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I arrived home on  schedule on Saturday evening.

My trial of Vietnam Airlines was a success. They were on time and their service was good. I donot think the service was quite as good as some of the European Airlines I have flown with in the past few years, but the price difference ( My business class  fare was about 2./3 the next cheapest reasonable airline) was significant.   The timing of their  return flights from Europe  leave you with a day in Hanoi. I was met at the airport, taken to a hotel, fed ( very average food) ( b, l and d) and taken on a tour of Hanoi by a delightful young lady who quickly came up with an alternative when I told her I did not want to go to the mainsites - I have seen HCM's mausoleum etc . We spent a very pleasant few hours wandering around the Museum of Ethnology. This housed many exhibitions of various ethnic groups living in Vietnam and in the grounds examples of many different houses. The guide offered to take a photo of me climbing the steps of the house below. I declined the photo but did climb the steps. You can just see 2 people underneath the house to give you an idea of scale. It is a Bahnar communal house.

Last day in Paris

Last day for this trip.

I just wandered  the streets around here. I had a few errands. I sat for an hour over my coffee and croissant, then an hour over my beef bouguignon,  then an hour over my cup of tea and little pastry.

Tomorrow I leave in the morning for the airport. 

Odds and ends in the 7th.

This morning I went by train to Neuilly, a suburb just outside the Periferique to the west of central Paris.  I walked around a bit then caught a bus to the Champs de Mars, another of the big open spaces in Paris. I walked aound for  a bit, then walked along Rue de Grenelle to see if I could decide where the elegant hedgehog lived. I stopped for a bit in a cafe in Rue Cler, a street full of cafes and nice food shops, a bit like rue Montorgueil. I walked on to an old Lutheran church that had a nice little garden that I had read about. Trouble was the gate was locked.

I continued along rue de Grenelle  and then stopped a little way off it at a shop called Dreyolle. I have never been anywhere like it. It is a taxidermy shop. My favourite was a lion, for 32,000 Euros. They get dead animals from zoos and other places, stuff them and sell them.  There were all sorts of things for sale. There was a giraffe for 20,000, down to some ants for E5. I saw people buying butterflies and beetles. No red-back spiders for sale.

 I walked  to a place for lunch. I wasnot going to have desert but realised I had had no icecream this trip. A few weekends ago, when it first warmed up, before it got cold again a few days ago, all the cafes had their icecream freezers out on the pavement and were doing a brisk trade in icecream cones. I could not go home without havig some icecream.

I walked home by a rather more circuitous route than I had planned, but did not care.

Bon Dimanche and windy, rainy Monday

About 12 years ago when I was in Italy on my own I first heard ocassionally , in the back streets, and mainly the elderly, wishing each other ' buon domenica' i.e good Sunday. - both as a greeting and a parting. How nice, I thought, OK, maybe in our secular society a bit out-dated but so what. I have never heard it in Frnace.

Yesterday, as I was leaving the bar after sitting over my coffee and a croissant for an hour, the lady wished me 'Bon dimanche'.  I was delighteed and tried to explain that I had heard it in Italy ( she and her husband know I sometime use Italian words instead of French. He certaily understands Italian, I have heard him talking to other customers in Italian)  I think they undertand.

Next I knew  when  I gave the guy who stands near my front door  a coin, as I usually do each day, he wished me 'bon dimanche' .

In the evening I went to an organ recital in a church 1 km away. The big church was  almost  packed.  For 45 min I just sat and listened to the music.

Today was very very windy and intermittently rainy.  I think the wind rattled my brain. I could not settle to much so didnot try.  I did explore the route I would take to get to the train station to get to the airport on Thursday. The reverse of my arrival will not work because there was an up escalator from the below ground train line to the ground, but there is no down escalator. I did find  a pokey lift which rattled and wheezed, but it worked. Plan B is not attractive. 

Saturday - doing very little...

...of interest to anyone.

I walked to the wool shop where I bought the 109 small balls, all different colours , several weeks ago.  I have decided what I will make and need more of 1 colour. Then I wandered up and down Montorgueil Street - known for its cafes and food shops, chose somewhere for lunch, ate and came back here.

Tomorrow, who knows, but I will not bore anyone if I have no details.

