Started today with the usual run to Bastille market. Unfortunately , the Breton crepe guy wasn’t there, all was not lost though and another crepe place did the job. After that a quick google of coffee shops turned up an excellent roaster and shop called Back in Black nearby. This place has so far the best coffee I’ve had in Paris and runs a roasters and full restaurant. They seem to be affiliated with the KB in Montmartre, also a good shop. After that, off to the Rodin museum for a walk in their gardens followed by heading over to Rue Cler, or Rick Steves St. Then back home to regroup and a visit to Deux Magots for an apero.

Between 1851 and 1867 a rail line was built around the city of Paris. This was used into the 1980s. (Petite Ceinture translates as Little belt) Now it has had sections repurposed for use by the RER, but other sections have been turned into walking trails, largely with the rails still present. I have walked different sections of this at various times, and unfortunately as of now they are not connected. Today I went to Porte de Charenton to pick up the section in the 12th arrondisment. This was a section of about 1.6km that is elevated. A pleasant if slightly muddy walk through a very quiet quarter. Eventually came out and took the metro back to march d’Aligre for a quick stroll through the market before a few oysters at the Baron Rouge. Then a Poulet Fermier, rotisserie chicken and mash for lunch at the Chat Bossu on the way back to the apt. Had a low key Thai curry for dinner but ended up meeting a very interesting Brazilian Director at the end of the evening at the classic Les Philosophes cafe, near the apt. He directs for Netflix and Amazon and has a 7 episode series on Netflix called ‘Time Hustler.” Today was another national strike day, but this one didn’t seem to have a lot of momentum, the buses and Metro were working normally and my check of flight departures showed the airport was also functioning normally, good because I leave on Thursday, and there is the same sort of thing scheduled.

I booked a cheese class this morning with Parole des Fromagers, and it ended up being quite interesting. As with most things in France there are lots of rules around what a cheese can be called based on how it’s made and where it’s made. We got a little into the pairing ideas with wine, interesting because they discriminate between the type of pairing, broadly, Lovers, friends, enemies, and some kind of fusion that creates a better than the whole situation. After the Cheese class headed over to the Canal St. Martin an up and coming neighborhood and found a nice place for lunch, Au Comptoir. Then after lunch a long walk down the canal all the way to the Bastille, followed by a visit to the Grand Epicerie, always dangerous when you are in the mood to buy cheese. Dinner with Christian and Regis, very entertaining! Another general nationwide strike is scheduled for tomorrow, Saturday, so we’ll see how that goes. This time it appears to be much more limited, with airport traffic etc. not to be affected. The special website C’est la Greve tracks these things.

I did the make it out to Provins today. First, Metro to Gare de l’Est, then take P translien to Provins, covered by Navigo Decouverte weekly pass. This was about an hour and 20 minute ride. On arrival, a walk from the station into town, which has very large churches, towers and other artifacts, lots of the old style houses. February is apparently not really the time to visit this place as all of the building were closed, and most of the restaurants. After a good solid walk, including a pretty solid hill in the center of town, I found a locals type restaurant and settled in for a good lunch before catching the train back. If you do want to visit, wait till warmer months and know that trains in both directions run once per hour at :46 minutes past. Having walked across a lot of France, this village reminded me of many I’d walked through in that past, and I didn’t find it hugely noteworthy. Beautiful sunny day again with temperatures starting well below 30 degrees this morning.

I had planned to make a field trip to Provins, a well persevered medieval town on the outskirts of Paris, but when I got to Gare de l’Est, my train line was suffering from Preturbation and the train I planned to take was perturbed. the next one was an hour away, so I decided to bail on that and head over to Montmartre. Beautiful chilly morning, walked over the Butte, and down the front side. Then a stop for lunch, followed by continued walking all the way to Montorgueil where I stopped in for a tea at Le Compas. I did end up deciding that after my two weeks in the apartment, I didn’t need an additional week of travel and was able to get on the Delta site and switch to and earlier flight and bump up to business class for and additional $200, a considerable deal on a 10 hr. Flight!

