Saturday, September 29th, 2018

Had a nice relaxed morning catching up on blog posts etc. Installed myself at Deux Magots, next to a couple of old French geysers who were reading the newspaper and muttering to each other about the various indignities in the world. After catching up on the blog and restaurant entries, headed out to meet one of my Camino friends, ER, at the Marche St. Honore. Had a nice walk through the Tuileries on the way there. After a simple lunch, she suggested we go try some wine at the Cave of Joel Robuchon. On the way, she wanted to stop in at Hermès and look at a belt. The prices in Hermès were shocking to say the least, with some items well above a down payment on a house, probably as much as a house in a lot of the USA. Anyway of to the Joel Robuchon wine cave, a little store near Vavin that does a free tasting every Saturday. Couple of whites a couple of reds, the last being a fairly pricey Hermitage, nothing I was crazy about. After a regroup, met up with LC, a fashion blogger for dinner. She’s here working away as it is fashion week. She’s reached the point where they are giving her items with hope that she’ll feature them on her blog. One of the entertaining parts of the evening was explaining some of the history has I walked her to a metro stop. We crossed the Pont Neuf, the model for modern road. First bridge to have elevated sidewalks and parapet view points so pedestrians could enjoy crossing the bridge and not mix up with carriages. The biggest crime on the Pont Neuf was cloak theft, and French term for thief reflects this to this day “Filou.” Next innovation was mass transit, someone got the idea of selling individual places in a carriage, got the King’s permission and launched a set route, still a bus route to this day! Another innovation, the park bench, those wandering the Tuileries to show off their outfits needed a place to sit and watch each other.

Inside St. Germain des Pres church after restoration.Didn’t quite have enough in my wallet to get this…