Wed 01.Jun.2011
Paris, France
Sunny days in Paris aren't usually non-stop sunny. They are more partly cloudy,
or even mostly cloudy, and rapidly changing. Sometimes the sunlight is gone before
the traffic light changes and that truck moves away from where it was blocking
your picture. An excercise in patience, that can be.
On a recent day, the desk clerk noticed me taking pictures of
the lobby of my cheapo hotel, and offered to take one of me.
That suit of armor by the counter is wearing a Halloween-style face mask
of French President Sarkozy.
A rack of rental bicycles. These are all over the city. I think you can
rent here and drop it off there.
From the window of a passing bus (number 63 ), the oddly asymmetrical towers
of St Sulpice church.
A little-seen view of another well-known church, Notre Dame Cathedral.
The reason for my second visit to The Marais this past week: a tip that this
brasserie has creme brulee that is yummy even by Parisian standards. Thanks, Barb!
While we are in the Marais, let's look around.
At the Place de la Bastille, the shiny new opera house.
Someday, perhaps I'll learn why they replaced the wonderful old opera house.
At least they left it standing - people still hang out on the steps.
Place des Vosges
Paris' oldest, and arguably nicest, square - certainly a favorite of mine.
A mere short block from Barb's creme brulee!
Back on the bus. Homeward bound, to the Rue Daguerre neighborhood in the 14th district.
Dark is falling. Time to stroll down Rue Daguerre for a bite to eat ...
... then past the classy wine bistro ...
... to the cafe and brasserie for
an after-dinner coffee while I select and edit from among the day's photos.
That is it for tonight. I have at least one more page of pictures coming from
here in Paris, but I myself am checking out of my digs here tomorrow morning. Then I
get to stay awake somehow until tomorrow night, when I climb on the first of three
trains to eastern Germany.
Curiously, the first train is the reverse of the one that brought me
here from Munich last year. Probably with the same waggon swap - the rest of
my train is going to Berlin, but at Mannheim they detach my waggon, and append it
to a train from Amsterdam bound for Munich.
Night trains do that a lot in Europe. It is one reason they require seat
reservations, so you don't end up in a waggon going to the other end of creation
from where you intended.
See you next from Plauen, Saxony, Germany, probably with more Paris pictures.
Contents Copyright 2012 Jeff Bulf