c'est la vie

today was our second day in paris. raining lightly, and chilly, it is as beautiful as ever. we have never been here in the summer, so experiencing the green of the trees, and all of the gardens is a special treat.

yesterday, in our haze, we checked into our cute, cozy 17th century apartment. key words cozy and cute. not much room to spread out. the water closet requres roger to sit down to do his business, and even i have whacked my head coming out of it. we didn't really choose this apartment, as we waited too long to get the apartment of our first choice on the left bank. no worries, though. we are snuggly situated on the wonderful illes st. louis, facing the back of the river, just across from the marais. afterall, it IS still paris!



dinner was easy...baguette, ham, butter, mustard, and these ridiculous frito lay (don't scoff) chips called poullet roti. they actually taste like the potatoes you get out of the bottom of the rotisserie after all of the chickeny goodness has dripped on them with lots of tyhme and garlic. note to frito lay people...these should be brought to the usa on a limited basis. they need to be regulated because they are that good.



to say we are comfortable coming to france would be a true statement. to say that we don't sometimes take things for granted like where we will stay, how long we will be here, and really plan things out...would not. there is a reason for the french phrase, "c'est la vie". bottom line is, we were going to be homeless on our last night here because we booked roger's return date a day too late. solution: book a night at hotel lutece. ok. i am good with that.



last night we reserved bikes to ride around paris. no tour de france action, or anything, but we thought it would be a great way to see thins, and get a little exercise. well, we get to the bike rack (city sponsored bike rental), and can't get the machine to release our bike. after a brief converstaion with a very nice man on the phone, he informs us that roger rented them on line from 10pm to 10pm on thursday. c'est la vie...we walked. tomorrow, we ride!



as we were walking for our morning cafe and croissant, i noticed a beautiful photo of a woman in an art gallery. it made me think of this amazing artist i had seen a movie about several years ago, but i could not for the life of me remember her name. we take our seat at the cafe for breakfast, and along comes a city bus with ARTIMISIA...the exhibit showing through july 15. guess who she was? only the artist i was thinking about not more than 5 minutes prior! c'est la vie...we saw her.



her story is amazing, and her talents were in line with other masters. She studied under her father, painting for royalty and popes. when she was in her teens she was raped by one of her father's friends and co-artists. what could have been the end of her career, not to mention her standing in 17th society, gave her strength and courage to rise above. she withstood torture to prove she was telling the truth, and nearly lost her life in the process. she was the first female accepted into the highly regarded academy of art, and now hangs (literally) with the big boys. my hero.



we had a beautiful lunch at an indian resto we like. butter chicken and curried chicken with the most amazing rice...must find out about this grain of rice! skinny compared to ours, but beautifully prepared.



the rain was coming down a little harder, so we made it back to chez provost, and relaxed with the windows open overlooking a quiet courtyard. two hours later, we got restless, so donned our umbrellas, and set out again. it is 50is degrees here! definitely didn't plan for that.



we ended up at cafe le huitres...raw bar. roger had escargot, grilled squid, and i had skate with lemon and capers. their menus were ipad tablets. cool, i guess, but i kinda like the old school menu. ahh, times are changing.



tomorrow is bike-o-rama day. please pray we don't get run over, or caught in a monsoon, and end up in the seine.



until then, i say bon nuit.