Monday, September 23 - Where Has the Summer Gone?

What a surprise to wake up this morning and realize that we missed the arrival of fall. We've been so caught up in our French touring adventures that we forgot all about it. When I get home, I'll pay more attention.

Some of you who were anticipating a peek at more of the Paris monuments will no doubt be disappointed, but on this trip we've decided that since we've seen so many of the major attractions that we would focus our activities on other things, mainly because the major attractions are so crowded with tourists. What did we expect! So today our objective was to do some shopping and to visit some of the 'foodie' places around our neighborhood. We started at Rue Cler, a favorite of locals and tourists.

Here we are.

There's a huge selection running the entire length of the street

The street consists of mostly food, but one must look at shoes when they appear.

 

Next stop was the "epicerie" at Bon Marche, one of the most upscale of the Paris department stores. We've been there several times for scarves, stationery, etc., but never to the epicerie/food store section. The inside reminded me of a very fancy Whole Foods, but it was the size of a Costco. And it wasn't even at full strength, because large sections were in the process of being renovated.

 

One of my favorite places to "hang out" and look.
 

These were rosebuds that could be made into tea.

Next door to Bon Marche is Conran's. Many of you will recognize the name. It started in NYC in the 60's, I believe, but now it has gone international. While it's not a foodie place per se, it has numerous household items, many of which are beyond my budget. For example, we looked at a wine cooler that was listed at 11, 230 Euros--I'm thinking that if you buy two, there might be a discount. Any takers? But I didn't get the impression that the salespeople knew the word "discount".

Some of the specialty designer furniture

All that focusing  on food made us hungry, of course, so we stopped at a new place (for us) for lunch. The restaurant is Les Deux Abielles, a delightful tea salon (they open at 9am and close at 7pm) that was really buzzing. Since we weren't sure of our exact morning plans before we left the apartment, we hadn't made a reservation. It seemed that everyone else had made one because as we walked through the restaurant almost every table had a 'reserve' sign on it. Fortunately they found a place for us near the back and within 20 minutes, every seat in the restaurant was full. Nonetheless, service was efficient and the food was oh-so-French and so very delicious. Lloyd had a spinach and ham gateau with mixed salad and I had a salad and a mushroom omelette, the first I've had since being here. We will definitely add it to our list of favorites.

A very "French" restaurant run by a mother-daughter team

Late in the afternoon, we were still strolling the neighborhood. On many of our trips, we've read the Paris Perfect recommendations for a frozen food store called Picard. Additionally there were several recommendations in the guest book, so since we were nearby, we decided to see what all the fuss is about. Well, it's interesting. It's like walking into a freezer chest--every item in the store is frozen! And what a selection there is--a complete menu of appetizers, entrees, desserts, and everything in between. I'm still not sure what the fuss is about. We'll let you know.

Picard's--this place is a little eerie because it is freezing cold and very stark inside.

One of the 'popular' ways to view the sights of Paris is on a Segway. We ran into a group while crossing in front of Napoleon's Tomb. I'm sure it saves on your tootsies, but I think the people look silly. It clearly isn't for me.

To each his own--not my cup of tea.

Speaking of things that we usually don't see in Easton on the scale seen here are the beautiful, upscale autos driving around Paris. On a daily basis, we see specialty Jaguars, BMWs, Porsches, Aston Martins, and Lamborghinis. Our heads twirl at the sight of them regularly. The interesting thing is that the majority of these models are not imported into the USA. Lloyd thinks it may have something to do with the emission controls and other safety items.

Ooh-la-la. If you have to ask the price of this Lamborghini, well,.....

A cute little thing. More my style, but we have no idea what it is.

It's hard to get lost in our neighborhood--basically one can just keep walking and keep looking upward. The Eiffel Tower serves as a landmark day and night.

In this neighborhood, all streets lead to the Eiffel Tower.

Bonsoir!  More musings tomorrow......