Paris, Sunday September 28

Today - Less text, more pictures.

We both had a good night’s sleep and appear to have snapped into the timezone with no appreciable jet lag. We had procured enough supplies for a light breakfast here in our apartment, complete with hearty French coffee, that provided a good start on the day.

Bruce began work on the blog, and Sue Anne commandeered the loft as her atelier and began drawing the scene out the window.

Note the handy drawing equipment she learned about from an artist friend. The brush works like a fountain pen, with its own supply of water in the handle. Squeeze once and it's ready to go. Wipe it off on a cloth cuff on your other wrist (made from an old sock) and you’re ready for the next color. In her right hand is quite a large set of pigments in their own plastic box that also includes a color mixing area and (not shown, but you can see it in use farther down in the blog) an extension that attaches at the left to provide more space for color mixing. And there’s a ring on the back to help you hold on.

And as an alternative to traditional water color technique, you can draw with water soluble colored pencils, and then use the brush to smear the color around as required.  (I’m sure there’s a more official artistic term for this technique.)

Highly portable. Clever! And here’s the result.

She then went out on a brief reconnaissance walk around the neighborhood while Bruce wrapped things up on the computer. Gorgeous day today, with bright sun and warm temperature. Everybody is out and about. The locale of yesterday’s art market had transformed itself into a massive street market featuring food, clothing, souvenirs, and the like. It became our destination for lunch and early afternoon walking and shopping. Boeuf Bourguignon for Bruce and anchovy pizza for Sue Anne.

 

Fish

 Les poissons

 Fruit and vegetables

Légumes, légumes! Achetez vos légumes ici!

Art in progress

L’art fini

Market fini

Blind woman playing one-stringed instrument. The song always sounded the same.

We returned home well loaded with more yummy food, a lovely wrap sweater, and other good stuff. And just up the street from our apartment was a very nice women’s clothing store selling anything you could grab from the racks at a mere €10 per kilo, pro rated. Sue Anne’s scarf barely tipped the scale.

Then a brief rest for Bruce and another recon mission for Sue Anne. Supper included leftovers from yesterday and some of today’s purchases from the market. Note that lovely sunlight streaming in from the window.

Then we were off for a twilight and early evening walk down to the Seine and its islands. It started at the end of our block, which becomes a real happening place. Lots of restaurants, bars, takeouts, and other action. One thing that always interests us when we return to a place we visited long ago is to see what’s still the same and what has changed. Lots has changed in French eating habits! Here are a few illustrations of scenes we saw along the way.

And a bit of mobile graffiti along the way, for variety.

Remember the report from yesterday about how the center strip on Boulevard Richard Lenoir used to be a canal?  Well, the canal is still there, running through the local area in a tunnel and coming up at both ends!  Lots of nice boats were anchored in the final stretch before it opened up to the river.

 

Looking back to where the canal comes out of the tunnel. There’s a road over the top of it, and the lighted set of windows below the road is a subway station. The impressive building in the background is the opera house.

  

One of the many boats anchored there.

Looking down the canal toward the Seine

Then to the Seine for a nice walk along the riverbank. Lots of tour boats. Many couples sitting along the way enjoying the Paris evening with a snack and a bottle of wine. And a roaming wine salesman was there to help if any of them ran out prematurely.

Out for a stroll with their cat - on a leash

Then we crossed a bridge to the Ile St Louis and wandered the streets. There were so many interesting shops and restaurants to look at that I just kept on taking pictures. Here are some of them, generally uncaptioned and in no particular order. Just immerse yourself in the scene.

Then back to our apartment via the action scene at the end of the block.

 And that was Sunday in Paris!