We have now been in Paris for more than a month. We paid our next month’s rent and cell phone service – for Missy’s phone. WE had the great fortune of nice weather the first couple of weeks. This allowed us to sit in a sunny spot in the parks with the locals, drinking a cup of coffee or eating our picnic lunch of bread, cheese and salami while watching life go by :).  There are so many beautiful parks with movable (but heavy) chairs and benches, everywhere.  Our favorite garden is the “Jardin des Tuileries” (connecting the Louvre to “place de la Concorde” at the beginning of “Ave des Champs Elysses”

Louvre at night

We tend to eat a simple breakfast of cereal or yogurt with fresh brewed coffee. Most days we pack our simple lunch. Then we go to dinner someplace. We feel that food costs here are about the same as California. A typical dinner costs us about $40.

There are crape stands (sweet and savory) everywhere and now the weather is cold we understand why.  It is hot, cheap, easy to eat while walking, filling and ever so delicious. Basically, you can find any kind of food, almost always delicious, from all kinds of cultures.

Our landlord and their daughter-in-law have been unbelievably awesome. Our landlord has been so gracious, so helpful, so friendly. Always asking us how we are doing, inviting us for tea or dinner, lending us books and giving us pointers. Inger, their daughter-in-law, has been so helpful to the extent of paying the monthly fee for Missy’s cell phone since this particular Plan requires a French bank credit card. At about $23/mo for phone and text with 50 G’s of data we are thrilled and annoyed that cell service in the USA is so blasted expensive.

We live in an awesome area. Within a few blocks we have easily 50+ Asian restaurants, 100+ other restaurants, 4-5 movie houses with 4-10 screens each, large grocery stores, small grocery stores and little grocery stores (with everything that we need/like), dozens of bakeries with fresh awesome bread, lots of pastry shops and a myriad of other food shops.

Since we walk so much each day we cover a lot of ground, and we see a lot of different sights.

Certainly within a 2/3-mile radius of our flat the city is amazingly clean. There is little litter or graffiti. We routinely see street sweepers, men/women with brooms, sweeping the streets. They have street sweeping vehicles but the nature of the streets leaves a lot of missed corners, so the sweeping crew moves in with their brooms.

Most important for us is two Starbucks within two blocks. Dozens of banks with ATM’s. Several Metro stops and all sorts of bus stops. And, most amazing is our 15-minute walking distance from Louvre. We understand that the area we are at is a notable neighborhood with a famous fountain outside our front door and the building where a very famous bordello was located across the street.

We initially thought we would use the Metro as our primary way of getting around but this has not been the case. Our flat is so centrally located that we tend to walk everywhere. On an average day we walk 5+ miles. Parisians are aggressive walkers. As funny as that sounds they are! They never yield and they don’t hesitate to step in front of you. I understand why, the sidewalks are narrow and crowded where you are competing with posts and polls, people and café tables and cars, stop lights, bikes and construction and you need to be aggressive to get through the day. When I walk I look at people seeking opportunities to make eye contact, to smile, to acknowledge. Not here! I think I may have made eye contact and “connected” with 3-4 people, in the last month.

All this said I don’t think of them as being cold and aloof as is commonly said. To us the French have many of the characteristics of the Israeli’s. Tough on the outside but very nice and friendly when you do connect. During this month I would say at least once a day a local person shows a random act of kindness. Whether it is to caution that my backpack is unzipped or helping us when we ask for help. They, without hesitation, beam with a smile and their eyes sparkle.

One of my sweetest encounters was at Starbucks.  I approached a young lady sitting alone if I could share the  small table with her.  She responded by saying.. in great English, “yes, of course!” Soon we started a wonderful conversation. I learned that she was born and raised in Tunisia and moved to Paris a few years ago.  She is Muslim and sadly lost her little girl, to cancer, and went through divorce a couple of years ago.  She said I remind her of her mom and asked if she can help me with anything.  I told her that I was looking for a fashionable Parisian hat for my granddaughter. She took out her cell phone and after a few minutes showed me a picture of the perfect hat (both in style and color.) She sent me the link and directed me to the shop.  I know that I will forever remember the beautiful and sweet Soumayah🤓

Description of photos:
1. Night view of Eiffel Tower
2. Night walks along the Seine riveR
3.Sunset view from the edge of Tuilerie gardens
4. Pyramids at night
5. Victory dance – one the hundreds of statues in a garden
6. Benjamin Franklin
7. Scare Coeur
8. Louvre at night
9. Pink float – all sugar!
10. Pizza 🙂
11. Egg white omelet 🙂
12. Fountain outside our flat
13. Love the door ways! This one is a block away from our flat!
14. Our neighborhood
15. Monet’s water lilies at Musée de l’Orangerie
16. The Thinker at Musée Rodin
17. Foundation Louis Vuitton – “observatory of light” by Daniel Buren
18. Foundation Louis Vuitton – Olafur Eliasson’s “inside the horizon”
19. Winston Churchill
20. Swan on Seine river
21. Tomb of Napoleon
22. Scare Coeur
23. Paris (take from the highest point in the city)
25-28. Four or the statues at d’Orsay museum