Lundi 6 octobre 2025

Monday, October 6, 2025

I have the best appartement in Paris! And the best host!!! Lisa (she has an AMAZING name) has been so nice to me. She has patiently answered my one million questions and is always ready to help.

Today she kindly came over while I was out exploring the neighborhood to check on the famous espresso machine! I’ve been struggling with this creature since I arrived over a week ago now! I thought I had everything down and then the pod burst while brewing the coffee on at least 3 occasions; this is not a pretty sight- coffee grounds all over the creature, the counter, and me!

Lisa put this creature through its paces, and it worked! Voila! However, she did say that it’s close to being “kaput!”

Lisa is a super host with a great sense of humor!!!

By the way, SUPER in French is pronounced sou-pear!

Not sue-purr…..as in anglaise!

At least, I think so!!!!

Other things I did on 10/6/2025

I had my 4th lesson with Aurèlie this morning. I like her very much. She is kind and professional. She lives close by, so she walks to my apartment every morning and she arrives promptly at 9 am. The lessons are an hour and a half. Today we practiced saying what I did over the weekend- like Jè suis allè au Musée.  Jè suis allé à la piscine. Jè suis allé à l’atelier de Bourdelle. J’ai acheté un livre à l’atelier de Bourdelle.

At 1 pm I had a lunch reservation at a nice restaurant in my neighborhood called Oui Mon Gènèral - Yes, My General. I’m guessing it’s called that because the Hôtel des Invalides and Écolé Militaire are nearby. I had an amazing salade de lentilles and le plat de jours-thon blanc de ligne, risotto de maïs, vierges poivrons piments- translation: a lentil salad and a dish of the day-grilled tuna over a risotto of corn and virgin pimento peppers.

 I observed two groups of patrons eat great quantities of food and wine. Two ladies had a full lunch, then coffee, then they each had a dessert- one had something like a chocolate mousse, and the other had a generous serving of a soft cheese or pavlova with fresh fruit on top. One of them was a nursing mom and her baby slept quietly or nursed as she chatted with her friend and ate.

After lunch I puttered around the 2 or 3 blocks next to my place. There are 2 pharmacies, a hair salon, a laundromat, an art school for kids, a studio where a group of older ladies paint ceramics daily, 2 nice bookstores (libraires), a cheese shop, a magasin (store) where they only sell men’s socks, an atelier (workshop) of an instrument maker who makes mandolins. There is quite a variety of things and it’s fun just to peek through the window. Many businesses are closed on Mondays and Tuesdays anyway.

I walked to Hôtel des Invalides because I wanted to see Napolean’s tomb after listening to my favorite podcast- The Rest is History. Coming from my direction, one couldn’t enter the park or museum because workers were dismantling a huge tent that had been set up for Fashion week the week before (it ended up taking them 3 days to dismantle).

I walked to Rue de Bac on a heavily trafficked pedestrian street called Rue de Babylone. I was mainly walking and window shopping. There was one magasin I was heading toward called Papa Pique et Maman Coud, a cute fashion accessory store where I purchased some cute velvet hair ties in 2022, but it was closed.

It’s fun just to walk and explore.