Pompidou centre

On my third attempt at visiting this building I went in.  I decided last night to buy a ticket on line to save time in the queue, but the system got confused with where I was from and wanted me to pay in English pounds and would not let me pay in Euros. Never mind.  It was a cold drizzly day which may have put some people off. I did not wait long and what is more impressive, I was quite calm and not agitated in the queue. The holiday must be doing me some good.

The blurb claims that they have the largest collection of modern ( 1905 to 1965) art in Europe which may be true.  I enjoyed seeing many of my favourite painters. There were several interesting Chagalls, a Pollock which had some recognisable forms in it and several Mondrians.  Plus others. The blurb also claims to have the largest collection of contemporary art ( 1960's to prsent) .  A cynic might say that is because no one else wants it. Most of the stuff I did not get at all.  Why watch a video in a small room of someone wrapping fishing line around their nose? There was one interesting installation in a room made up of  a sort of large net at head height  made out of hundreds and hundreds of personal headphones. There were interesting shadows on the floor. As you moved around, there was an eerie sound. But why?

It was an easy decision to stop for lunch. I dined in style in the fancy restaurant at the top of the building with a lovely view over Paris. Mainly because I was there and I could not be bothered finding my way downstairs to the other place. It was a no alcohol and no desert day!   My salmon, one of the cheaper dishes, was delicious.

There is currently an exhibition of Vasarely's work. I did not recognise his name, but recognised some of the works. He makes all sorts of graphic patterns with different colours.  I enjoyed looking at them, but some , mainly the circular ones, bothered me  - disturbed my vision and made me feel vaguely queasy, so I didnot stay long.

Because I knew that the yarn  I bought  several weeks ago would not fit into my suitcase, I bought another bag.  So I had no qualms today about buying myself a jigsaw - a stylised map of Paris. Not the brand I saw before that was hand made of wood with a price which reflected the craftmanship.

I was going to walk to another area to potter but decided I could not be bothered and made my way back to my apartment , without reference  to a map, just waking in the rough direction and making a few corrections - not all the streets are in a rectangular grid.

I forgot - The Pompidou centre is new - built in the 1970's it was quite contraversial because it built as an inside-out bulding. Its structural system, mechanical systems, and circulation stuff are exposed on the outside of the building. All the pipes are colour coded = green for plumbing, blue for climate control etc. Renzo Piano was one of the team that designed it.  You got good views from the escalator on the outside of the building.

Pottering on Thursday

Today is the beginning of my last week so I spent some time this morning going through my lists and working out what I did not want to miss.

I went  for lunch to another place on my list of traditional, interestingly decorated cafes with reliably good food.  Seated next to me were 2 gentlemen from NY. One could speak French and grew up in England. We talked about all sorts of things. As part of my entrance ticket to the Louvre I could get into a small museum where Delacroix spent his last days. It was in a house in Place Furstemburg in the 6th , a little quiet corner of Paris.  The best part of the museum was the quiet garden in the back where I sat for a bit. Then I wandered the streets in the direction of the church in St Germain-des-Pres where I had been before.

I came across the 2 iconic cafes of literary Paris - Les Deux Margots and Cafe de Flore.  Ages ago I had decided that I would not bother - they would be overpriced and full of tourists.  I walked slowly past one, yes, full of tourists then slowly past the second and  thought , a hot chocolate would be nice, saw that there were a few spare tables and that there were some French people so went in.   Different authors preferred different cafes, apparently. I had not looked up which cafe Simone de Beauvoir spent her time talking to Jean-Paul Satre in, but it didnot matter. I ploughed through a few more pages of her book that I am reading while I drank my very delicious hot chocolate. Yes, it was expensive, but there were French people on one side of me.

Then I sat in the church for a while and then  wandered my way back through a few more of the quaint passgeways and narrow streets filled with  interesting things.

Louvre

I spent a while yesterday trying to find out how to join the shortest queue into the Louvre.  Wasted time.  I tried to buy my tickets on line. No success.  This morning I thought I was on track to avoiding the main queue, but no, I must have been following the wrong signs. Never mind, I only waited about 20 minutes, and I was reading my book and it is significantly warmer than when I arrived in Paris.

