Friday, August 29, 2014

• Laundry day so not much exciting going on. We did get out for our usual afternoon café-sit. This time we went to one that we had not ever visited, but have seen many times. It is called Le Square. It looks out on the park near the apartment. 

I had a panaché and Alexandrias had a limonade called Pschitt. Don't try to pronounce it, it won't sound nice. 

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   Enlarge this photo of the coaster. It is interesting.
  
  
  
  
  In many cafés, the check is put into a small pail and left on the table.
  
  
  
  
  Here's a selfie of the two of us in Le Square.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

Thursday, August 28, 2014

Today, we went out to visit one of our favorites areas, the Canal St. Martin. It connects the Seine River with the Canal de l'Ourcq in the northeastern part of Paris. It runs underground between the Bastille and the place de la Rėpublique and then continues above ground. Click here to read more about it.
We were walking along the Canal just at the time a pleasure barge was going through several of the locks that join the above ground section with the underground section near the République. You can see in the photos the water actually draining from one lock to the other.

This first photo shows the canal where it goes underground.

Here we see the boat entering the first level of the locks.

And now the gate has closed to get the water level equal so the boat can move into the next section.

Now you can see the boat lower in the first section before moving on to the next one.

Notice the water as it rushes from section to the next to get the water level even so the boat can proceed.

Finally, the boat moves into the lowest section, the part under the boulevard Richard Lenoir. having gone down two water levels.

Here is the Canal going in the opposite direction. Very different from the underground part.

We walked on to the Café Prune for our afternoon sit-down. We have been there in other years. 

Tuesday, August 26, 2014

This afternoon, we took a walk out to the place de la Republique for a libation. While there, I renewed our transportation passes for the rest of August and for all of September. They give us unlimited travel on the busses and in the métro.

 On the way to the République, we passed by this notice that that if you are caught feeding the pigeons, there will be a fine of as much as 450 euros. DONT FEED THE PIGEONS.  Notice it translates into English as well.

The following plaque tells about over 11,000 children that were deported by the Nazis from 1942 to 1944. Over 500 of them lived in our quarter of Paris, the 3rd.  Many of them were students of the P. J. de Beranger elementary school where this plaque was posted. It ends at the bottom by saying "Let us never forget them."

One way to get to the République from our area is through this "passage". This one is rather grimy but later we hope to show you some beautiful ones in other sections of Paris.

Here is a shot of the statue in the République square.

At night we had dinner in one of our favorite local restaurants called Chez Omar. The specialize in North African cuisine, especially couscous.

Monday, August 25, 2014

Today, the French celebrate the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Paris at the end of World War II.
They had a big celebration in front of the Paris Hôtel de Ville (Main city hall). It started at 9 pm and we hadn't decided whether to go or not, especially since there were very large crowds expected and bus service would be interrupted. We are glad we decided not to go since there were heavy rains during the ceremonies. Below are two posters advertising the events. There were speeches by the French president and the mayor of Paris, a review of troops, and a sound and light display. We ate in at night and watched some TV. Can't have exciting happenings every day.

Sunday, August 24, 2014

Today,  we went down to the Place de la Bastille for the afternoon. While waiting for the bus, we spotted this fellow cleaning and painting the railing of his small balcony at the top floor of the building opposite the bus stop.

We also noticed this window with the flower boxes hanging over the railing of the window of this apartment. We hoped that they were firmly attached. At our townhouse complex at home,  overhanging objects like this are not allowed for obvious reasons.

One of our favorite shops along the boulevard Beaumarchais. It sells mostly ceramic and porcelain items. They always have lovely tea sets displayed in the windows, many of them manufactured in England.

A few more grafitti on several buildings along the boulevard Beaumarchais. No idea what they symbolize, if anything.

Finally, a new one has appeared on the corner of our street, rue de Beauce, and the rue the Bretagne. The space has been empty since we arrived a week ago. It will probably last a week or so and be replaced with something else. Since we have been coming to the "quarter", about five years now, there has always been an interesting, and rather well done grafitto on the corner. You can see the name of our street above the art work.

Saturday, August 23

Today, we did a lot of small things. We went to Office Depot to get some of our music bound into a booklet for our music week in Italy. Yes, I said Office Depot. We could have gone to Staples, but the Office Depot was more convenient. Each store has many outlets in Paris. Just like home. We then went on to the Gare de Lyon, a large train station, where we got train tickets for a part of our trip in Italy. We had our obligatory tea stop at the Café Européen across from the station. By the time we finished our chores, it was time to return to our "quartier" where we had dinner at the café Sancerre right around the corner from the apartment. We are regulars there by now. Alexandria had squid in a sauce somewhat like ratatouille and a curry-flavored rice. Erwin had a Burger de Roma with frites. See the photos here.

During the afternoon as we went to the Gare de Lyon, we took a number of photos that are interesting. First, a store devoted solely to e-cigarettes.

Then another grafitto.

Then, a group of stores along the place de la République that I refer to as "restaurant row". One fast food after another. In the photo, you might be able to identify starting on the extreme right Quick (a French brand), Kentucky Fried Chicken, MacDonalds, Hippopotamus, and Buffalo Bill Grille. The Hippopotamus is the one with the red awning way down the street above the person in red.

 A sign on the door of the Office Depot tells customers that wearing of cycle helmets is not authorized in the store. Couldn't tell whether this was meant to be funny or not.

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The first few days

We have been in Paris now for three days. We have not done anything exciting, but have spent our time relaxing from the singing week in Coventry, which was very tiring by the way. We have eaten out in several of our favorite places, done some shopping , a big load of laundry, and some café-sitting. To show you a bit of Paris, I have been photographing some of the graffiti and street art we have encountered in our walks. We will show more as we find all kinds of examples around the city.

Actually, not a graffito, but on the window of an ice cream store.

Here is very simple one. As with the others, I have no idea what it refers to.

 This one above is not graffiti actually. It is on the window of a veterinary surgeon's office. We thought it was cute.

The last one is my favorite. This quite a variety for just our small neighborhood. They used to be painted on walls but many are now put up on some type of sticky-backed paper so that they can easily    be removed. The fourth one reminds me of the comic strip character in the Nancy strip called "Sluggo" but I have no idea what it represents here. 

On Wednesday afternoon we passed by our local park and heard music. It was a band from a high school in England that was touring and giving concerts in France.

In the following photo, you should be able to hear the band playing. A new feature of this program allows downloading of videos, and I am trying it for the first time. But it takes a long time to download.