Paris tour

Spent the morning doing some domestic chores which take on another dimension in another language; the Meile Top Electronic and I are now friends!

I dropped in a film for processing at Photo Service near the St. Paul Métro, then walked up to l'Hôtel de Ville looking for somewhere to have the shoulder strap on my bag repaired, but to no avail.

Judging by the number of vehicles full of Gendamerie, there seemed to be a protest shaping up at the Town Hall Square, but I had to get across to l'Île Saint-Louis stopping to get some shots around Notre-Dame.

Lunch again on la rue des duex ponts with David and Alec - the staff there treat us like family and the food is delicious. Only two dogs in the restaurant today; one of them on a leash!

While David swam and rested, Alec and I explored more of the 4ème Arrondissement. After collecting my photographs, we visitied l'Hôtel de Sully, one of the grand houses of Paris, which is now a museum and the square nearby is home to many fine boutiques including Issey Miyake, then walked lots more before settling in a café bar to check out the photos and the passing parade of locals - very few tourists in this area.

I may be overdoing the walking - I'm hobbling a bit but I can lie on the floor of the cathedral to do my recording at the end of the day! This has another advantage - the wicker chairs are apt to squeak - the floor doesn't.

The recording is going well. This picture shows Alec at the console while David is taking a break. The music is fabulous and the sound sumptuous. Should be a good disque! We have two 2-hour sessions left to go. The church affords a very long decay in the sound and you can really wallow in it - as did the contralto I heard sing there on Sunday evening!

http://www.parisnet.net/parismap.htmlnet/parismap.html is a good site which summarises the attributes of each arrondissement in Paris.