Happily, Nobody was Depending on me Today! - Sunday, 21 October

I like to think of myself as a dependable person.  It might not always be true, but that's how I like to think of myself.  Anyhoo, it's sure a good thing that nobody was depending on me today!  It was a day of "regrouping," as my friend Jan L. would say.

After putting Beth Ann and Lydia in the taxi this morning, I poked around the apartment and got ready to head out to church. I thought I'd take a different bus route (#38) this time to get to the #63 that stops right in front of The American Church ACParis.  Ha ha.  I had been on the #38 before, but had forgotten that, since it runs on one-way streets, the southward direction street is separated by a few blocks from the northward. I walked for a few blocks on the wrong street (which was already several blocks from the apartment) before I realized ... DUH! ... my oopsiedoodle.  So I stopped at a café to have a coffee and consult a detailed map to make sure I got it right the second time.  But the waiter was taking his own sweet time (it was a Sunday morning, after all, and who's in a hurry on a Sunday morning?) and pretty soon the option of taking a couple busses to get there was pretty much a non-option.  I thought about finding a taxi, but noticed that an intriguing shop, La Pistacherie, was about to open just across the street from where I was sitting.

After yielding to temptation and buying a couple things at La Pistacherie (including a "candy bar" consisting of pistachios in caramel - a great concept, but it would have been even better if the pistachios were slightly salted and the caramel wasn't quite so hard - must give it a try myself), I decided to wander back in the direction of the apartment on this gorgeous morning, one that featured the first really clear blue sky of my visit.  Streets all over Paris run at odd angles to each other and are sometimes very short, so there are usually many ways to get from point A to point B that offer unique things to look at along the way.  After a bit of wandering and locating a couple restos that are on my list for later this week, I decided to sit down for a cup of tea close to the church of Saint-Eustache, one of the major landmarks in this 'hood.  I just had to get a shot of the beautiful packaging and presentation.

Then it was back to the apartment for a late lunch and some relaxing before heading out to a late afternoon concert.  This time I fairly quickly found the bus stop I needed, and I knew that this #85 bus ran on Sundays (not all of them do), but I sat there for about 15 minutes before I realized that this line provided "partial service" on Sundays and this wasn't one of its stops!  DUH #2 (or was it #3 by this time?).  But a young family with two little kids was also waiting at the bus stop, and I enjoyed watching them play, and it was a beautiful day, and so not all was lost.  By this time I was likely to arrive late for the concert no matter what other transportation plan I made, so I decided to regroup again and explore yet other streets in my 'hood that I hadn't seen yet.  In doing so I found a cool little shortcut, and I came across an apparently-popular band setting up in an open shopfront (its fans were quickly gathering in the pedestrian street in front of them and they started singing in unison with the band as soon as the band started playing), and I found a couple of shops that I'll need to explore on Monday when they're open, and I saw a dozen really cute doggies of all sizes, and I was able to just sit back and observe the "joie de vivre" that's so apparent here on Sundays, especially in pedestrian neighborhoods such as this (most of the streets are closed to everything except cabs and delivery vehicles) when most of the shops are closed and everyone is just out with their friends and families enjoying life and the city and the sunshine and each other.

The view from my table at
"Père et Fils"
("Father and Son")

So if you had been here with me today and depending on me to reliably get you from point A to point B, you would have been quite disappointed, as I would have been.  But if you wouldn't have minded just wandering around and seeing and experiencing what you could see and experience, you might have enjoyed yourself!