One thing that I have noticed, which I didn’t remember as much from my first visit to Paris, is that there are lots of people smoking everywhere! Young and old, fashionable or not, smoking hand-rolled or manufactured cigarettes, e-cigarettes. People seem to be able to juggle a cigarette, a dog, a phone and a kid as they head down the street.
I slept pretty well last night, which is not always the case for me in a new place. I had stayed up later than I intended deciding what I might do today, so after making coffee in my improvised coffee maker (using a strainer and paper towel, which was actually quite effective), I headed to the Catacombs. On the train a group of women my mom’s age got on. I was particularly impressed with their stylish shoes!
Stupidly I hadn’t thought about trying to book online and when I got there, I found that it was completely booked up for the day. No problem, I had other places to go. I took a stroll toward Montsouris, or mouse mountain, where I saw a French bulldog (in France!) There were lots of families with young kids walking around, an exercise group working out to loud music and a couple of guys boxing.
There was a beautiful little cobblestone street just across from the park, so I had a nosy – what a lovely place to live.
From there I made my way toward the Musee Bourdelle. On my walk to the museum, I passed a fromagerie where the proprietor was laying out strips of brie on top of a mixture of sliced potatoes, sautéed onions, and bacon. It was cooking in a large wok-like bowl. He told me it’s called a Tarte de Flettes. It looked and smelled absolutely delicious! I only wish that it was done being cooked or that I was going to be back in that area later in the day. I also passed a building with a pixelated tile of Buzz Lightyear!
I walked down a street with an absolutely gorgeous door with heart shapes on it. I took pictures of the couple who had strolled up just before me and then they took some pictures of me. I ventured down another cute alleyway then to the museum.
This museum was free and I enjoyed it almost as much as the Rodin museum. Beautiful sculptures, several outdoor courtyards, some of the sculptures were two stories high! Lovely artwork inside as well, there was a sculpture studio and an outdoor sitting area on the second floor with more artwork and a café. I’d brought my lunch with me – the rest of my baguette and the chèvre I had bought the day before, so I ate that with an apple and booked tickets for the Catacombs for a different day. It was a wonderful place to be.
Just outside the museum was its complete opposite – a large building, colored electric yellow and red with sinuous lines. I haven’t figured out what the building is yet. I headed towards home and stopped at a patisserie where I got a baguette for €1.6 and a pain au chocolat. Yum! I found a nice little independent coffee shop where I got myself a little dessert, a chocolate and hazelnut moist muffin type thing (I forgot to write down the name of it) and a cappuccino. The barista realized I spoke English (not difficult to do considering my French accent!). She was very sweet, when she bought me brought me my cappuccino it had the word ‘love’ on it in English. I wanted to get on Wi-Fi so that I could more easily use the internet as the flat does not have Wi-Fi, since it’s only used occasionally. Luckily the café I was in was right across the street from a Starbucks that had very strong free Wi-Fi.
Back at the flat I read for a bit then listened to the bells at the nearby church. Since they rang for a long time starting at 5:48pm I figured someone had just gotten married. What a gorgeous sound.
This evening I took the metro to the Madeline church. No rain this evening, so that made it very pleasant while I sat on the stairs of the church looking out over the Place de Concorde, excited to go to a classical music concert featuring Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, Pachelbel’s Canon and Ave Maria. It was a gorgeous concert both the setting and the music. Another terrific evening!
