Too Hungry for Dinner at 8?

If you get too hungry for dinner at 8, stopping for a glass of wine and bar snacks can be a thinning experience. Yes, this is a tiny small glass of popcorn. I didn't think to take a picture until we had already eaten a third of it. I wanted to tell the waitress to bring out the damn bag and stop teasing.

Across from the cafe with the 'petit' popcorn snack was a cute little neighborhood merry-go-round in a park. 

Interesting this would be an Edsel and not a Peugeot.

Space ship and a motorcycle? 

The fascinating buildings, little balconies, intricate iron work. There is a little shop in my neighborhood that custom makes and repairs ironwork.

I wish I had taken picture of all the people out walking around at 11 pm on my way home from dinner. A mother pushing a baby stroller with two kids walking along looking in shop windows. Old women (me) out alone, the streets were comfortably full of people enjoying a balmy summer evening in May. Monday is a trek to the famous cemetery with famous people buried in it... 

In Search of the Gypsy...Found A French Thief

While in search of the gypsy, look who greeted me as I stepped off the bus. America is Back! Where did it go? Are we a pair of shoes? A sports team? Huh? What does the world think?

Well, never mind. Being on a mission I saw an open air market and hoped the gypsy was there.

This French mon was selling a new kind of slicer/dicer scissors. I couldn't resist. Zeee act saunt sold to me the see zorss. It came with a hair pick too. Such a gadget to behold!

















So many hats, so few heads wearing them. Wait 'til you see the gorgeous girl who modeled for me at BHV.

i

This is the hat sales lady. While she was busy with customers,

This man put a hat on his head, pretended to look at hats, then sauntered away without paying. I couldn't remember the word for Stop, let alone thief, so I kept the camera clicking. Maybe some day he'll be on 'Most Wanted' and I can say I saw him in Paris.

No luck finding the gypsy at the market. With plenty of time and tired of crowds I walked several blocks to see the cemetery. So many little houses and each has interesting stained glass and alters inside. Some have kneelers so people can step inside and say a prayer. I would have to pray; #1. that I could get back up from the kneeler and #2. I wouldn't get my butt stuck in such a tiny space.

I kind of liked the idea of using an old flower pot for a candle holder. The green branch was plastic. I love one of the little 'houses' with a step ladder leaning against the wall inside. Was it a ladder to heaven, an escape route, it reminded me of a spoon shaped like a ladder that is put in a pot of beans so the toots can climb out. Who knows, the French are clever ones...

A good traveler has no fixed plans, and is not intent on arriving. ~Lao Tzu

I took my head to the esthetic factory for a shampoo and blow dry. The shop was quite chic and I was thrilled when the suave shampoo boy helped me into a white gown. He gestured to me to sit in the shampoo chair. Whoa, what's this? Wee Wee an electric shampoo chair. The chair moved me into position for a precision shampoo. The shampoo artist stood behind the chair and washed my hair. Lovely, no bending for the shampoo boy and very comfortable for me. When the shampoo was finished the chair moved upright so I could easily get up and walk to the comb out station. I was so excited by the chair ride I could hardly wait for the blow dry. I told Georges he could have his way with me and blow it anyway he wanted. These stunning results gave me the big smile and photo with none other than Georges himself. Then sweet Georges gave me the bill for his services. 4E.60 writtin on a piece of paper because Georges didn't parley vou Anglais. I forked over a nice crisp 5E bill with a big smile. Non, Non, my dahm, 46E.00 ($69.). The rest of the day was sort of a dump...

I went back to my villa and none too soon as Napoleon's revenge struck. I took care of business and noticed the toilet tissue was getting low. On my stroll to the Monoprix to buy supplies I did a photo walk enjoying the sights along the way.

Interesting name for a restaurant. Delice House? Note the nice trash container? They all over Paris and very convenient for people and easy for collection.

I took this picture so you could see how close my villa is to many major sites. Note the woman crossing the street wearing the purple suit with the bag in front of her face? She came up to me and was very concerned I took her picture. Who is that lady in purple, she looked about 80. 

Moving right along to the important mission... I'm sure you have seen many pictures of Paris. Great food, wonderful wine, pastries and on it goes. Haaa, but have you ever seen black toilet paper? How bout' raspberry colored toilet paper? 

Toilet paper with beautiful art printed on it. I was fascinated with so many choices. I think I may have to bring some black TP home, it's just soooo black.

My very favorite is the birds flying. They just fly on and on.

Airplanes, squiggles and another favorite

fish. Who wouldn't love a nice koi coming at you.