The Louvre used to be the King's palace and became a museum during the French revolution. There are 5 floors in 3 interconnecting wings - though they donot, as I found out, connect on every level. The plan is very hard to follow because it does not have all the rooms marked, and only about half the rooms have any identifying number displayed. I walked up and down many many steps. Given that I was a bit ambivalent about going in the first place it was a bit hard to maintain my enthusiasm. I went first to the Italian masters and spent some there looking at artists I was familiar with. There were 3 interesting Caravaggios.  After wandering aimlessly in the same wing for a while I thought a coffee and/or food was needed.  I found a French looking cafeteria place , next to a crowded Starbucks. I went into the French place, and was politely told  they didnot open for 15 minutes.   I said "  But I donot want to go to an American chain in Paris." , forgetting to make any attempt to speak in French. A very British voice , 1 of the staff, replied " I agree, Madam". However, needs must, but my remaining interest was rapidly decreasing. I tried another wing but gave up after a while and went to the Islamic art. I pottered peacefully for a while looking at interesting patterns on tiles, decorated bowls, etc etc  There was some interesting writing on signs but it was too dark to conveniently read. Not that I was grumpy or anything.  I gave up because it was lunchtime.

Marmottan Museum and 16th

This morning I went to a place on my list in the 16th arrondissement for a good coffee. I have now had coffee in all of the 20 arrondissements. I also have documentary evidence that I have been to all 20 in the form of the typical Parisien street sign which includes the arrondissement number.

After coffee I walked to the Marmottan Museum. The building , originally a hunting lodge, was passed down to different people and organisations,  aquiring assorted collections along the way.  Now mainly Empire and Restoration furniture and impressionist paintings. In 1966 the museum inherited the largest collection of Monet's paintings in the world from Monet's son Michel.

I have never been a big fan of Monet. Today, though , I went round this large room - on my own - and found the one I liked the best. I sat in front of it for a while and quite enjoyed it, imagining myself on a nearby park bench looking at the pond and the relections. Afer I looked at the rest of the paintings - I quite liked one by Renoir of Manet, quite relaxed, smoking a pipe, reading a newspaper - I went to the shop, but my favourite Manet was clearly not one of the popular ones. I bought a postcard of it, but that was all there was. I bought myself a small jigsaw of my second favourite .

This afternoon I went to a nearby hotel that had been recommended and sat in their very quiet and interestingly decorated lounge for a peaceful cup of coffee for an hour reading the New York Times.  I felt justified in reading that newspaper because yesterday morning I had puzzled over a French newspaper about what Macron and Le Pen were up to.

This sign, a bit hard to read, is in the first and I have just finished reading a book by Colette.

This is in the 17th on the wall of a library.

Sunday and 17th on today

Yesterday was good. I thought I would be adventurous and go somewhere different within 200m different for coffee. ( Sunday many places are open late). I asked Ms Google who said there was a place that was open. Clearly she had not told them. So I went back to my ususal. It is run by a man and his wife.  Yesterday morning she was there. I was sitting next to another regular and another was at the bar. The man came in, shook both their hands in a morning greeting, got to me and shook my hand too.  I am not going to bother going anywhere else.

For lunch I went to a different  nearby place and had a delicious meal. I had chestnut soup, which I had never had before an a chicken dish. Turned out it was mainly Corsican food.

In the afternoon I went to a concert at the American Cathedral. There was a violin, oboe, soprano and 2 pianists. A Handel sonata, Gounod's Ave Maria, an extract from La Traviata, John Williams'  music for Schindler's List and , my favourite Saint-Saens " Dance Macabre" with violin, oboe and piano with 4 hands.  Not everybody played in everything, obviously.

Yesterday I had made a plan for the rest of the week after looking up what was open when. Today I decided to change my mind.  After my coffee - I did a few admin type things e.g. more money required, then caught the train to the 17th arrondissement.  The coffee shop was a pleasant walk away - nice area, nice houses, nice shops without being over-the-top, but was not open on Mondays .  Should have stuck with the plan. Never mind, there was a pleasant nearby bistro and then a pleasant park for a stroll, but all the seats were taken up with young mothers or old people.

