Letter from Paris 23 April

Our landlady, Brigitte, gave us a quick tour of the apartment and everything we needed to know about such household tasks as how the various entry locks worked to get into the building, where the garbage was and how the outside shutters worked.

It was a comfortable space and while we would've liked to return to Ann's lovely apartment in 20th arrondissement, the fact that the rue Pinel apartment had an elevator and was ideally located close to metro lines 6 and 5 and thus much closer to Le Cordon Bleu for Susan's 4-day bread class, two key selling points.

Brigitte soon took her leave and set off to visit friends in the country and we began the process of settling in for the next couple of weeks.

living room

from the terrace

looking out across rue Pinel over the rooftops of the Ecole des Arts et Metiers

Once unpacked we set off to explore the neighborhood, get lunch, stroll and pick up a few staples. We stopped for lunch at Le Ménagerie, a nearby brasserie located on Boulevard de l'Hôpital, straddling the 5th and 13th arrondissements, 5 minutes from our apartment. We sat outside and opted for the plat du jour, filet de bar (sea bass) with crispy julienned carrots, zucchini and sweet onion sticks all in a beurre blanc sauce. It was, in a word, delicious.

filet de bar (sea bass) at Le Ménagerie

After a leisurely lunch (we're in Paris now), we strolled down the boulevard in the direction of the Jardin des Plantes. On the way we stopped off at La Chocolatine, the Boulangerie Patisserie de Mme et Mr Hubert, a place we frequented back in 2006 when we lived in an apartment nearby on rue Poliveau. Nothing had changed and the quality was still spectacular. We'll be going back Located just off the boulevard on rue des Wallons the pastries are exquisite. Susie and I snacked on a scrumptious apple tart as we walked over past our old apartment and then on up the short block or so to the jardin.

apple tart

La Chocolatine

From the Jardin we took the Metro just a couple of short stops to Place d’Italie and Carrefour grocery store where we bought just a few things; major grocery shopping would come later.

 We turned in early that evening; both of us were tired, not dog tired mind you but the tiredness that comes with dramatically changing your sense of time and space. an odd thing this “lag,” it doesn’t seem to affect us when gong in the other direction. Nor did it ever affect us when traveling during the day nonstop from Boston to London, a trip we’ve made a couple of times.

 With all that, and aside from the whining about jet lag or the occasional hiccup along the way, we are in Paris. What a birthday treat!

 Next: our first full day of exploration.