One day in and we are yet to form a working understanding of Parisian cafe culture and what is acceptable customer behaviour in The Marais. However, by keeping an observant eye, I have seen a wrinkled pensioner, sporting a crumpled trilby, deftly adding a simultaneous dual-sachet sugar hit to his espresso followed by a slurp of hot water. Does this represent adding value?, or is that just the way he takes it? With espresso at €2.5 and cafe au lait €5, I can see cash-strapped OAPs getting cannier.
Our 5th floor apartment at 4 Rue Vaucanson is a pearler, centrally located within The Marais and serviced by Carrefour next door and the Cafe des Artes et Metiers a further 25 metres away. Our balcony, accessed through three sets of French doors, looks onto Rue Conte which is terminated by Brasserie Leonard but a spit away! Last night's salad dinner was taken at Leonard at a kerbside table next to a pair of paunchy Russian henchmen in garish Olympic track suits and non-designer stubble. Between cups of coffee, they took turns answering smoke-wreathed mobile phones with cheesy ringtones.
Daylight is in ample supply, so we did not feel cheated leaving this morning at 11.00am. Home-prepared petite dejeurner (semi-simple) and Kim's emailing occupied the early hours and was undertaken in our freshly painted sunny chic 18th Century apartment. Deciding to set off for the Seine via Blvd Beaubourg was un bon idee as we soon found ourselves revisiting the Pompidou Centre and it's colorful exterior escalators, lifts and massive ducts. On Sunday Beaubourg was teeming with a panoply of Parisians returned from Bastille Day visits, today the streets around Les Halle's and George P's legacy were relatively quiet.
As Kim's Elk necklace was receiving admiring glances from well dressed women, we knew we had met the mark in the fashion stakes. It is not so much a competition, as a requirement! Intricately folded scarves are being worn with t-shirts by all ages these early Summer days and couleurs are vivid. Every shop front screams "Soldes!!" and "discounted by 50-80%". A particular battle is taking place in Rue St Martin where sneaker wars are being waged ~ Vans are retailing for €65 & Converse for €45-€50. The lower prices are succeeding with Chucks on most feet!
Ah, fashion..... A pity it hasn't reached Russia!.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Thank you for the update. Sounds more exciting than Canberra on Canberra day. Can't wait for the next update, love James & Kerri xxx
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment ~ yours is the only one I have received so far ~ it would appear the signing on process is somewhat difficult. I will keep the blogs coming.
DeleteLove Dad