recharged and ready

Last night I strolled over to the rue de Buci for dinner.  I ended up with a big pot of mussels, some frites, a glass of white, and some crusty bread to sop up the mussel broth.

 After dinner I stopped into a little greenhouse and bought this little cyclamen to welcome Alex to our tiny room.  I snagged a saucer out of the breakfast room so I wouldn't flood the floor with water.  Looks quite cheery!

Next door to this hotel is a shop that sells the most wonderful china,  French faience, glassware, table decorations, and other objects d'art, any or all  of which I would be more than delighted to bring home.  It's all so . . .French.

This neighborhood is full of little shops like this one selling antiques, rare books, fabrics, and other beautiful bibelots.   A window shopper's paradise.

I slept pretty well and got down to the breakfast room around 9:30.  It dawned overcast and cloudy and I had doubts about walking around today, but it soon cleared and the sun came out.  I lingered and dawdled, awaiting Alex's arrival.  She walked in at around 10:30 after her relatively short flight from Boston (6 hours as compared to my 10 ).  She downed a cup of coffee (or two), then it was up to the room to unpack and we headed out to reintroduce her to the city.  We first crossed over to the Right Bank, stopping for a view up river.  There, in the far distance, you can see the beautiful, iconic Tour Eiffel.  I'll get several opportunities during this trip for a closer picture, but right now I want you to be assured that I'm really here!

We walked to the Louvre, took a look at the glass pyramid, stopped to help a group of visitors take photos ~ Alex used several camera to get a whole lot of group shots of the members of a family on vacation together; they were delighted! ~ and strolled on to and down the rue Rivoli.  Then it was back across the river onto the Ile St. Louis and  Notre Dame and the flower market.  I saw this beautiful bank of cyclamen in every color, including stripes.

Then over to the Left Bank to Blvd. St. Germaine.  We were now in the 5th, strolled through the old neighborhood that is Mr. C's favorite.  The street market was just closing up but Alex recognized it all immediately.  It was in that nabe where Alex, Cait and I first stayed on our maiden trip to Paris back in 1978 on our way to Kenya.  And it was there that Alex and I stayed 10 years ago before launching on our barge trip.

We walked as far as Odéon, checked the movie theater to see if "The Martian" has yet hit Paris (it hasn't but might by the time we get back  after Florence), went through rue de Buci again so she could check out Carton's and its beautiful pastries.  And now we're back here, tired and foot-weary and ready for a bit of down time.  She is asleep as I write this.  As she said, "I don't know  the last time I slept."  We'll go out on a dinner search in a couple of hours.  She wants fish, I want veal.  I'm sure we can find a spot that sells both.