Jed in Paris!

Thursday, March 20. First day of spring! You'd never know it from the weather forecast: beginning the day with veiled clouds, proceeding to very cloudy, then overcast, then dark overcast !! Temperatures in the 40s. brrr.

Jed arrives early afternoon. Of course, he has not only taken the RER in from the airport but he has also (by borrowing a map from someone on the RER) found his way to my apartment building. In fact, he even manages to get inside the building as someone else is entering at the same time so he only has to call me to find out which floor I'm on! It's great because I can hear him talking through the phone and also from the stairwell! He is a very capable and independent traveler.

We hang out in the apartment for a while, and I give Jed a little tour (OK, blink, now it's over!) Jed says, "Where are your clothes?" Well, there are three pairs of (black) pants hanging in the closet, then there is the chest of drawers: one little drawer with underwear, one little drawer with pajamas and socks, and one larger drawer with sweaters and turtlenecks! Jed says" I brought more clothes for the weekend than you have here!" Not true, but funny!

We then head out to the 20th arrondisement (taking the metro from Arts et Metiers to Porte de Bagnolet) so I can show him my favorite little neighborhood. This little neighborhood is on the top of a hill so we climb up a very long stone stairway, and then we freeze our butts off. It is very cold and windy up here but it is a beautiful little enclave of houses. Then of course I insist on circling around to find a little park that I can see on the map (turns out it is right next to the stairway we first walked up but you wouldn't exactly call it a park since most of it is at about a 90 degree angle and the gate is locked anyway).

Back on the metro to Pere LaChaise (it's literally too cold to walk). After purchasing a map from the florist shop nearby, we meander around this huge cemetery and "visit" Heloise and Abelard, Chopin, Moliere, Jim Morrison and Oscar Wilde. By then it's 6 p.m. and we are chased out by the cemetery police and have to leave by the northern exit which puts us into the Place Gambetta. Fortunately, we can get on the metro there and take it directly back to Arts & Metiers.

We stop and have coffee/tea at the Cafe des Arts et Metiers. Service is less than great but it's a great location, it's warm and the coffee and tea are good. Walk back, stopping at G20 market to do shopping. I take advantage of having Jed with me to stock up on lots of heavy things that he then carries for me! At home, we change the one very large bed into two very small ones!

To the Grizzli Cafe (on the lower part of rue Saint Martin) for dinner. Jed has fois gras, then magret de canard et gratin dauphinoise. I have clafouti with cherry tomatoes, grana (a kind of cheese), basil and salade verte, then travers du porc (turns out that means little ribs!) carmalise de miel et wok de legumes. we share un pot de vin (about 4 glasses) and tarte tatin for dessert.

Walk back to the apartment and Jed immediately goes to bed !!