Paris, Day 1

Like wherever else you are there are basic chores that need to be done.  Washing and shopping are always a high priority.  We went to the local Alimentation Generale where we had been doing our local shopping for years.  At first we thought it had changed hands but no, our old friends were there and seemed really pleased to see us.

We went to the larger grocery store for a few items and on the way back stopped at the greengrocers for some vegetable for dinner.  I went over to the poissonniere to get some fish for dinner.  I was very proud of myself as I asked, in French, for two pieces of salmon.  I than paid for them and as I turned away it happened again.  It seems whenever I feel as if I have actually gotten away with my very poor French the person I have been dealing with fires a blast of high speed French at me and I just stand there with a totally blank stare on my face.

As we headed home after our shopping, we saw a street-seller with miniature daffodils.  We bought a couple bunches to brighten up the flat.

Miniature Daffodils

Later, in order to get the second set of keys to the flat, Virginia went up to see the Chef de Syndicate.  She was greeted with surprise since he expected us next week, but we soon had two sets of keys.

In the afternoon Virginia went to the Alliance Francaise to enrol in her course only to find she had to take the entry test again.  They seemed unable to think of a good reason for doing this other than that is the way it done.  When they demanded 57 Euros for the test, Virginia, always the cynic, assumed that was the reason - a fabulous source of income.  The good news was that when she finished the test she was told she would be put up a class higher than the one she was in last year.  The test is a 90 minute written paper and a 30 minute oral. This is serious stuff, not for the faint of heart.

While Virginia was at the Alliance, I was busy writing my course for second term of  the Hobart U3A.  I am offering a course on the American Frontier from the Louisiana Purchase to the end of the nineteenth century.  Ten sessions, and it takes me about a week to prepare each session.  Fortunately we will be in Paris for ten weeks!  Still, I suspect I will find time to do other things.

Later in the afternoon we set out to go for a drink on the Butte, but the weather changed and the rains came.  Fortunately we have a very nice café not far from where we are living, Café Francoeur.  Instead we went there for a drink.  It is very pleasant and like all French cafés, you can sit over your coffee or wine for as long as you want.  There was an elderly couple at the next table and we recognised them as locals who came in for a beer every afternoon.  We were pleased that they recognised us and we exchanged pleasantries as the French do.

Café Francoeur