Day 27 – Rendevous avec nos amis

Our friends the Captain and his first mate arrived in Paris overnight after a month of narrow boating in the UK. Janet has a passion for all France and the language while Lew’s passion is boats. Their holiday combines both passions.

We planned to meet them at Mon Coeur Belleville a café in the 20^th arrondissement. I thought it was much closer to the station than it turned out to be but once we got to the café the view of Paris was superb. I had chosen the café because it promised jazz with a brunch but unfortunately the jazz did not happen. It was cold so perhaps it is a summer activity.

Janet and Lew were waiting for us when we arrived. It was great to catch up and hear their canal boat adventures. Compared to us they really did have a slow relaxing holiday. Brunch came in three versions. The basics was oeuf au plat which neither Janet or I had any idea was but a person nearby translated to say it was eggs sunnyside up. The brunch was simple but very tasty and just the right amount.

Afterwards we took in the view which looked out over Belleville Park and in the distance the Eiffel Tower dominated the skyline although in the pictures this is not quite reflected.

We took the metro to Chatelet and then crossed over the river by the Hotel de Ville towards Notre Dame. The roads around it were blocked off with the Gendarmerie guarding the area. However as we walked around the cathedral it was possible to see the extent of the damage. The roof has gone entirely and there is a lot of scaffolding holding up it seems some of the stone work.

We went and looked Shakespeare and Company a rather lovely bookshop that is crammed full of books both new and used. There is quite a history to the bookshop which Lew enlightened me about.

I wanted to get some food for our dinner with Lew and Janet and the only place that I could think of that might have the prepared food was Galeries Lafayette. Unfortunately I managed to navigate very poorly until I finally figured out that walking would take for ages and even when we took the Metro I managed to get us off on the wrong stop.

We had a wonderful evening with Janet and Lew in the apartment imbibing some bubbles and other wines along with the food we had gathered.

They are just beginning their French odyssey while ours was about to end.