Paris, Day 13

Today is one of Virginia's days off from school so after the usual morning chores and completion of homework we headed out.  Although we had planned the day, the weather was cold and overcast and the idea of sitting out at a café or wandering about too much was not appealing.  After quickly checking our favourite shops on the rue de Rivoli, east of the Louvre, we headed back to the Place Colette and Virginia's favourite lunching spot, Le Nemours.  If you have seen the film The Tourist, the opening scene, with Angelina Jolie dining on her own (an unlikely scenario at best) it was filmed there.

Le Nemours

As we walked towards the Metro station at Concorde, we noticed some more removalists.  This time, it was a doubles act; something we had never seen before.

The "doubles act"

 Later in the day after a bit of a rest, we went out again to get some chocolates.  More about this will be revealed in a couple of days.  However, as we walked by the entrance to our normal Metro station, we saw what can only be described as an "instant" stall selling fruit and vegetables at very good prices.  These "pitches" are illegal, and are often at any particular location for only a short period of time.  They are frequently found by the Metro in the late afternoon which I am sure is to pick up the homebound trade.  The stalls seem to be tolerated because they have decent goods at bargain prices.  One suspects that much of the produce fell off the back of a truck, but it doesn't stop pedestrians from buying the goods.  We needed a couple of bananas so we did what any right-thinking, law-abiding  Parisien would do and purchased them.

Street Sellers

As we have said, the buildings one sees on every hand are beautiful and unique.  On our walk this afternoon we passed a lovely Boulanger Patissier.  And as attractive as it was from the outside the goods in the window...Ooh La la!

A local bakery

Security and safety is an interesting thing here.  I noticed on the bus this afternoon that a gentleman tied his shopping trolley to a pole and then wandered down to the back of the bus to find a seat.  It would only have taken a minute to have surreptitiously untied it and gotten off the bus with it before the owner could have done anything.  People often leave things outside shops expecting that they will be there when they return and, it seems as if they are justified in this.  In part this may be the locale.  Montmarte has a village air about it.  In fact, when the driver gets on the local bus he greets many people by name and always does a general "bonjour."  Not surprisingly there is a general response.

Yet to get into one of the apartment blocks is a completely different matter.  Typical of most would be our apartment block.  To get past the front door requires entering a numerical code of four digits or using an electronic tag.

Front door, 2 rue Cyrano de Bergerac

First entrance barrier

Once you have passed through the front doors, you find yourself in another section with closed doors.  To open these you need to use your key tab again.

The second set of doors

The second electronic entry device

At this point you are in the foyer and there are no more barriers until you get to your own front door.  For those who have never used a French key, in a French door, this in itself can be quite a trial.  But, like most things French, one soon becomes accustomed to it and having managed to turn the key and open the door, one is home.