I had read of a bistro at St Lazare railway station, but it was full, so I walked on and had a pleasant cheaper lunch. Then walked to the Palace Garnier. I had seen a model of the inside at the Musee d'Orsay and that was as fas  as i will get. I did not feel like queuing up to get into the foyer, which I hd read you can do. The outside was very ornate.

Saturday and 20th arrondissement

There is a football match on today between Scotland and France. If I had not known that I would have wondered at the 3 different groups of stout no-longer-young men going around dressed in kilts that I have seen.

I caught the bus to its terminus in the 20th arrondissment - only about 4 km from where I am in the centre. The central part of Paris is really quite small. The main reason visitors go to the 20th is the famous cemetery, Pere Lachaise.  Me, I was looking for good coffee.  Plan A was closed ( despite the hours on the website), so was plan B, again,despite what it said on the website. So I took pot luck and did well. It has been on my list to sit outside at a cafe and take an hour over my coffee. The weather, or the circumstances or the outside smokers, have meant that until today I have not done this. This morning I found a  cafe, slightly receased from the road that had a free table.  I was not worried about outstaying my welcome because the lady next to me was there when I arrived and when I left.  The cafe was OK for ordinary French coffee. The only problem was that I was reading a book on my phone and the relections were a bit tricky. Holding it under the table seemed a bit wrong , as though I was reading something furtive - a book on neuroplasticity?

I walked back to my apartment via another body of water , the Arsenal Basin , with a bridge and houseboats.  It joins up with the Canal St Martin, but underground. My plan was to have lunch where I have eaten before, but it was closed, again, despite what it said on its website. In this case plan B worked. I went to a place on Ile saint Louis where I had been before. About half visitors and half locals.  Next to me sat a lady and man who were Italian but had lived in London for 15 years and also spoke French and German as well as English.  Mind you, she used some Italian words in the French she was speaking to the wait staff. She had said French was her worst language.

Tomorrow I will not be doing anything travel related - so no blog. I will go to a concert in a church in the afternoon.

Arsenal Basin with the Bastille statue in the distance. A funny bridge - people walk in an enclosed tunnel.

Picasso and Alexander Calder

This was an exhibition that I enjoyed. I tried to understand the blurb about how they both use space and the lack of space. There were lots of rooms with different sorts of their work. I think my favourite was entitled '4 leaves and 3 petals'.

It was as tall as me. 

Then I had yet another nice lunch and talked to a guy from Tasmania.

Brief today, emails to write.

Canal St Martin, 19th and museum of musical instruments

This morning I didnot go to my normal bar for a coffee and croissant but walked  through the 3rd arrondissemnt to the 10th to another place on my list - and many other peoples  judging by how full it was 5 mintes after opening time ( at least, what their website says). I had poached eggs and mushrooms, not that I'm homesick or anything, but it was delicious.  Then I walked alongthe canal St Martin - very pleasant .  Nice cafes and shops inerspersed with apartment buildings along the route. It felt a bit more relaxed than other parts of Paris. It widened out when it got into the 19th arrondissement. Still very pleasant, but fewer cafes.  There was a small 'marina' - more like a pontoon with 20 houseboats  tied up.  See photo below. As I got nearer the end- or rather when the canal goes into a big park, there were loud noises which turned out to be a very noisy food market.  I had a quick look in. The signs were all in French but I donot think what the spruikers were calling out was French.  It was not Asian. I had not seen many people wandering around so I have no idea.

Just  before I left the canal, I stopped for another cup of coffee at another of the places on my list (only 3 arrondissement to go) . Then I walked to a place that looks on the map like it was a green park, but now is a huge musical complex with several auditoriums, musical instrument shops, practise rooms, meeting rooms, an exhibition space and a museum of musical instruments - why I was there.  Lots of very peculiar looking things - a good audio guide which often had muic played by the instrument, interesting bits and pieces. It was very hard to take photos  of individual instruments - other instruments in the way and many reflections.