On to the culinaire department. Clever dishes with a fresh looking radish and French girl licking her chops. See how thin she is? 

It looks 3-D in person. If we all ate just one cherry tomato and one radish, we could be that thin.

These mother of pearl silverware pattern will be coming home with me. They remind me of the silverware Monet had in Giverny. 

They looked too pretty not to take a picture of. 

Walking back to my villa I can pass through this beautiful garden that links the main shopping street to the larger garden, Place des Vosces.

This is Place des Vosces below.

The object d' arte was standing on the sidewalk jiggling. Somehow it jiggles constantly. 

When I returned to my villa, lady I rented from invited me for tea. This is a shot from her apartment looking down into the courtyard at my apartment. This was built about 1670. If you look closely you can see where my apartment was once used to keep the horses and carriages. It is right behind the beautiful Place des Vosces.

 I was admiring the view from her beautiful windows when I looked across at the roof on the other side of the courtyard. Do you see the kitty? 

Dinner by Kindle light: Chicken with pasta, fresh turnip, freshly shelled peas and carrots served with crispy bread.

No place like home...in Paris

 

I love my apartment in Paris. It's so Paris... This is my living room/half kitchen. 

Front door with the step ladder 'hidden' to use to water plants in the bathroom/kitchen.

The part of the kitchen in the living room a fridge, drawers to put stuff like foil, baggies, cupboards for dishes and boxes of food like pasta, crackers etc.

To the left of the 'kitchen' behind the curtains are shelves for clothes, closet to hang coats, store hoover and extra stuff.

Turning away from the kitchen part of the living room is a sleeper sofa. The cushions are piled up so I can sit on the sofa and put my poor aching feet, the red thing is pillow to put under my ankles so my heels don't touch anything while I use the computer, drink coffee or wine or look out the huge wall of windows.

That white covered thing is my bed. The white thing is thrown over the down quilt during the day. Just before getting into bed, the white thing is casually tossed on a chair or falls to the floor if I forget what to do with it.

The table is an antique and was made for very very very small people with very short arms and legs. The chair is also an antique and seems best only gazed upon as it's wobbly and isn't very butt friendly.

I'm showing you the front door again because I have to walk passed it to get to the bathroom and rest of the kitchen. Once again notice the step ladder and take a look at the ceiling in the archway. It has old, old timbers with plaster holding up the door way.

This is the bathroom showing the sink and tub/shower. The shower is a kick. It has a hand held shower which demands carefully spraying yourself wet, turn off the water, soap up, turn on the water and wait til it warms up again and rinse off the soap. Look to the left and up to see the clothes dryer. It's hinged and folds out to hang stuff. Nothing dries easily, but it's a hoot. 

See the corner of the tub to the left and the toilet to the right? Straight ahead is the rest of the kitchen. It has a sink to the right and a hot top with two hot spots to cook. Actually, the 'stove' is quite efficient and gets hot quickly unlike the hot water for the bathtub.

No need to tell you this is the toilette. Right next to the toilet is the clothes washer. Sort of a scary thing that washer. I turned it on and it ran for two hours. Finally pulled the plug. Off to the laundry-mat.

You can see the sink to the right that I mentioned earlier. Nice pots and pans along with plenty of good cooking gear on shelves under the counter top.

That black thing is the cook top.

Another view from the bathroom part of the room into the kitchen. 

For 'privacy' the door with the windows can be closed while either cooking or crapping. End of the home tour. It really is very nice and I love the 'Paris' of it.

I was walking by St. Dennis and stopped to look at the statues up above the doors. There were several statues in fact, but the expression of this ones face made me do a double take and then laugh. Take a close look at this guy. I am sure we are all reincarnated and all the little boys this dude humped came back as pigeons. You may wonder what that orange shaped ball is? It's a tiny basketball stuck on the prongs that were put there to keep pigeons from roosting. I guess now they fly up, poop and fly away.  

I couldn't resist taking a picture of these two fountains on the side of a building. It's not far from the Bastille and could have been the neighborhood water source at some point in time? They were charming though.

I couldn't resist taking this. Her owner who spoke no English understood my French and told me her name was Linda.

See the little cooking pot sitting next to the big flower pot? That's my dinner. I brought water to a boil, plopped in some green beans and a lovely piece of fresh, very fresh fish, then place pot and all outside for 10 minutes so it could cook. Very efficient way to cook fish in a bathroom/kitchen with no exhaust fan or window. It was delish.

This was the fish counter at the local Monoprix grocery store. Sorry these are a little out of order. I haven't figured out how to move them around yet. Tomorrow I'll show you more of the city.