling around the Opera and Boulevard Haussmann. Although we enjoy the area, it always reminds us of why we love the Marais, and why we will always choose to stay in the Marais if we can. The streets are wider and filled with high commerce, no tiny mom and pop shops, no fruit stands, no bustling regular locals carrying their half-eaten baguettes. 
We ended our day at the famous Café de la Paix which opened in 1862 and is now the Intercontinental Hotel. It sits on the Place de l’Opera. Their website says, “It has watched generations of Parisians meet, find love, and share moments together, over coffee, over a lifetime.” We started on the exterior and then moved inside for dinner. It is beautiful, but the food not remarkable. However, an A Plus for ambiance and service.
We entered the subway station to come home which we’ve done dozens of times and suddenly noticed something that’s probably been there for years…delightful little images on the wall reflective of a night at the opera. Enjoy!
We have two sets of lovers for today, but alas, no kisses!
My blessing of the day was a video from my 14-year old granddaughter who is on the flag corps at her school. She produced an amazing routine to a song called “Time to Say Good-bye.” It’s special because all of my grandkids have learned this song (the Sarah Brightman version) from the time they were babies. I would play it in the car while taking them hither and yon. They were all somewhat mesmerized by it and have a little fun move they do at the very end. I’m SO sorry I can’t effectively post a video. It’s elegantly and gracefully done and made me cry. Thank you, Avery Lillian, for this wonderful gesture!
À bientôt
L & B
August 24, 2021 @ 11:02 am
Loved the opera images. And what a sweet gift from your granddaughter. We never know what little things we do that will affect their lives forever.
August 24, 2021 @ 11:21 am
Hey NiNi. Glad you enjoyed my routine 🙂 Can’t wait to see you when you get back from Paris!
August 24, 2021 @ 1:56 pm
Oui, moi aussi. Me too!!!
August 24, 2021 @ 1:10 pm
The images for a night at the opera, masks of Carnavalet, and the stacked shoe display were my favorites today! It looks and sounds like you had a very good day. Happy to hear it.
August 24, 2021 @ 1:24 pm
Small world experience: We were outside the Paris Opera and heard southern accents. There was a group from Alabama A&M walking by, so we said hello and gave them information about the metro. There was also a group from Scottsboro. It must have been Alabama week at the Paris Opera!
August 25, 2021 @ 5:42 am
Reminds me of the time I met someone from Tuscaloosa while folding my underwear in the laundromat!
August 24, 2021 @ 1:32 pm
Thanks for thinking of me during your stroll. I consider a vintage Linotype machine a lover’s snapshot. We had one in the lobby of The Times but had to remove pieces of the lead type to show touring students when OSHA decided it was a safety issue.
Really enjoyed the Opera characters you discovered in the subway. Thanks for the journey this year. You both make the price of admission to your travelogue so affordable to those of us on fixed incomes!
August 24, 2021 @ 1:54 pm
All tips are appreciated, monsieur!
August 24, 2021 @ 2:18 pm
Always so special to get those remembrances from home. I’d have bawled also.
August 24, 2021 @ 2:33 pm
I like the ballet silhouettes. Great imagination. We were walking down a street the other day and Sybil took notice of some nice café chairs. I guess you got us trained.
August 24, 2021 @ 2:48 pm
So good to hear that!! And yes, I loved the ballet silhouettes. That’s the word I was looking for, so much better than images. Merci
August 24, 2021 @ 6:09 pm
A fun post with lots of interesting variety. It was wistful to see the vaccination tent since Jim spent over half of Saturday trying to find an antigen test. Only specific pharmacies do them and none of them had any available. Love the Opera figures and the street art. Paris has art literally on every street corner!
August 25, 2021 @ 4:34 am
Love the song “Time to Say Goodbye.” However, I’ve never understood the translation since the Italian title (and the lyrics) clearly mean “I will go with you”…
August 26, 2021 @ 1:04 am
Linda, I just realized that my good friend Sandy Nelson (lives in B’ham) would absolutely love your blog. They have spent a good bit of time in Paris. She’s a pianist (classical) and her husband is an artist. She and I grew up together, friends for 70 years. Would you feel okay about including her in your list of recipients? Buddy and I race to read about you & Bernie every day! Her email address is snelsq@gmail.com.
Thank you so much, bon amis!
June & Buddy Guynes
August 26, 2021 @ 5:54 am
June, how lovely to hear from you. Such good memories of working with you at Burritt. Actually, I can’t add folks to my blog but it’s quite simple. Tell your friend, Sandy, to go to lindaspalla.com and she will immediately see a place to subscribe to my blog. After she enters her email, she will receive a confirmation which sometimes goes into spam. She would need to check her spam folder if she doesn’t see it pop up in her regular email. Thanks so much for following our daily fun!