Monday, July 22, 2013

A Day in the Neighborhood

I know this will be hard for our Albuquerque friends to grasp, considering that the day before we left home the city was suffering a heat wave with highs in the neighborhood of 110, but Paris is having its own heat wave.  Highs are in the low 90s, with humidity around 70.  With humidity like that, there's nowhere to hide from the heat, except for the air-conditioned department stores.  We were waiting for a bus today and noticed the lady on the left, who had found that the only shade was in the middle of the street.






So on a day like this, it's time to introduce you to our neighborhood.  It's very nice here, heavily shaded, and quiet.  The Le Cepage restaurant next door is actually on Square Caulaincourt, a pedestrian space that connects Rue Lamarck with Rue Junot, which is the gateway to the central part of Montmarte.  (Remember the barricades in Les Miserables?  General Lamarck's death was supposed to be a civilian rallying point that the students were depending on).  Here's the square at our street level:





Remember, we're on a hillside.  Here's how you get to Rue Lamarck; that's about four flights' worth of stairs.


And here's how you get to Rue Junot, directly across Rue Caulaincourt, only about two flights up:


The door at the right of the stairs is our grocery store.  It's "ours" because it's closest,  but we have four within an easy 5-minute walk.  Heading downhill on Rue Caulaincourt from the square, we encounter a wine shop (la cave in French is "wine cellar") and bar/restaurant.  There are so many of these little restaurants to choose from, I confess we haven't tried this one.




Crossing the street and heading back home, we have our local chocolatier.  Doesn't every neighborhood in Albuquerque have a local chocolatier?


And I don't have photos of the butcher, the pharmacist, the dress shop, the two or three bakers, or the Century 21 Real Estate office.  Oh, by the way.  In case you feel like buying a little pied-a-terre here for your regular European getaway trips, have about $450,000 available for 520 square feet.  We were surprised by the number of real estate offices around here until we saw some of the prices and realized the commissions to be had.

The news and weather people on TV are warning everyone to stay somewhere cool.  I think our little home-away-from-home qualifies, so we'll probably "hang in the 'hood" tomorrow until time for our wine and cheese class at 5:00.  Tomorrow I'll let you know what we discover.