Before I start on today's activities, I will explain the title. Somewhere between Beaune and Paris we both picked up colds. This is a first; now I wish that I had gotten a flu shot before I left. So last night, as you might have guessed, we opted to dine in last night. (Besides not feeling 100%, a steady diet of dining out demands a break.) The choice was between carry-out pizza or carry-in frozen food. We flipped a coin and Picard's won. Don't cringe! Off to the frozen food store--yes, creepy. It took forever to make a choice, but we ended up with lasgna Bolognese and a small pack of four different flavors of ice cream cups. A quick stop at the local grocery store for lettuce and salad fixings--we still had vinaigrette dressing from Friday night, and we were set for a quiet, restful evening.
Today we both felt a little better, so we hit upon the idea of heading up to Sacre Coeur for photos and a side trip to fabric stores on Montmatre with a side trip to Notre Dame (we still needed to light our candles) on the way. As we were exiting our building, Lloyd struck a deal with me. Background: before coming to France, I had heard that the coiffures in Paris were tops in the world. But who is comfortable with a new stylist?! I made up my mind to live the adventure and get my hair cut in France!) Well, the deal was this--if I could get an appointment (clearly I've been dragging my feet), we'd (I'd) skip the push to go to the fabric stores on Montmatre and instead seek out an old favorite quilting store near Notre Dame. I won't prolong the story....I got an appointment (now it was nail biting time) but it wasn't until 5pm! I had all day to think about it.
BEFORE
Off I went to Thierry Elias' salon at 4:55pm--he was waiting for me.....voila! At 5:45 I walked out with a new French 'do'. Hoorah! I like it, and best of all, Lloyd does also.
AFTER
A happy 'camper'
Another view
The pictures don't do justice to the care Thierry took with my hair....and did I mention the way he massaged my head when he washed my hair!!! Worth the price of admission.
That was the big adventure of the day--for me, at least. We did make it over to Notre Dame again. The line was Disney-like again, but I convinced Lloyd that we would move along swiftly and we did. Only seven minutes in a double line--thank goodness. As always, the windows are exquisite.
One of the many stained glass windows
A deal's a deal--so now we're off to find Le Rouvray, the quilt shop I visited last March. Lloyd had read on a TripAdvisor post that the owner plans to close the shop in early October, so I was thinking that maybe there would be a closeout sale. It took us a while to find it, and when we did--what a surprise.....
all closed up!
But it wasn't as I thought. It was 11:45am, and the shop doesn't open until noon. I suppose we could have waited, but since I had already "shopped it up" at the Ines patchwork store last Friday, I decided that I had enough fabric for this trip. (After all, I still have to carry all this stuff on board!!)I wanted to mention a few things. As one walks around Paris in the morning, it is fun to see the shop owners prepare for business for the day. Here is one patisserie who specializes in little coconut covered cakes--big and tiny. Talk about being specialized.
The work begins
The finished products
Speaking of boulangeries, I finally got a shot of the little kitty in the bread shop two doors from our apartment that sometimes sits in the window and waits to be stroked.
What a life.
Besides walking, taking the Metro and the autobus, there are other ways to see the city. One can sign up for a Fat Tire Bike Tour that seem to be gaining popularity, especially in the beautiful weather we've had the past few days.
A group gathers for their Fat Tire Bike Tour on colorful, blue bicycles
Another popular way to independently see the city is a Velib (Velo-libre-something-or other). Anyway, it's the huge system of bicycles that are positioned throughout the city that one can rent with a credit card and then return in another location. And they said it would never catch on!!!
That's about enough excitement for one day. We had a quiet dinner at a favorite restaurant, Bistro P'tit Troquet. I wish I had had my camera--I ordered what I thought would be escargot in a traditional serving dish. What arrived was a small brioche bun covered with butter and parsley with the little snails stuffed inside. Lloyd said it looked like a snail burger--I ate it anyway.
Bonsoir!
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