arrival

We have arrived.

The train car which brought us from Toulouse to Paris was a sleeper car... it turns out that those uncomfortable sleeper car triple bunk beds can be converted to rather uncomfortable bench seats and a luggage rack. My back really didn't appreciate this, but luckily we only had 5 people in our cabin (the cabin seats six), and G and I had our bench to ourselves... so I spent almost the entire journey laying down with my Kindle.

We used an online service to rent a small apartment in the 3rd arrondissement for the week. While small, it was completely adequate for our purposes (other than the fact that since it was a top-floor, under-the-roof apartment, the ceiling sloped, which was worst in the bathroom (I was brushing my head against the ceiling there!).

We spent the evening wandering around the neighborhood, and had dinner at Page 35.  A lot of the menu is galettes (buckwheat crepes), which contain quite a lot of cheese (not unexpected); they were tasty and filling. We shared the ice cream mont blanc for dessert which was very nice (though kind of a lot of whipped cream on top).  The walls are covered in the work of what I presume are local artists; many of the paintings are for sale. This makes for a colorful and slightly eclectic decor.  The proprietor who was there when we went had some flair - a tall, thin Asian man, wearing a polo shirt and shorts... and a flowery, gauzy scarf around his neck, down through his belt, and down to almost his knees. His bearing, his speech, the way he moved, somehow seemed so stereotypically French.

We went home pretty much directly after dinner, and set an alarm for early the next day so as to be early for the opening of the Musée D'Orsay.

Coming up out of the Métro stop near where we will be staying.

Page 35 and its building.

Une galette.