End Tuesday, Wednesday 9th

Yesterday afternoon I walked the short distance to Luxemburg gardens, one of Paris' s main parks. I sat in a chair in the unusual sun, it was overcast most of the day. A French guy asked me directions.,I understood his French and replied without thinking in mostly italian. I had being trying very hard all day to talk in French. He laughed . He said he knew more italian than english and sometimes it popped out of his mouth when he was trying to speak english.,  like me trying to speak french

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This morning I planned a route without considering that it was raining steadily. Mydestination was to be a knitting shop on the right bank about 4km away. I need a crochet hook, ( down side of carry on baggage only)  I had a few things to look at along the way.  I have 2 books, one titled Art hiding in Paris, the other Secret Paris. Neither are very well organised. But both have lots of odd quirky bits for me to find. So, after breakfast I walked towards saint Sulpice, the 3rd largest church ( I think) On the way I stopped at a place where there is the last " Standard metre". I think i have heard but had forgotten that the metre was defined in 1791 by the French academy of Science as  1 ten millionth of a quarter of a meridian. The definition has changed a bit since then, but in 1796 16 engraved marble plaques were put up around the city showing exactly how long a metre is.  Only one remains on a wall outside part of the French senate buildings.

I walked on towards saint Sulpice. Over the road from 1 of the back doors into the church is a tall building only 1 room wide. It used to be a brothel run by Miss Betty. I found that one relatively quickly but I searched a long time another one. There were road works, the square in front of the church was pull of tents, thumbers of Saith Sulpice square were clear but I could not find the even numbers. I gave up and was  getting wetter and wetter and grumpy so left the inside of the church for another day . To get out of the rain for a bit i found a nice patisserie with some tables so and went  in for morning tea. Then I   found the apartment block where Pablo Picasso painted the Guernica. I started to walk onwards toward the crochet hook, but decided i was being foolish. By this stage water was running down my lower legs and my phone was playing up. Well maybe if I use it a lot in the rain it objects. It certainly is impossible for a wet screen to recognise a wet fingerprint. . Oops. So I walked home.  On the way i walked past the church again and stumbled across the other brothel. It is a doctors rooms now. You can peer through the front gate and see the original tiled floor and the the proprietor's name Alys 

I took my phone  out of its case ( which was quite wet inside)  and dried it all and it seems fine. My phone/camera/reading book / navigation aid/ etc is very very valuable.