I love Paris!

The day started, and stayed, mostly foggy. This view from Eugène's 10th floor apartment gives some idea. This morning I returned the masks and coveralls to the hardware store - great not to have to use them for climbing around in the centuries-old pigeon merde! The great thing was doing it all in French. Well, it was a thrill for me! In the local Printemps, encounters with sales staff keen to assit were similarly rewarding linguistically!

Alec's friend Sasha joined us for lunch today - he arrived from London by train this morning. His first language is Ukranian, his English is fluent and now he is learning French. Nice opportunity to get aquainted before David and Alec arrived after rehearsal. Lunch was as magnificent as ever - we've reserved the round table again for 2.30pm tomorrow - and today I had carrot and ginger soup, followed by salmon.

David went off to rest while we explored more of the 4e arrondissement; Sasha was keen to find Mariage Frêres, a tea house he'd once enjoyed. Eugène's morning coffee cups at home are the same Mariage Frêres cups we used at the salon.


Parking is intimate here in Paris!
You would wonder how this car could get in or out. No problem for a Paris driver. I even saw swatch car parked rear to the kerb in a line of parallell-parked cars because the space wasn't wide enough to park the other way.


Yes that was Daniel Auteuil in the boucherie across the street from the church. I've seen him in so many enjoyable films and to see him shopping in Paris was a real treat. After the butcher, he went to the fromagerie; I'm sure you're glad to know that. To gather more information about his movements would be tantamount to stalking!

After our recordings, David likes to relax at a local café bar and tonight we went back to our usual where there was live music playing - to about 10 people if you include us! The place is so small that if you swelled the numbers to 40 there'd be standing room only. We sat outside while Charlie Zoomerique's lead singer cruised through the Carpenter's song 'This Masquerade'. Kisses all round as the lead guitarist joing them and things got funky with Stevie Wonder's 'Superstition'. It was very good, but I wonder how they make a living - musicians and bar owner. The band consisted of female lead singer, sometimes joined by the drummer Charlie; a lead-guitarist who knew his stuff, the 6-string bass player could really get around her instrument, and David was certain the keyboard player must have been classically trained, his virtuosity so evident.