Tuesday, 5/17

After a decent night's sleep, I got up early and went out for a walk.  Here are some random things I noticed:  before the sidewalks are filled with people, there's an army of street cleaners out making everything look great!  There are guys sweeping hand-held brooms who even reach under parked cars to retrieve litter. And then there are the trucks!  There are two kinds - water-spritzing  cleaners, and vacuum trucks - and they are used on the sidewalks!

Also, it was trash day, and all the bins were out. An hour after collection, the bins were all in! 

I found some really nice croissants on the next block.

Then I went back to our apartment, to make breakfast.

Afterwards, we set out to meet up with our bike trip. Rebecca and I had done it five years ago, with the same outfit, but we were eager to go again. Paris is quite flat, and extremely bike-friendly.

George, from Oxford, England, was our guide. Lauren, Blossom, and Rebecca greeted him, while I recorded it for posterity.

We started in the Marais, at "Le Mur des Justes," the wall of the righteous. It is a memorial to the Parisianswho sheltered Jews during WWII.

I was glad to visit Place des Voges.  It was always a good address, and still is. The last time a house changed hands there was 2007, and it went for 30 million!  This is Victor Hugo's home.

Oh, and the houses have nice back yards, too.

We biked along the Seine,

Saw buskers entertaining on bridges over the Seine,

And we made it to the Louvre.

After the bike tour, Rebecca and I took a metro up to the museum of arts and industry.  The metro station is decorated to look like a submarine!

There was some strange and wonderful stuff in that museum, including a flying machine that they actually had some success with in 1897.

Here's a funny story. We were hungry and tired, after the biking and the museum, so we went over to the Brasserie de l'Ile St. Louis for dinner. I ordered steak and fries, and Rebecca ordered chicken. They were out of chicken, so she ordered sole.

The food came, and it turned out the sole was prepared and served whole. Rebecca began trying to figure out how to debone it. Well the waiter noticed, and he came right over and set to work like a surgeon. With a few impressive moves, carried out with admirable dexterity, he lifted the skeleton from the plate. But, unfortunately, he spilled the hot butter sauce on Rebecca's lap!

A flurry of activity ensued, as two waiters cleaned our table, our spot, and Rebecca, as best they could. But with the final flourish, they knocked a glass of water on me! So we were treated to the same display of janitorial prowess, though this time they moved us to a different, and drier, table.  The steak was delicious; the sole was not. Rebecca said it just goes to show that you CAN have a bad meal in Paris, after all!