We had a good flight to Paris on Air France. We departed on time at 11:30 p.m. (Toronto time) and arrived 30 minutes earlier than scheduled at 12:30 p.m. (Paris time). However, it still takes time to get luggage, go through customs and take the Métro into town. We got to the apartment just after 2:30 p.m. The only eventful part of the trip was checking in at Pearson, where they almost didn't let me board as I have a passport that expires on January 19, 2025. I knew that one had to travel in the EU three months before the expiry date and as we were returning October 17, I thought I was home free. Apparently not, but after some discussion, the check- in person was able to authorize my travel. Phew!
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| Dancer graphics at Charles de Gaulle Airport |
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| Cool Métro art at Gare du Nord where we transferred from the RER |
Our host, Daniel, met us outside the apartment building and helped take all our luggage up the four flights to our apartment. He bought the apartment about 18 months ago and has totally redone it. It is spacious with a separate bedroom and renovated bathroom with a small kitchen. Very quiet with a courtyard. We are in a very mixed neighbourhood in Montmartre, about a 10 minute walk north-east of Sacré-Coeur Basilica.
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| Living room and dining area |
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| separate bedroom |
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| Kitchen area |
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| Bathroom with fun mirror with light |
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| Another view |
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| Courtyard we walk through to get to stairway |
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| Outside the apartment |
After settling in, we decided to walk to a coffee shop in the 9th arrondissement, about 20 minutes south of our apartment. Of course, we first stopped to buy a baguette at a nearby Boulangerie that had won a baguette award a number of years ago.
Baguette stop-- small lineup of locals buying their afternoon baguettes
Our destination was KB CaféShop, which roasts its coffee beans on-site. There was a lively patio on a corner with lots of folks having late afternoon coffees.
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Inside of KB CaféShop
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| First coffee stop in Paris-- great corner with lovely Haussmann apartment buildings nearby |
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Buzzy busy
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There was a Merry-Go-Round across from the café.
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| Paris seems to have an affinity for Merry-Go-Rounds. |
We discovered that the café was on a corner of one of our favourite streets in Paris, that we had only periodically visited-- Rue des Martyrs which runs between the 9th and 18th arrondissement through the old village of Montmartre. It is lined with about 200 shops (mostly food) and restaurants. As an aside, there is a wonderful book about the street called
The Only Street in Paris: Life on the Rue des Martyrs by Elaine Sciolino, 2015. We decided to walk down the street and check things out.
There were a number of local wine stores en route. We stopped at "228 Litres" which has an adjacent wine bar. As always, we had good advice about possible wine choices.
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| Lovely wine store- 228 Litres |
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| A very old bakery on Rue des Martyrs in a lovely old building |
We also stopped for a piece of brebis (sheep cheese) and some lovely ham. We had decided to have a charcuterie plate for dinner at our apartment as we were getting very tired after our flight.
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| Beautiful cheese shop -- there were a number we passed by |
Just as we started our walk back to the apartment it started to rain, quite heavily. Unfortunately, I think we are hitting a rain week in Paris.
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| Our wine-- a Cotes de Rhône-- Entre Nous (great name) |
I am posting this on Wednesday morning-- still jet lagged. Already some rain this morning, but stopped for the moment--- we are getting ready to head out soon.
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