Then I walked a few more kilometers south though the streets of the 19th. It was predominantly a Jewish area until I got to a large park , the Parc des Buttes Chaumont, which reminded me a bit of Central Park in NY. It was nice to walk through and see so many people wandering around.  I got to the place I was heading for, again on my list, whose website said it was open for lunch. Not so today. So I went to another place and the queue was out the door ( by this stage it was 1.30). So I went further on and stopped at the first non-Asian, non-northern African restaurant that had at least 1 or 2 women sitting with the predominantly male customers. I walked for a while! I had an OK lunch. Cheap and tasty enough, though I have no idea what the entree was . Of the 5 words in the description I only recognised one - the generic word for poultry.  It was a fried meatball of minced poultry - but which bit? I rather think it might be something I would not have chosen, however it was the only one on the menu of the day.  I caught a train back after lunch.

There is a boulangerie around the corner from me which has excellent salads. One does me for 2 days.  The lady recognises me,. She knows I am learning French, she always addresses me in French, though I know she speaks English . I normally get the money right, except I always stumble on 80 - in French quatre vingt - 4 20.  Specially at the end of the day.  I usually only buy the salad - 6.50 , but today bought a small macaroon, so it was 7.80, except I go out 7.40. She just looked at me , smiling, and waggled her finger, no no, in a friendly manner. Not the first time she has done that.  I said I would definitely get it right next time. I had better because she will remember.

I do ike the same bare trees that are everywhere. Trouble is, I am coming to the opinion that I need to see them with leaves on.

This was the smallest of the houseboats. Just right for 2 people. You may have to blow the photo up to see its name  -' La Decadence' and the other sign that says ' A vendre'. Buying a box of 106 tiny balls of cotton is one thing, but this is way off the scale. But I did smile and daydream.

Parc des Buttes Chumont. There is grass on the left and the other green stuff on the right is water.

 

An archiluth  ( early 17th century) with 28 strings on the left  and a basoon russe ( early 18th century)  on the right. I could not get a photo with the creatures eyes, but they looked quite fierce.

Saint Chapelle plus photos

This morning I went to Saint Chapelle, the chapel built by Louis IX to house the relics of Jesus that he bought from the emperor of a new Frankish empire for a huge amount of money - more than the cost of the building.  Buying the bits, most notably the crown of thorns, was a religious and a political act.  There is a lower chapel and built on top the main chapel , 33 m long, 11m wide and very tall ,completely surrounded by stained glass windows , starting with the Genesis story and ending in the apocalypse. It is quite awe inspiring and would have been more so on a sunny day. Most of the bits have disappeared . The crown of thorns is now in Notre Dame and on display once a month.

I had lunch at a place that is more a winebar with food. The food was delicious and the wine list was only about half comprehensible. Luckily, one of the cheaper wines was one I had never heard of -- petit manseng, so I tried it. Grown mainly in hot dry areas , SW France and , as I have since found out, in the Riverland area of Australia.

On the walk back to my appartment I saw a fleet - well, about 6- of motor bikes specially fitted with an enclosed shaped box on the back of  each bike to carry hanging, drycleaned clothes. Maybe they exist in Sydney.

Another thing- there are lots of beggars, like any city, but especially around here with lots of people coming and going. There is one man who I regularly see, just standing there, quietly holding his bowl out, asking politely. I smile at him as I pass and gently shake my head.  This morning I put a coin in his bowl which he very politely thanked me for. When I retuned after lunch, he started to ask, realised who I was, immediately pulled his bowl away and apologised profusely for asking me again. Several days ago I thought to myself - he has been in the same clothes for 3 weeks. But then I realised it would appear that I have been too. Same black pants , purple jacket and scarf. Mine get washed and dried overnight.

Inside Saint Chapelle

(Russian) Orthodox Cathedral of the All-Holy Trinity

 

Place de Vosges from Victor Hugo's 2nd floor apartment

Tues Place de Vosges, Russian cathedral

I have read  the  Place des Vosges described as the  nicest square  in Paris in several books. It is largish, has the obligatory few statues,  flower beds, lots of seats, rows of trees,  corner area with children's play equipment - all normal.  What makes it stand out is the uniformity of the buildings surounding it. - All the same height, style, design, colour.  It really is very attractive. I  visited Victor Hugo's appartment in one of the buildings overlooking the square. It was his actual appartment that he lived in in his latter years and it had been done up , partly in the manner it would have been.

