Friday, May 4, 2001
Took the #81 bus to Printemps then hopped an ancient #29 platform bus toward
the Bastille area. Got off at Gare Lyon when we should have gone one more
stop. The weather has turned COLD and I dressed for yesterday’s weather.
Gave up looking
for Marché d’Aligre to duck into a warm Chinese restaurant for a 55F soup/entree/dessert.
Decided we needed to get Chinese soup spoons for our “Mulan”-loving munchkins
at home. Took off for the Marché d’Aligre which was already over. But at
the Place d’Aligre there was an Asian grocery store with Chinese soup spoons!
We
bought five, then walked back to the Jardin Promenade atop le Viaduc des Arts.
(A retired railway viaduct refurbished with a different artisan shop under
each arch, and a garden/walking path on the top.)
We started
the plant promenade above shop #42 (out of 129) and took it to the end farthest
from the Bastille. Really enjoyed the white confetti flowers, rosemary, and
what I call the 
“It’s
Raining Men” building (a building with Michelangelo’s “Dying Slave” every
10 feet along the top floor). We walked around the park at the end then headed
for the shops underneath. Before we got to them we found
a toy store with the French Monopoly game Leisl asked us to get (the current
French version with French Francs apparently to be phased out and replaced
with Euro dollars – although with all the BBC coverage we’ve been watching
I think the 
Common
Currency isn’t going to happen if commoner outrage has anything to do with
it). In a moment of insanity we decided we needed a 199F/$27 Paris/Franc
edition, too. One game is fine, two is too heavy! Plus
a Merlin figurine (25F/$3.5) that Alan thought looked like Alexander.
Enjoyed the
Viaduc des Arts, or at least their windows and trade signs, then looked for
a raspberry tarte and frites. Didn’t find a raspberry tarte.
Did have a raspberry caramelized eclair called a Duchesse at “Miss Mason”.
Alan had a Foret Noir chocolatey thingie. Along the way we entered Eglise
St-Paul. Black & white: no color. Appropriately at St-Paul’s there was
a bird flying in the dome...Tuppence a bag.
Métroed to the Garibaldi stop outside our Monoprix. Bought peach pink roses (10 for 27F), cheese, chocolate and bread. Then stopped at the Islamic butcher shop for a hot off-the-rotisserie chicken. Farther on there was a pocket of police holding and interrogating someone, while another officer barked into his walkie talkie: “...Alpha! India! November!...”
I tidied up the groceries and loot in the room while Alan called work. Then we had a baguette and hot chicken picnic on the bed while we watched a French “Now and Again”.
Friday, April 27 | Sabbath, April 28 | Sunday, April 29 | Monday, April 30 | Tuesday, May 1 | Wednesday, May 2 | Thursday, May 3 | Friday, May 4 | Saturday, May 5 | Sunday, May 6 | Monday, May 7 | Tuesday, May 8 | Wednesday, May 9 | Thursday, May 10 | Friday, May 11| Saturday, May 12 | Sunday, May 13 | Monday, May 14 | Epilogue