Forget the map, it just creates false expectations!

The cycle: give up on map, ask someone (mostly pointless), wander, whine, try map again.

. . . but everyday we start out with objectives, some of which we meet. If you try too hard to find something, you miss the little gems that you come upon by chance.

AW. Garbage day in the hood.

AW. Early Sunday morning, searching for open patisserie.

Poodles are out, these guys are in.

Street market.

History of Paris museum.

Impromptu concert.

Saturday at the Pompidou

We decided to go to one major museum, the majorly confusing Pompidou Center. Picture, if you will, that Ikea is a museum, but the escalators are on the outside of the building, and some are not working. Oh, and the sales clerks are French. (You can click to enlarge any photo.)

Me and my posse getting ready to head out. The French can be somewhat stiff.

Near our apartment.

Skyline from the Pompidou Center.

St. Martine Church.

From the Pompidou.

Fifty degrees? Non. Forty degrees? Oui.

So, we were expecting the 50s but infact it's in the 40s. Today I had 3 layers on plus my jacket, tomorrow 4. Oh, and it's cloudy, and sometimes windy. But we march on. We walked to Isle St Louis which in in the Seine. Very nice, quiet . . . chilly.

Notre Dame Cathedral

Isle Saint Louis

Unusual doors, almost everything is perfectly maintained.

Paris has charming shop windows.

The very old, tiny restaurant we we had lunch.

Everybody Dance Now!

. . . ah, 70s disco hits are alive and well in Paris. We were walking down to the Seine when it started to drizzle. So we popped into the busiest cafe we could find (busy is good?) and had a quick dinner, serenaded by American disco music.

Here's a tip: If you click on a any photo you can see all photos on that page in a larger size. Click the X in the upper-right to return to the post and see the text.

The disco cafe, no dancing though.

Street scene.

French postcards.

Our apartment is over a cafe. We're on the first floor, the one with the potted trees. A patisserie is about 30 steps away and cafe is pretty good, plus the waiters speak English.

Oh Mon Dieu!

Did I really say that I would start blogging today. We have never been so jet lagged. I couldn't sleep at all on the plane. (I know, "Oh, boo hoo Ellen).

So here are just a few shots of the view from the apartment. It's a busy area, meaning that everything is close by, in walking distance, which is great. Also the windows are double? triple? glazed. There is no street noise at all.

Much more later.
E&A

Scenes from 9 Rue Saint Denis.

      

Paris: The Third Time’s a Charm?

Come along with us to Paris and Amsterdam.

After much back and forth about where to go on vacation, we’ve decided to revisit to Paris. We plan to focus on things we missed before and to explore the little things that make Paris so charming.

We added Amsterdam to the trip just to prove to ourselves that we still have a sense of adventure. Pot! Prostitutes! Tulips! And whatever else Amsterdam is known for. I guess we’ll find out.

We’re bringing two cameras (one for each of us), so expect lots of photos. We’ll start blogging on October 13th. I’ll send you a reminder that we’ve gone live.

A note on making comments: I attempted to set up the blog so you could add your comments, but that was a wild goose chase. If you have a Goggle account you can add comments, if not, send us an email. We'd love to hear from you.

Ellen & Andy