After more wondering and sitting in some more squares, I had another nice lunch and wandered back.

I visited the new Russian Orthodox Cathedral in the afternoon. It was consecrated in December 2016. It was an interesting building. Another adjacent building had an exhibition space showing a Russian painter's work. Apparently there are classrooms, a cafeteria, living accomodation for the priests etc.  The 5 domes all have a matt silvery colour. In the main church there are a lot of icons around the walls and  different saints are painted on the wall the separates the nave from the sanctuary . There was a uniformity of colours - blue and light brown that looked good.

9th, 18th and 10th

This morning I caught a bus to the northern part of th 9th arrondissement and had my breakfast and coffee at another of the coffee shops listed as being good. I presume it was started by Australians because its name used to be Koala Bear - although not spelt that way. Now it is KB coffee shop

I walked up the hill ( I counted  165 steps)  to Sacre Coeur in the 18th arrondissement. Lots of domes, no information in English, only a few people, peaceful. Then I wandered round some Montmartre streets, but I was too early. People were only just starting to open up their shops and cafes. I gave up on that and walked east to yet another coffee shop ( I will go to one  in every arrondissement) . Another nice cup of coffee, except I spoke more French than the guy behind the counter. I'm sure he will learn faster than me.

I spent the next few hours zig-zagging my way down through the 10th arrondissement. Sometimes deliberately and sometimes not so. I stopped at a place on my list and sat down for lunch. The guy next to me heard me order and asked in (American) English where I was from. Turned out he was one of the owners. He asked why I was there, I said it was on my list, he asked who recommended it, so I got out my phone to look up the spreadsheet to tell him. He knew the author of the book that had recommended the place.  He had spent time in San Antonio , one of the places, courtesy of Wendy and her family's road trip, that I saw last October.

Then I continued the zig-zagging back here , via the Place de la Republic.

One of the things I enjoy about wandering is coming across things that make me smile. There was a typical park that I have seen many of - flower beds, some grass, a ping-pong table, some children's play equipment, seats . This time right in front of a church called Eglise Saint Bruno and with the lovely bare trees that are everywhere. Bruno sounds an unlikely name for a saint, but there was one. There was also the normal bar/cafe on one corner.

14th arrondissement

Today I went to the 14th arrondissement. Like many of these divisions, I have only seen a little of each.

I started at Gare Montparnasse, one of the main train stations in Paris for long distance  trains. ( on the edge of the 14th  but i think in the 15th) I had read of a garden built on the top of the station. It was a bit hard to find, and then it was mainly tennis courts. Some nice quiet places to sit. The last few days have been quite warm - max of 12 or 13, but that is at 2ish. I was there at 9ish.  I , like many others, have ditched my knee length coat.

Next was coffee time - another of the new places. Nice coffee. Then I went to an exhibition at the Foundation Cartier for Contemporary Art. It was about geometric designs from South America.

Then lunch time at an old  traditional Art Decor place. Nice interior. I got the distinct impression I was being ignored . Probably because I was the only one in my section eating from the special cheap menu.  It was a large place with high ceilings and most of the time I just sat and watched what was going on. I did have some nice food.

Then I walked back via the Luxembourg Gardens.  There were lots of people out and about. There was a pond with small sailing boats but they are not remote controlled. You just get given a large stick with which to retrieve them when they come near or push them out from the wall. Once they are out in the middle of the pond you have no control  and , like today with no wind, they just sit there.  Not like New York at all.  Pity. As I approached I was trying to remember what I paid in NY 6 years ago and what I was prepared to pay in Euros today. 0 for no control, as it turns out.

Just below the Luxembourg Gardens the police were closing offf roads, then there were more and more police, closed roads, congested other roads , lots nd lots of people and I realised that a lot of the people walking up a parallel street to the one I was walking down had yellow jackets on!  They were crossing the Seine on 1 bridge and myself and many others were watching at a distance from the next bridge.

Tomorrow I am not doing anything trip related. So no photos or blog. I am having a day off.

Pont de Grenelle - one of yesterday's bridges. If you have good eyesight , you can see a reminder of another structure built by Monsieur Eiffel.

