Paris Day 1 1/2 , Sort Of

Apparently this was sleep until 9:00am day and someone forgot to tell me! After the ladies roused out of bed and got cleaned up we decided to head out and get a Cafe Ole' and a croissant. We found a place a few blocks down and had the aforementioned plus a glass of orange juice each. It was enough. While walking to the small cafe we noticed a couple of foodie places to hit on the way back to the apartment. Yesterday we were afraid we may be in an area bereft of any "typically Persian" delights; the small stores with excellent free food, but we were wrong! We found a nice bakery and got a baguette of bread, a very nice fromagerie a picked up four great cheese, some ham (like the Jamon' you find in Spain) and a nice duck terrine. Then we went to the nearby grocery store and got some olives and crackers and of course, stopped at the wine shop. We got back to the apartment and had a very fine and simple, but delicious, lunch as your can see. The cheese shop was nice also...here are a couple of photos(on the next page)....the guy was very nice to us giving use some samples and explaining all the ingredients. It was in French and therefore I understood little of what was being said without the assistance of Shirley and her French speaking skills. After our lunch we all took a nap!!! Our internal clocks have yet to catch up with our physical bodies. It's a little difficult to sleep as they are in the

process of remodeling the apartment above this one and at times it is very noisy. Sounds as if they are in here with us. Here are a couple views out of the apartment...the first two are from the back. And the second two are from the front looking out over the canal. There are several tour boats marked "Paris Canal Tours" that ply the canal every afternoon. Certainly not anything like the canals in Venice, but, on the other hand, I did not even know there were canals in Paris. This afternoon, there was a guy playing a saxophone down by the canal..sounded nice up here on the 5th floor. An aside, there is an elevator here, however it is about the size of a refrigerator and only holds two people or one person with luggage. I stand in it and my shoulders touch the sides. Shirley thinks the building is from around the time of Napoleon. The ceiling medallions are all hand carved as well as the cornices above the doors. Thankfully the bathrooms have up dated from that era!

Found a guidebook in the apartment for the village of St. Martin which is where we are located, the village shares its name with that of the canal in front of the apartment. We have found a lot of highly rated places to eat as well as additional choices for wine, pastries and cheese. Makes it all a bit easier.

Here is a pic of Carroll and I in the elevator BEFORE we go out to dinner....just in case you were wondering.

We did go just down the street, not even a block, and ate at this place called Hotel du Nord, it was in several reviews. It was very good. Carroll had a veal with mashed potatoes, Shirley had tuna on a bed of

lettuce, and I had a beef tenderloin with French Fries. Good food and a nice environ.

Below are a couple of pics from the cheese shop we visited this morning. Vast selection of food stuff and fresh eggs just sitting out at room temp......