I am just getting around to posting about the walk yesterday with a few photographs, but first, I'll bring you up to date with every last detail of yesterday and today! This main page is getting huge, so my apologies if it is slow.
(Note: the right hand navigation menu is broken in Internet Explorer 6 for me :( It is all the way down at the bottom. Oh well...)
We hung around the house for a good while yesterday, as it was our first Saturday together in Paris as well as recovering from the seafood madness from Friday night. I hope you enjoyed that post and I have to reiterate that it was truly MADNESS. It was a completely over-the-top, soirée of gluttony. We were very happy it was Friday night. After blogging, drinking coffee, lounging, and attempting to read the online French newspaper (mostly a failure) we all exited the apartment. Aimée (yes, I like to write her name with the accent aigu[acute] and haven't heard any complaints so far) and I went for a random walk. Jim, after some intense museum research, departed with us to visit one of his selections, which eludes me at the moment. I'm sure we will get to many of them during our stay.
We decided to take a walk to Ile de la Cité, which approximately means "Island City" , literally "Island of the City". It is an island in the Seine River. I read that this island used to be the entire city limits of Paris, and I saw a picture which showed it majestically walled up around the edges (my picture below). Anyway, this notion sounded very interesting to me but I didn't find it all that exciting, mostly because it was about 4°C (39°F) and a tad windy. I was under-dressed and even though I am from Chicago, California has somewhat ruined my tolerance to the elements. I was cold before we even crossed the bridge and wanted to get back off the island. I thought I saw most of it but realized it is much bigger and only saw the eastern most part which was mostly shops, restaurants, cafés and 3 to 5-story, quaint apartment buildings. We will have to revisit later. We also saw one of the MANY Cathedrals every European city has to offer, but I did not recall the name. I'll probably save it for Notre Dame and/or separate Cathedral post.
We returned from the island after a short while in my quest to get out of the cold wind and walked a bit more. It is really amazing how many fancy shops, restaurants, museums, and extravagant courtyards there are everywhere, all within a few blocks of our apartment. Obtaining food, drink, supplies, etc is all extremely convenient. Of course, many of the stores are independently owned with many different brands of things; something different and pleasing from the Wall-Mart/Fast-Food/7-11/strip-mall type trend that seems to be going on back in the good ol' USA. We hit a store to stock up on some supplies, food and drink and enjoyed the adventure of figuring out what things were. Basic items like Ziplok bags and spices are different and it is amusing to figure out what is what.
Dinner was a simple, ad-hoc preparation in an effort to save € and to continue to fit into our clothes. Have we mentioned that wine is as cheap as water?! They must send all their junk wine to the U.S. This is probably what happens to the junk "Kentucky Bourbon" and Scotch whiskey brands I saw in the French store. I have never heard of most of these brands.
The evening was mellow as I continued to teach myself French and did some French TV channel surfing. I didn't find anything that interesting and could barely parse a word. I'm assuming that enough exposure to the blah-blah-blah-hon-hon-hon will eventually sink in subconsciously. I think I'm still jetlagged, and my back is not used to the bed. It also doesn't help that there is a nearby bird that starts singing around 4am until the daily 7am garbage truck comes by -- even on Sunday! There should be some international law against this.
Today we got out of the house a little earlier to head to the twice weekly Farmer's Market by the nearby Bastille Métro station. There was an incredible selection of fruits, vegetables, meats, cheeses, clothing, Christmas trees, pocket knives, spices and other random junk. Aimée was happy to have found some crushed red pepper which has turned out to be very elusive here. I found this sort of market interaction to be terrifying as the natives might as well be speaking Chinese (any variety). My ability to ask for goods is very limited and understanding anything more than the most basic of phrases is still approximately zero. I can't even say "I'd like 3 of those things" yet.
I declined to leave the apartment this afternoon which I think has worried my wife that I will never venture outdoors ever again! I've taken the time to continue to research what cell phone company and plan I will switch to here, write this essay, expand my French vocabulary, do some reading for work, and to prepare my fantasy football team for today's games. I also need to send some email back to the states as our car is still not sold and our belongings have not left for here yet... Etc.
Here are some pictures:
Our apartment, which is on the street level, inches from the sidewalk. LOUD.
The Courtyard our door exits to.
The street in front.
History Museum a couple blocks away.
Ile de la Cité
Cute street nearby. I really like the chimneys, iron balconies and faux gas lamps. Paris is like a GIANT New Orleans, LA, USA (way more classy of course)
Cheers,
-Dennis
(Note: the right hand navigation menu is broken in Internet Explorer 6 for me :( It is all the way down at the bottom. Oh well...)
