Back in Paris

On Monday June 16, we got up early and my cousin drove us to the train station in Sete.  The train strike was in its 6th day, and the number of trains running was severely restricted.  We talked to a ticket agent who said that the 9:02 a.m. train to Paris was full, but that we should get on the train anyway.  We were told that the conductor might be in car 3 or 13.  On the platform, another employee said to try car 4.  When the train came we were in front of car 15, and given that we only had a few minutes to board, we got on the train.  We fortuitously had room for our luggage on the luggage rack and were able to find seats for the first 20 minutes of the ride to Montpellier.  Most of the passengers got on at Montpellier and as there are reserved seats on French trains, we had to move from our seats.

We ended up sitting on small steps in the area between cars, with about four other people.  Many others were standing in the aisles. We sat next to a young law student from Strasbourg who was studying for his exams.  We also talked to a young woman from Pennsylvania who had just finished a four week hike in France with her mother.  They were headed to China next for a total of 10 weeks before she headed to London for her Masters.  Due to the strike, no conductor ever came through the packed cars.  We got to Paris just ten minutes late and were never asked to pay!  It was sunny and around 22C in Paris.

                                                       Sitting in the area between the train cars

We arrived at the apartment we are renting on Rue du Fer a Moulin in the 5th Arrondissement (Latin Quarter, Left Bank), very close to the Rue Mouffetard food street.  One enters the courtyard from an old green door.  Inside are 5 or 6 small buildings (about 4 stories each), all painted in different colours, with lots of plants lining the walkways to the buildings.  Very quiet and lots of birds.

Alain outside door to our building (No. 5)

Walkway

We stayed at this apartment in 2012, and since then it has been painted and additional improvements made.  The apartment has a fully equipped kitchen, lots of cleaning supplies, a washing machine and a new shower.  Lots of light, very clean and comfortable.

Bedroom- small but with a nice window

Kitchen with another big window

Living room with another window

Part of our courtyard in front of our building

After we unpacked, we did some food shopping on Rue Mouffetard.  Unfortunately, Monday is the day most of the food stores on the street are closed, so while we were able to get some fruit and wine, there were no meat or fish stores open.  We decided we needed to walk, and headed off to Le Grand Epicerie at Bon Marche, which is open to 9:00 p.m.   It took us over an hour to get there, but we stopped to take photos and look at store windows.

We passed the Pantheon, which is undergoing a "dome lift".

Pantheon

A window in Noriem, one of my favourite stores

I love taking pictures of the many plaques that line the streets.  I only post some in the blog.  Here's one of the house where a woman, who was guillotined in 1794, lived for a while.  A bit of ancient history.

We finally got to Le Grand Epicerie.  In the past year, it has undergone a gorgeous redo.  Lot of wonderful signage and displays and a few new restaurants.  They had a section featuring photos and stories of various producers of the products in the store.  

Signage with photos of products

Cuban coffee

We bought a filet of merlan, some prosciutto and coffee beans.

Lovely fish display

Spanish section of store

We started to walk back, stopping for a coffee at Cafe le Vieux Colombier.

Alain at the counter with his cafe

Near Elglise Saint Sulpice, there is a space with tents often used for outdoor art exhibits.  We lucked into a wonderful display of prints, called Fete de L'Estampe Contemporaine (Festival of Contemporary Print-Making).  Each stall also had snacks and many of the artists were serving wine.  There were lots of interesting looking folks checking out the art.  Prices were reasonable and the quality was very high.  

                                                           Poster from one stall

The scene

Another booth

Great crowd and definitely some buyers!

Just a block away was a Patrick Roger chocolate store.  He is a real artist, and always has amazing chocolate sculptures in his window.  This year there was a big tiger.  I treated myself to a chocolate bar (first of the trip).

Just a chocolate tiger...

It is wonderful to walk in Paris in the evening in June.  The sun doesn't set here until around 10:00 p.m. and the light is beautiful.

Light on Cathedral

We passed the Odeon Theatre and the beautiful Sainte Genevieve church.

                    

Eglise Sainte Genevieve

There are always demonstration in Paris (manifestations).  The posters were still up for an anti-fascist demo earlier in June. The strength of Marine Le Pen and the right-wing National Front (26% of the vote) in the recent EU elections is very much the talk in France.

As we didn't get back to the apartment until after 10:00 p.m., we decided to have a light dinner of prosciutto and melon, a salad and some fresh cherries.  It is always wonderful being back in Paris.  So much to do and see.