Fall weather is definitely here and it is chilly and off an on rainy. The whole city is preparing and bracing for protests scheduled for tomorrow. Lots of boarding up, lists of many metro stations that will be closed, making getting around the city challenging. The current protest route is listed as going from Bastille to Nation, which is away from where I am. It is supposed to rain starting mid afternoon, so hopefully that will lower attendance and reduce the number of fires. My understanding is that the army has been called in to reinforce the police to avoid a repeat of last weekend. I did some computer work in the morning and then went for a walk towards Bastille and around that neighborhood, settling on lunch at Brasserie Bofinger, one of the old school grand Brasseries. Had a small version of a seafood tower which hit the spot well. Afternoon walked up to Pl des Vosges and walked around there. Somehow even thought I didn’t do much I managed 16,000+ steps! Evening headed for an apero at Le Meurice and then went to Verjus to see if I could meet the nephew of one of our Wonalancet neighbors, no luck there.

A slow day today, I was feeling under the weather so stayed fairly close to home. I did try to go to the Pinault modern art museum, managed to get my membership renewed, but the incompetence of their admittance procedures meant that after standing around for a considerable period of time, it just was not worth the effort. A quick lunch at Melt Deli and then downtime for the afternoon. Dinner and cocktail with friends was fun. Everyone is bracing for the next round of protests scheduled for Saturday. Forecast is for rain, which will likely be helpful

After coffee decided to head to the Musee des Egouts, the Sewer museum. Interesting system with different types of tunnels, but give the general odor, not somewhere I wanted to linger. Headed over to Rue Cler and had a good lunch of duck confit at le Petit Cler. Then over to the Rodin museum where I renewed my membership and walked around the grounds until a pretty decent thunderstorm came through. Headed to the nearest metro station and got home somewhat soggy. Then it was over to Le Hibou to meet some people from a group of Francophiles. Brief hang out and the over to Le Compas on Montorgueil for dinner. Hopped the metro home before the announced 8:00pm closure of the Les Halles station. As far as I can tell, the City is still keeping its 11:00pm-6:00am curfew on Les Halles and Republique in place. Didn’t hear of any damage or issues today and really didn’t see much in the places that I was.

Rainy and chilly this morning. After an interview with Annie at Join Us In France, headed out for coffee and then to the Grand Palais to see the Cezanne exhibit. Membership card allowed me to skip the lines and it was a fairly extensive exhibit. Then headed towards the Bourse but the Pinault is closed on Tuesdays. So, found lunch, decided to give the Pied de Cochon another chance and lunch was quite tasty. Headed home for a breather and then out for a cocktail with one of the owners of Le Peleton, coffee shop. A quick bit at the local Asian deli for dinner and back home for some downtime.

There seems to have been more unrest last night, although not as noisy as before. I would say, not in our neighborhood, but I did notice that the trash can across the street was burned sometime during the night. After a coffee at Peloton, I managed to convince the post office to give me a package that I had sent to the apartment addressed to La Lanterne. I brought tax bill and a copy of the KBIS and after some discussion they did give me the package, two air filters for the mini Levoit I have at the apartment. Then I wanted to see for myself what the damage on Blvd. Sebastopol looked like. I found that between R. Rivoli and R. Turbigo, there was almost none. Then from Turbigo to Reaumur it was more substantial. Mainly burned bicycles, scooters and other items in the street with windows that had smashed. One or two looted stores but that was not prevalent. Lunch or R. Montorgueil. Tried to get into the Orangerie and even though the line was much shorter with membership it was still longer than I had patience for. This was probably because students were blocking the Louvre and not many museums are open on Monday. Then met up with Sharon for a glass of wine. Dinner at Vietnamese place on Ile St. Louis and then home early as it has gotten very chilly and mild rain. The government just issued a curfew from 11:00pm-6:00am for the areas around Les Halles and Pl. de la Republique, definitely a good idea.

The morning after in Paris. Yesterday was a day of a lot of destruction around France and also in Paris. Lots of pops, bangs, smoke, sirens etc. For the most part, my neighborhood in the 4th near St. Paul did not suffer any damage. Many of the protests walked off in small groups in different places and did not result in violence. There were a lot of hooligans that did damage late into the night. I went to Pl. de la Republique this morning to see what it looked like and other than lots of garbage, a burned car and kiosk and one store with broken windows, it was not bad. Bastille, usually a center of protest, had the usual massive Sunday market with no damage in evidence. I do know there are places in Paris that did suffer damage and the pictures out of Bordeaux lead me to believe that the main shopping street, where I was last week, got totally trashed. Ugh….After the Bastille market, I walked over to the Marche d’Aligre and had some oysters at the Baron Rouge. Then home briefly before heading to St.Sulpice for a concert featuring 4 brass players with the organ. Some great noises! After that out with the gang to Avant Comptoir for an apero. Clean up around the city seems to be in progress and we will see what tomorrow brings!

Today was interesting day, with massive protests all over the city. I decided not to stray too far. Headed over to the Rue Mouffetard Saturday market, had lunch at a butcher shop, and then walked back from the 5th, Ended up walking through a couple of minor protests, just groups of students walking, nothing violent. House concert at CC house with excellent piano and a really nice group of about 20 people. Metro stop, Les Halles closed on the way home, so off at Cite and walk from there. Lots of residual tear gas in the air and many cops around but nothing really happening at that point. Did need to wash off on returning home.

After a quick coffee at Peleton, headed out to the Porte de Versailles exhibition center where the Paris Auto show is going on. Massive affair, and lots of brands that you have never heard of, mostly Chinese. At this point, most cars are either a sedan, SUV, Truck, Van or supercar. Absent color and brand you really can’t tell them apart. The coolest thing I saw was a 2 passenger drone type thing that folds up and fits in a custom designed truck. Lunch at Tasca, an all GF restaurant that does an excellent pizza. After that it was an Apero at Le Lutetia on Ile St Louis with Sharyn, June, Lily and their friend Rachel. As we were finishing, a rain storm came through so we stalled and had a mixed plate while waiting for the rain to let up. All are a little concerned as multiple protests are planned for tomorrow and the routes etc have not been agreed upon.

Headed out for coffee, and then tram to Bordeaux St Jean station. Flawless 2:15 TGV ride non stop to Paris. Caught the bus over to the apartment and then did laundry and spent some time getting things set up. Went to the storage space to retrieve my bag, grocery store and of course the fromagerie for some aged Comte. After that, headed over to L’Avant Comptoir du Terre for a bite of dinner. Met a lovely French couple who were fun. Bus back to the apartment and time to call it an early night.

Started today with a sandwich from Copain, a chain that does all GF food. Then headed to the station for train to Cerons for a tasting and tour at Chateau Cerons. Small place and I was the only guest so that was nice and some interesting wines. They make a sweet white, like a Sauternes but a little less sweet and quite tasty. Train back to Bordeaux and then a quick burger for lunch. I had called a Cordonnerie to see if I could get the wheel fixed on my suitcase and the guy said he could do it. So, unpacked everything and took the bus a half hour to his store, and sure enough it took him about 30 minutes to replace both the wheels on my bag. So that was well worth it as wrestling a bag with bad wheels through multiple streets and stations doesn’t work too well. Off to Chartrons, the neighborhood where all the wines were stored for some oyster at Cabane 101, then back to Madame Pang to try some more dishes, tonight was a beef thing and some dim sum type things that were tasty. Back to Paris tomorrow morning.