Opening Statement



Tuesday 27 August 2013

Paris Diary: Morning Interlude ...

Good morning! There is a six hour time difference between Toronto and Paris. I would suppose most of you are still sound asleep as I write. No matter.


A bleary eyed morning view of the local expresso bar + tobacco store.

Our hotel is the Ibis Styles by the Landon Metro station. I might've not correctly identified it before. I notice there's also a Hotel Ibis a block or so away.

We had our continental breakfast which we have quite taken too. After a few cafĂ© au lait we went to the main desk to book our cab to the airport tomorrow morning. Also to book in our boarding pass on line. The room internet service here is quite poor. Very intermittent. The desk clerk suggested it must be our computer but I doubt it. We have 2 Apple Ipads and an Acer netbook.


Smoking is still quite popular + the tobacco laws are quite lax.

We took a morning walk about the neighbourhood. Across the graffiti covered railway bridge, and continued on through an old backstreet hotel district. Lots of sex shops, pharmacies, corner bars. I finally found two 1 1/2 litre bottles of cold water at a tobacco shop. The Vietnamese woman behind the cigarette counter didn't speak any English, nor I French but was she was very friendly and we somehow worked it out. They cost 3 euros each, typical here. I looked about the shop, mostly just a bar counter where a gaggle of blacks and Arab working men stood smoking cigarettes + reading the morning newspapers, while knocking back steaming expressos. A real nice slice of life. Quite enjoyed my little jaunt down the back streets.


Backstreets

We are heading out shopping and to the Eiffel tower again today. On our long walks through Paris we can take everything in. It can be a vigorous jaunt. Tiring at times but then we take little breaks on a city bench watching life go by. Quite fascinating and enjoyable.

Tomorrow we leave for Toronto and will arrive there two hours after we left because of the time change. But it's off now on our final day in Paris this trip.


The transit yards as seen from the local bridge.

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