Paris 2.5.....Day 2

Inside Shakespeare & Company

We are now two days in Paris and tired from just a bit of wandering about the city. Since I combined some thoughts from day 1 and 2 in the previous post, I entitled this one 2.5. I may have done it for eclectic reasons. I may have done simply to be accurate or just to be cute.

We strolled along and watched street artists draw portraits

We decided to dress up and have dinner out. We wandered down la rue St. Michel and happened upon La Gentilehommiere. It is a little café/bistro/restaurant/Bar/Brasserie on Place St. Andre des Arts.

Bob?....Yes, thats Bob!

We sat down amongst at least 30 others and quickly noticed that there was one and only one waiter. I mean it was busy and this one waiter was taking quite good care of everyone (now including us).

He was helpful and polite, speaking better English than our poor French. Not only was he the only waiter, he even stepped out for a cigarette for a moment never once missing a customer.

We ordered. I had Coq au vin and Diana the beef bourguignon. She the salad and I the onion soup as starters. All Formule was very good. We skipped dessert. Duh.

We found our waiter’s name is Bob. Bob? Again, I am surprised at the Parisian courtesy which defies all reputation to the contrary. We had an amiable walk back to our apartment taking photos along the way.

We even stopped in at the Shakespeare and Company (still open at 9:00) and looked around briefly while taking prohibited pictures. (They do not allow photographs inside but turned their heads as we clicked away).

Paris may well be over rated and it has many shortcomings like any large city. But, truthfully I can think of none except the crowds…make that hordes of people. But, the friendliness of the people and the ambience cannot be explained but only experienced.

One of the many inviting places to eat

What we have planned for tomorrow I cannot say. The weather forecast for the next 10 days is cloudy with showers. From a light standpoint and photographically, Ireland rules. So I think we will wander and take people pictures. But, as Bogart said to Bergman, “ We’ll always have Paris.”