Guest Blogger: Mom

Here I am, feeling a little creaky but most happy, after another day of about 8 hours straight of walking through Parisian neighborhoods. Dad's busy cooking supper. Matt has only recently surfaced from his intensive day of softwaring and is now amusing us with his cheery taunts and tales.



Today we chose the tony 16th as our target for prowling. After sleeping in until 9:30, we packed out backpack for the day, we took the subway to Trocodero. We had a plan to find a place to have a morning coffee (thrown off a bit because in fact we arrived at noon); we intended to sip leisurely and plan the details of route of exploration, before setting out. But the 16th is so upscale we could find no place for coffee that we felt we should afford. Many of the eating spots were being patronized by very well-dressed clientele; our practical grungies would be out of place. (I am almost the only woman in Paris daily wearing bright white (they are new) tennis shoes--it simply isn't done.) So we began making our way north, zigging and zagging to see the neighborhoods we were passing through, searching for a suitable coffee place. Finally we made it to the not-so-spiffy but gentrifying 17th. Eventually we found an ok cafe (the minimum criteria was that it had to have a toilet). So the coffee was terrible and actually cold and Ron had a totally fat-infested croque monsieur. The food would have better next door, but they had no toilet.



After this repast we decided to be brave and cross the Peripherique, the multilane expressway that encircles Paris--so we would be-leaving-Paris for the infamous suburbs. Did we dare? Yes, we did. So we crossed over and found ourselves in a lovely neighborhood (turns out not all suburbs are questionable territory). We walked south several block to the Bois de Boulogne. The guidebooks all warn you NOT to go there at night and talk about all sorts of nefarious activity and warn you to stay on main pathway. But in the daytime when we were there it was filled with parents and children, old men playing bocce, joggers and folks out for exercise walks. The formal flower gardens were in bloom, In the center were two lakes. You could rent rowboats. The lakes were separated/connected by picturesque waterfalls. This is a huge 2,0000 acre park. Dad and I wandered through its diverse venues for about three hours.



Then we crossed over back to the 16th, found a small supermarket, bought some healthy snacks (a premade carrot salad, yogurts, and Orangina drinks). We sat on a nearby bench and ate. Then we realized that, if we were to get back to Matt's neightborhood to buy ingredients for dinner before the shops closed, we had less than an hour to make it back to the subway. So we made a beeline through yet more 16th neighborhoods, caught the excellent (but packed at commuter time) subway. We zoomed in as the shops we closing to buy fruits and sausage, etc. We got back to Matt's at 8 pm. Dinner is now ready. It's looking really good. Must go.

Mom