Le Chat Est Sur Le Voiture - Thursday 5/17/2007

Yes, I took one last photo of our beloved Kangoo before we left it in the Europcar lot at Charles de Gaulle airport, but I'll spare you that.

We took a taxi to our studio apartment at 18 rue Geunegaud in the 6th arrondissment, which you'll see is pretty fabulously located if you look at the map I linked. Easy to find yourself on a city map in relationship to the Ile de la Cite. Very near the rue de Buci, which some of the guidebooks list as a more real version of Left Bank streetlife than the more touristy (but fun) Huchette area. Picked up the key from the barman at the bistro downstairs (Balto) and used the combination to get inside.

This painting was hanging in the apartment. It actually looks better in the photograph than it did on the wall.

There's a lot more info on the apartment, if you're interested, at this website. Click on "Our Apartments," then click on the top left photograph for La Residence du Pont des Artes.


Our first meal at what would become our favorite restaurant in Paris, the Bistro des Augustins. We liked it for the warm and friendly service, for it's location between our apartment and the cybercafe, and--oh yes--for the food. They were out of gratins today, so we opted for a tartine (toast with toppings, in this case cheese, prosciutto, tomatoes and anchovies) and an assiette de charceuterie. That glop in the foreground was some sort of cured meat suspended in butter or possibly duck fat. Flipping amazing.


Here's that chat I was telling you about. The one sur le voiture. I saw a woman smiling at it from her seat at an outdoor cafe somewhere in the 5th arr., and I stopped to snap a few photos. I started a trend! As we walked away, 5 or 6 other people revealed cameras and started making this cat famous.


Back to Shakespeare & Company. I am not posting photos of every time I went there. This is a shot of the Paris Wall Newspaper, written by the late proprietor, George Whitman.

Right before this I ran into a couple I know from Songmakers, in Los Angeles. Ha! Knew they were going to be there, and just bumped into them. Showed them the apartment. They were impressed with the price.

Ah, how nice. Capped off our first day with a champagne toast from the bottle Vladimir left for us.