Weekend in the City

Lazy weekend for us.  Downtown to the WH Smith English bookstore to buy some study materials in English.  Went by Place Vendome which is where Love in the Afternoon (a favorite Paris movie) is set at the Ritz. Sunday at Musee Rodin with a nap in the little hidden Park next to the Invalides. Got to mass at St Eustace this evening with its lovely liturgical music.

Tomorrow we start a slower class schedule with 3 hr class, 3 days a week and 3 hr conversation classes twice a week.  Should give us a little more time to enjoy the city vice the pretty tough class pace of the Intensive course we have been in.

The city that works

Another reason we like Paris ... The city works.  Trash gets picked up. People are out early delivering supplies to the stores and restaurants that line rue Montorgueil and we see them every morning on our way to school.  Folks here work hard.  Even the beggars work hard.  

Sunday at the Beach ... In Paris

It's hot in Paris... Really hot.  So if you can't go to the beach, Paris brings the beach to you!!

Regne du Terreur redux??

Yesterday watched a fascinating documentary about the French Revolution. Never before had a proper appreciation for the complex roles of Robispierre, Marat, Danton & co. Most interesting was the progression of the revolution over years from a relatively civilized start to the Reign of Terror - followed by the Grand Terror - and how methodically they were carried out.  Struck that in the Age of Trayvon the US is having its own Petit Terror played out in the streets this month. Madame La Guillotine anyone?

Bastille Day

Saw part of the big Bastille Day parade today. Start of parade with band and choir performing French anthem was stirring. Great weather for the flybys except the red-white-blue plane exhaust    flyby was missing the plane with white!

Great ways to spend an afternoon

Week 4 at Alliance Francaise was a good one for eating out. We took a "class trip" to Restaurant Chartier, known for simple Parisian fare with several AF classmates.  A couple days later we stayed out shopping after class and spent a good part of the afternoon at the Restaurant Relais Odeon on the Blvd St Germaine.  I  must admit that a bottle of wine on the most beautiful street in Paris is a far more attractive way to study French on a sunny afternoon in Paris than staying Inside!!

They're Everywhere!!!

Yesterday while up in Montmartre, we were surprised to see a welcome memory from the Camino, yellow arrows. And they were pointing south- towards Spain.

Santiago Lives!

In the footsteps of Picasso

Have been focused on French studies the past two weeks so decided we had to get out more. Yesterday we went to Montmartre, finding some of Picasso's haunts, including Le Bateau Lavoie where he was a starving young artist in 1904-09 and Au Lapin Agile, the restaurant he traded paintings for food. Also saw the remaining vineyards and the square where lines of artists will draw you even today.