Wine for Breakfast

Aaahh, Paris (pronounced Paree, of course!). This city is alive and vibrant and I am so fortunate to be a part of it! My first day was fabulous and my experiences rich, despite a little bit of jet lag early this morning. But I'm okay with that and just starting to feel tired after a most busy day!

It all started with a trip to the market, prior to breakfast. The market was just opening but the goods were appealing and there was everything from bedding to veggies to wine. Which is where I'll begin. I went to the market with the assumption that I would buy some nice veggies, fresh cheese and whatever else might build a few good meals. And yes, I did attain many of those goods, as you can see from one of my photos! However, I did get distracted by a seller of wine who approached me quickly with a sample of his best 'rouge' - onceI was able to get that out as my preference. Yet I was not able to share with him the words in French about not having eaten my petit dejeuner so instead something came out like oooh la la, I would like to try more of that one and maybe I could try a bit of that. Thus by the time I was complete at that booth I had drank a glass of morning wine and bought a bottle from this gentleman. I did find a cafe quickly after that (find is said lightly; they are everywhere) for a cafe au lait (and it was excellent despite the absence of extreme hotness) and a quiet start to my morning, reading a good novel street side while seeing the morning hubub in the city.

I went for a VERY long walk through the Pere Lachais cemetery which I finally located. Really not far from here at all, just missed it yesterday in my blur of awakedness for 24 hours! I don't know that I planned to spend 2 hours there, but it just so happened that my map reading was not so great today in a location that truly is something to see in terms of tributes to deceased loved ones. The graves were beautiful in so many ways. I was taken with the tribute to Chopin and interested in the grafitti and crowd who observed Jim Morrison's sight; although today it seemed rather minimal.

The day progressed with my first metro experience (all went well once I discovered you can purchase tickets en anglais), to the Louvre. Yes, I chose the most daunting museum for my first day. Why not? Tourist central. But the line moved quickly and in I went to see the Mona Lisa and other works of art that were amazing and left me awestruck in so many ways. The detail, the subject matter and all the work that must have gone into each piece is intimidating. I can't say I'm familiar with a great deal of the art at the Louvre, and it doesn't help much that their descriptions are in French, so I found myself creating my own stories about them. For instance, this piece that I photographed above, would appear St. Thomas is saying "It's okay man ". I'm so cultured! One thing I did find rather interesting was that despite signs everwhere that share 'no flash photos', about 50 % of the people were flashing away at the Mona Lisa. Apparently the icon is not universal!

Well this is getting long now, so I will end sharing that I took long walk along the river, by the Paris Beach. It is quite entertaining to see Parisians sitting in their beach chairs on a rather hazy day, though warm, riverside on the sand, with palm trees to enjoy among themselves. Quite cute and maybe something we should have in Edmonton? I popped into see Notre Dame as well and was amazed by the size and intricacy of it all. Beautiful!

PS - sorry about photo placement. You'll just have to match to the story the best you can. I can't seem to move them to where I would like!

t.