Surprises

This morning I went to a new patisserie.  This one is out the back door, up rue Daval and a right on Rue de Rockette.  It may take over as my favorite because the people there are much nicer.  The one at the other 2 places I have visited were nice enough, but in a hurry to just move on to the next customer and did not have time for even a smile.  Today though I was greeted with a smile, on leaving another smile, and then at my faux pas of including some Spanish in my “you have a good day too”, a mutual chuckle!

It is raining, and blessedly cool, hard to complain about the rain with the relief form the heat that it brings.  Fortunately the years I spent in Lafayette in an un-air-conditioned house had prepared me for various techniques at being cool. But still…..

I sort of piddled around for a while because it was pouring.  When it finally quit I headed to Rue Montmatre, to see if I could find a store I had visited in the past, but I was a failure.  I encountered several “passages” of which I have only seen a few, so it was fun to get to experience more of them.  They are the shopping mall of the 19^th century.  This one had charming stores that made me want to buy it all and bring home.  Teri would think she died and went to heaven.  I did.  I also stumbled across the Porte Saint Denis, which I did want to see.  It was really hard to get a good photo of it (as you can see I failed) because it is as if someone dropped in an area that was almost too tight for it.  Impressive it is though and it was built by Louis XIV to commemorate his victories.  The lion reminded me of Lucy who had her tongue hanging out of her moth half of the time.  This green “thing” is a Wallace fountain that was placed to give the citizens of Paris clean drinking water.   They are located all over the city.  This particular fountain in on the corner of where I catch the metro to come home from cooking school. 

Tonight was wine and cheese tasting.  There were seven of us in this class, Tracy (from another class – it was sure nice to see her again), Laurie from Canada, Georgia and Bob and Darlene and Brad, and the instructor Eric.  We got to try a variety of cheeses, wines accompanied by bread, fruit, and jam or butter as appropriate.  It was a very educational evening.  The unfortunate thing is that many of the cheeses we tried are not available at home.  On the way home the metro interchange was totally deserted while I waited, that is so unusual that I had to take a picture, the other night the entire car was empty!  Both times I was little surprised, because in my immense experience this is unusual. 

It was still light at 9:30 and The Place was beckoning, I have come to appreciate that little “ Genie” that I see every day coming and going.  I also found the Vespa I would own if I were to buy one, isn’t she sweet?  Finally Cour Damoye was enchanting tonight as I walked in from the back way tonight.  Lights just beginning to come on, the entire street had a golden glow.