It’s not easy to slow down at the holidays, but I am.

My weekly postings have slowed down too but it’s okay.

We all need time do nothing.

I hope you can take a seat, relax and slow down this holiday season too.

Enjoy!

Leslie

Sometimes I like to remember where I have been.

I document signs with my camera.

Normally I don’t share these images.

But this group was like an afternoon stroll through Paris…

Enjoy!

Leslie

There is nothing better than window shopping in Paris.

But look closely…

These beauties don’t belong on your feet.

They would be best enjoyed after un diner with a small espresso.

Does window shopping get better than this?

Enjoy!

Leslie

There is a misconception that French café (coffee) is good.

In France a café is occasionally good but I’m sorry to say more often than not it isn’t very good.

What pains me most about French café is it’s often double the cost of a café in Italy, unless you are in a very tiny village d’étape (a French village with less than 5,000 inhabitants situated just off a free highway) and even then the quality could go either way.

A café in France sometimes arrives with a cookie, a piece of chocolate or even a tiny cube of nougat.   This makes me happy because it balances out the potentially bad café.

But in France your not just paying for an often watery bitter café you are paying rent for your seat and your view…to watch the people passing by, read the newspaper, talk with friends or just relax.

I like the relaxing part…so as you can imagine good or bad I’ve been drinking a lot of French café.

Enjoy!

Leslie

When the weather is good in Paris or even a little rainy I get around on a Vélib’ which stands for vélo libre (free bicycle) or vélo liberté (bicycle freedom).

Launched in July 2007 Vélib’ is Paris’ public bike program.  Today Paris has 20,000 bicycles and more than 1,600 stations in the Vélib’ program.  For 1 Euro you can have access to bikes for 24 hours and your first half hour of use is free.

Other than a flat tire, I’ve never had a problem with the system until this visit.  I thought I had properly returned a bike but when I went  to take another bike (by chance at the same station) the machine said I currently had a bike out.  Yikes!

I pressed the service button on the station’s machine to speak with a Vélib’ representative to find out what went wrong but the passing cars and motorcycles made the voice nearly inaudible.  The representative explained she couldn’t speak louder because she would disturb her colleagues.  The conversation was a classic French lesson of ecoutez et repetez (listen and repeat) or maybe it was more listen and scream back what you thought your heard.

My language test ended once I located the bike, set it properly in its stand and was told I would be charged 35,00 Euro (about $48.00) for my mistake but I could call the help number on the machine for information on obtaining a credit.

When I called the number it was the same representative who continued the test by giving me an exhaustive explanation of how to obtain my Vélib’ credit.  I gave her my best “Oui Madame, merci beacoup” (Yes Madame, thank you very much) but forgot to mention I’d be calling American Express to get that credit merci!

Vélib’ may be one of the best ways to visit the Eiffel Tower and Le Champs de Mars…just be sure to station your bike properly before walking away and bring your American Express card, not for potential problems but because Vélib’ doesn’t accept any other credit card from the US.

Enjoy!

Leslie