6 bridges and 15th arrondissement

Yesterday I had a good experience in the metro, not so brilliant today. First off I got off the metro at  Concorde, looked at the map of exits and decided I wanted exit number 4 of 7. However, I could not find it anywhere. Who knows. But no big deal.

I walked along the Seine all morning taking photos of bridges, wandering back and forward across the river from the 15th into the 16th.  I would like to go back to the new Russian Cathedral.  There were lots of modern apartment blocks along the river, and, like every where else, little well-kept parks. I had a later than usual start, so my coffee stop became lunch as well. A gentleman from Woolongong ran the place. Nice coffee.

As I was walking back to a metro stop,  I stopped at a shop selling beautiful wooden jigsaws. It was inbetween a funeral parlour and an orthopedic mobility aid place.   There was one in the window , a map of Paris , 500 pieces but the result was quite small. I went inside to look. The pieces were tiny and the most convoluted shapes I have ever seen in a jigsaw.  Far too difficult and far too expensive. I found a 100 piece one that I thought might be better. The lady helping me had less English than I had French. She said in French, "But it is for a child" - she had no idea what I meant when I said in English ' So who is going to know?' I wil think about it.

The metro stop was a small one with only 1 line going through it. The gate to get in would not take my ticket. People with a pass could use another gate, but not me. So I went to the ticket window, talked to man, who rolled his eyes at me and spoke way to quickly. He wrote on the back of my ticket.  No big deal. Who knows what tomorrow will bring?

Mosque and a corner of the 13th

I had a morning off this morning. I read more of my book on neuroplasticity and started Voltaire's Candide.

After lunch I walked  to the corner of the Botanical Gardens  where there was a labyrinth.  It was called a labyrinth, but was just a windy path with hedges on either side which went up a small hill with a funny little metal structure with a few chairs on the top. Not a proper labyrinth. I was reminded of the labyrinth otside Grace cathedral in San Fransico that was wedged in between the cathedral wall and a fence right next to a busy road.  At least today's labyrinth was quiet

Nearby was the Grand Mosque of Paris which I read was modelled on the Alhambra. Maybe a  very small corner of the Alhambra.  It was quiet and peaceful.  See a corner below.

Next I walked about 2.5 km though a corner of the 13th arrondissement to where there was a cafe on my list. It is an area that I will not be walking through again. Large ordinary blocks of high rise apartments, run down shops, very few people around. Eerie. The cafe was in a nice little pocket. It was big enough to have a 'toilette' - the common name here. Not all the small 'hole in wall'  coffee shops on my list have this facility.

For 2 weeks I have walked everywhere but today  I caught the metro back to my apartment.

Wednesday 2 weeks gone

After a slow start I walked over the Seine to the famous Shakespeare and Co bookshop and cafe. I have 2 lists of places to get good coffee and both included this cafe. I was not going to go on principal. All the signs are in English and I was further put off when I was greeted with 'Hi, what can I get you?' However the coffee was good.  I had stuck my head in the bookshop last Sunday and it was crowded so today  I gave it a miss and found, a few streets away, another bookshop. I walked out with 4 books, all by French authors, 3 in English and one,  Candide by Voltaire, in English on one side and French on the other. 

After my previous post, a friend suggested I look at the work of a particular French designer who uses lots of colours in her scarfs.  About 20min walk away was a shop that had some of her work,  It was a small shop, fairly typical, with beatiful thngs - scarfs, bags, jewelry, gloves, hats, nicknacks. I enjoyed looking.

I walked to the edge of the Luxembourg Gardens. They looked interesting, but it was time for lunch. Another traditional bistro. The waiters were polite, very hard working, it was packed, food was delicious.  I ambled off, saw a sign to a church , Eglise Saint Etienne du Mont, that I had read about so went up the hill, not so good on a full stomach. It  had an amazing rood screen - the divison between the nave , where the congregation sits and the sanctuary where the people officiating at the service traditionally sit.

It is a bit hard to see the detail in the photo, but it is supposedly the most elaborate in Paris.

I wondered back down the hill and came back via a statue of St Genevieve, the patron saint of Paris on one of the bridges.

Again, probably hard to see the detail.

Sorry about the formatting. I will fix it later ( or not)