Bonjour!
We woke to a nice and sunny morning – the forecast calls for rain tonight, but the day is supposed to be nice. I had to do two more loads of laundry – one because I wanted to, and the second because of necessities needed for our return home on Tuesday. I do have to say, the washer/dryer combination here is extremely frustrating…grrr… I ran the short wash cycle (“only” 39 minutes!) and the clothes were absolutely soaking wet when finished; I’m not sure if the spin cycle even works with the short wash, even though it is supposed to! So, reset the unit to “dry” for 20 minutes – still soaking wet; 20 more minutes – still soaking wet; finally, 40 more minutes – and guess what? STILL soaking wet! At that point, I had had quite enough, and bundled the soaking and steamy laundry into our extra bag and hightailed it downstairs and over to the closest Laundromat that I knew – next to the BNP Bank about 10 minutes away. Place was open, spotless and had DRYERS that actually DRIED clothes! What a concept!! 24 minutes later, I was heading back to the apartment with folded clothes. By that time, the second load had finished, and R had it on the drying rack in the apartment…hopefully it will be dry by the time we have to pack up and leave!
R had some quantity of Caltech work to complete, and when that was finished, it was almost 11. My idea today, as the sun is shining, to visit a few of our favorite gardens. So, across the street to catch the 82 bus over to the Luxembourg. Then to our local boulangerie (which we miss a lot!) for sandwich jambon et fromage (ham and cheese on baguette) and drinks, which we took into the park for a picnic. There weren’t actually as many people as I’d expected; must be because when the sun goes behind the clouds (which is happening frequently) the wind blows, and it is downright chilly! (R being the gentleman, as I was dumb enough to go out without my jacket, lent me his, which I thought was pretty wonderful of him!) Lots of boats floating on the pond; lots of children enjoying them, as always.
From the park, we returned to the apartment, and I made my 3rd trip of the morning back up those increasingly difficult stairs to pick up my jacket and both umbrellas! (Memo to the file: Since R retired from Caltech, and we have no stairs in our house in Tucson, R has been lamenting their loss in our lives; says they helped keep us in shape…he has now definitely changed his mind, and will nevermore be heard to say he regrets no steps…)
Took the bus this time back to Montmartre and up the hills in the Montmartre bus to Place du Tertre. We always enjoy watching the various artists at work in the square – and today, seemed like thousands of other people had also had the same bright idea! The place was PACKED! We did find a woman whose paintings of Paris we really liked, so two more prints heading home and then to Pasadena for framing…I think we keep the frame shop in business! No idea, actually, where we’ll put these…but we’ll find a place, I’m sure! Walked around Sacre Coeur and caught the funicular back down the hill.
From the bottom of the hill, we caught the 30 bus to Park Monceau, another of our favorite public parks in Paris. Had a good look round; the roses surrounding the pond are stunning! Also enjoyed watching the kids on the merry-go-round!
Bused back to the flat around 4:30 p.m. for a sitdown, as well as try to figure out what/where to go for dinner tonight! We’re thinking that it might be nice to try Le Vauban, which is right downstairs from the apartment – that way, we wouldn’t have to worry about night buses or metro schedules, and could just saunter/stagger back up all those stairs!
More later!
m
xxx
How could you NOT buy something. Even the most tight fisted Virgo would have to buy something! How do those toy sailboats work. Are they radio controlled?
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