We hung around the house for a good while yesterday, as it was our first Saturday together in Paris as well as recovering from the seafood madness from Friday night. I hope you enjoyed that post and I have to reiterate that it was truly MADNESS. It was a completely over-the-top, soirée of gluttony. We were very happy it was Friday night. After blogging, drinking coffee, lounging, and attempting to read the online French newspaper (mostly a failure) we all exited the apartment. Aimée (yes, I like to write her name with the accent aigu[acute] and haven't heard any complaints so far) and I went for a random walk. Jim, after some intense museum research, departed with us to visit one of his selections, which eludes me at the moment. I'm sure we will get to many of them during our stay.
We decided to take a walk to Ile de la Cité, which approximately means "Island City" , literally "Island of the City". It is an island in the Seine River. I read that this island used to be the entire city limits of Paris, and I saw a picture which showed it majestically walled up around the edges (my picture below). Anyway, this notion sounded very interesting to me but I didn't find it all that exciting, mostly because it was about 4°C (39°F) and a tad windy. I was under-dressed and even though I am from Chicago, California has somewhat ruined my tolerance to the elements. I was cold before we even crossed the bridge and wanted to get back off the island. I thought I saw most of it but realized it is much bigger and only saw the eastern most part which was mostly shops, restaurants, cafés and 3 to 5-story, quaint apartment buildings. We will have to revisit later. We also saw one of the MANY Cathedrals every European city has to offer, but I did not recall the name. I'll probably save it for Notre Dame and/or separate Cathedral post.
We returned from the island after a short while in my quest to get out of the cold wind and walked a bit more. It is really amazing how many fancy shops, restaurants, museums, and extravagant courtyards there are everywhere, all within a few blocks of our apartment. Obtaining food, drink, supplies, etc is all extremely convenient. Of course, many of the stores are independently owned with many different brands of things; something different and pleasing from the Wall-Mart/Fast-Food/7-11/strip-mall type trend that seems to be going on back in the good ol' USA. We hit a store to stock up on some supplies, food and drink and enjoyed the adventure of figuring out what things were. Basic items like Ziplok bags and spices are different and it is amusing to figure out what is what.
Dinner was a simple, ad-hoc preparation in an effort to save € and to continue to fit into our clothes. Have we mentioned that wine is as cheap as water?! They must send all their junk wine to the U.S. This is probably what happens to the junk "Kentucky Bourbon" and Scotch whiskey brands I saw in the French store. I have never heard of most of these brands.
The evening was mellow as I continued to teach myself French and did some French TV channel surfing. I didn't find anything that interesting and could barely parse a word. I'm assuming that enough exposure to the blah-blah-blah-hon-hon-hon will eventually sink in subconsciously. I think I'm still jetlagged, and my back is not used to the bed. It also doesn't help that there is a nearby bird that starts singing around 4am until the daily 7am garbage truck comes by -- even on Sunday! There should be some international law against this.
Today we got out of the house a little earlier to head to the twice weekly Farmer's Market by the nearby Bastille Métro station. There was an incredible selection of fruits, vegetables, meats, cheeses, clothing, Christmas trees, pocket knives, spices and other random junk. Aimée was happy to have found some crushed red pepper which has turned out to be very elusive here. I found this sort of market interaction to be terrifying as the natives might as well be speaking Chinese (any variety). My ability to ask for goods is very limited and understanding anything more than the most basic of phrases is still approximately zero. I can't even say "I'd like 3 of those things" yet.
I declined to leave the apartment this afternoon which I think has worried my wife that I will never venture outdoors ever again! I've taken the time to continue to research what cell phone company and plan I will switch to here, write this essay, expand my French vocabulary, do some reading for work, and to prepare my fantasy football team for today's games. I also need to send some email back to the states as our car is still not sold and our belongings have not left for here yet... Etc.
Here are some pictures:
Our apartment, which is on the street level, inches from the sidewalk. LOUD.
The Courtyard our door exits to.
The street in front.
History Museum a couple blocks away.
Ile de la Cité
Cute street nearby. I really like the chimneys, iron balconies and faux gas lamps. Paris is like a GIANT New Orleans, LA, USA (way more classy of course)
Cheers,
-Dennis
See our photos on Flickr!
About me
- I'm off2paris
- From Paris, France
- off2paris at wonky point org
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