I had planned to do a field trip out to Provins today, but with a national strike on, almost no transit was functioning. Luckily the 1 line nearest to me is automated and works normally even during strikes. Off to get an estimate on a replacement couch for the apartment. After that a stroll up to the 3rd for some risotto at Cafe Charlot. Then a pleasant hour or so at the Musee des Arts et Metier, sort of an industrial science type museum. After returning home, I could see the strikers marching by in front of the apartment. Apparently estimated at 400,000 people!

Temperatures were chilly, 37 deg, this morning as I headed out towards Pl. des Voges. Half the square is blocked off, so I continued on towards NoGlu, a GF bakery that makes an excellent if small croissant. After a croissant I headed back in the direction of the Bastille with the idea of having some Pho. I’ve been suffering from an upset digestive system for a few days and this is compounded with the fact that I took a pretty decent fall over a low bar on some scaffolding on the sidewalk, skinning a knee and a wrist and bruising a few other places. All in all not “en pleine forme.” Anyway, found Pho-Passion just a few blocks from the Bastille excellent pho and other Viet specialties in a slightly upscale environment, but very efficient. From there decided to head over the Opera area and have a cup of tea at Cafe de La Paix, an always classic spot. All the sidewalk tables have been removed at present, as a result of the ban on outdoor heaters. From there I caught wind of a Fumoire down near Montparnasse and that turned out to be a treasure. Lovely welcoming place with the boss hanging out and met an author who turned out to be the former head and police commissioner of the Paris equivalent of the SWAT teams called RAID. After an enjoyable hang out I stopped for a quick dinner at Bouillon Chartier, where a Steak Frites, Salad and pot of wine cost less than 20 euros!

Off to the traditional Sunday Bastille market today, one of the bigger open markets in Paris and conveniently only one metro stop away or a 15 minute walk. One of the best crepes I’ve had comes from the Breton booth there, and even though my stomach has been out of sorts for a few days I decided that I should have one. Sausage, cheese and a little mustard….yum! Continued on to John R. Favorite wine purveyor and sure enough he was there as well. After that, headed rapidly home for a quick pit stop and then over to the Tuileries for a stroll followed by the Luxembourg gardens and a cup of tea at Deux Magots.

After a slow morning start headed out only to find it grey and rainy, back upstairs for an umbrella. Headed out to Belair to find the last section of the coulee Verte which I have not walked. This is an old elevated railroad line that went from Bastille to Vincennes and has been converted to a walking trail. I was never able to find the end at Vincennes so decided to try it outbound instead. Now I know why, it ends well short of Vincennes, and I poked through some pleasant areas and eventually hopped a bus to the chateau. Walk around a bit and then went back via metro to the Marche d’Aligre, one of my favorite local markets, and the Baron Rouge for some oysters and a glass. Ran into some other Americans and shared a charcuterie plate which made for an excellent lunch. Dinner was at Pierre Sang with Sharon and Darren, and was excellent, they have a new space all the way in back of a sketchy looking building and up 2 flights of stairs, but wow when you are in there, it is amazing. Excellent 1986 St. Julien wine and a multi course tasting meal. Sang is of Korean origin so everything has some interesting flavors to it.

Today was an overcast chilly day and ended up being largely devoted to housekeeping. Started with stop in at Le Peloton for coffee and a hello to the lads. Then off to BHV for some white duct tape, returned to tape up the vent in the bedroom which was admitting cold air and noise at a prodigious rate. After that it was off to look at a potential couch for replacement of the existing one. While all 13 of us owners don’t always agree we unanimously hate the existing orange couch, which gives the sensation of the cushions slipping off the front, even though they are not. After a pleasant lunch of roast chicken, frites and a salad at Sacre Frenchy, returned to the apartment to await one of Adrian’s maintenance people to help with the heaters. He eventually showed up but was not able to help in anyway, although he did print out an owners manual of sorts in French. We attempted step one, setting the clock and didn’t succeed. At this point, they are all in some kind of manual mode and staying on temp setting so that is fine. He did seem absolutely baffled as to why anyone would want their heater to stay at the temperature they set, and I was absolutely baffled as to why he would think that we would want the heaters to follow some random program that none of us understood or set. We eventually had to agree to disagree on that one. In any case, I was able to have a good nights sleep with the cold air blocked off and the noise reduced and the bedroom heater keeping things around 64f it was good. I did add some foam insulation to the exterior cut out on the window this morning for even more noise abatement. Dinner was at Breizh Odeon with a pastrami crepe.