Routine Stuff in Paris Today

Bonjour,

Our day has been very much like what we experience at home:  doing laundry, going to the post office, grocery shopping, getting some things printed at the internet cafe, a bite of lunch in the apartment, and then a quick trip out to find one of my “new” spots for this year.  I actually keep a list as to new discoveries to check out, places to eat, sidetrips, etc.  Since I’m mostly the tour guide, I plan the basic orientation for our day, often pulling from this list.

After our mundane chores and lunch, we headed out to the 10th arrondissment to find what was supposed to be a really neat street by Canal St. Martin–rue Bichat. It was disappointing and took us a while to find.  So much is written about the canal, and we have failed to catch the thrill of this in past times. Today was no exception. This particular spot looked a bit like Amsterdam, very nice but not worth some of the hype. We stopped for refreshment at a cute little bar called The American Kitchen where the seats were red, white and blue and the American flag was hanging promimently in the main inside area.   Along the way, we found a cute little epicerie (grocery store) which had our whole, raw garlic (yes!) and the best cantalopes one can buy in France, a brand called Philibon.  So definitely not a wasted effort.  It’s a section of Paris near La Place de Republique that doesn’t appeal to me.

On the way back we caught an adorable photo in the subway of the Minions.  If you’re a fan, you’ll get a kick out of the French humor and Bernie caught a most interesting shot of one of the subway stations with a myriad of lights which I used as the image at the start of the blog. All the subway stations are different so it’s fun to be surprised by one like this.  And then late this afternoon, I heard horses clippity-clopping along, ran to the window and saw Le Garde Republicaine in full uniform marching along a very busy street by the river.  We assumed they had been practicing for the big Bastille Day parade tomorrow.

Today was a slow, easy day. Tomorrow will be over the top with the parade and then the cruise tomorrow night to watch the fireworks for the annual independence day fete called Le Quatorze Juliet (the 14th of July).  Dinner again tonight with Jim & Peggy.   Stay tuned, ya’ll!

Linda & Bernie