The Weekend Summary

The weekend is coming a close and what a nice weekend it was.  The weather was 70-75 degrees with blue skies and sunshine.  They tell me this isn't typical, but I tell them it can stay like this for the next two years.  It is getting to mid-October, one of my favorite time of year for sports.  Baseball playoffs are under way (go Yankees!) and football is in full swing.  Unfortunately I can only read about it until I get in the apartment (which could be tomorrow, if not Tuesday).  This is a good year not to have to fall in the bad habit of wasting Sunday afternoons watching the Bills.

So a little about the weekend...  Saturday I moved into the new hotel very near rue de Passy.  It is a nice hotel and one I recommend for people who like quaint, quiet and good service.  It is less then 2 minutes from the apartment.  I have a room on the top (eighth) floor.  It is twice the size of the last one and it has a little terrace that I can (and do) sit on.  Matter of fact I'm sitting on it, having a beer, playing BB King from the iPad and writing this blog passage.

This weekend I did a lot of walking around at different times of the day to check out the new neighborhood.  I found this really cool market called march de Passy.  It has 2 florist, 3 butcher shops, 2-3 fresh produce shops, 3 fish shops were they clean and filet the fish for you while you wait, 2 bakers (with free samples), an oyster bar where you buy them to take home or eat right there, a hardware shop and at least 3 cheese shops.  It was extremely busy, but everyone was nice.  It puts Wegmans to shame.  When you come out of this building (it's not very big), there is a small cobblestone street that has another bunch of shops - butchers, bakers, produce and I found a small Italian shop were they make fresh pasta for you.  Ok, so food shopping consumed most of my day.  I didn't buy anything yet, but wait until next weekend!

This morning I got up, got caught up on a few things and went to church.  There is a Catholic church called Notre Dame de Grace de Passy only 2 blocks away.  It is an. old church I found on my walk yesterday.  I went this morning thinking it would be a good way for me to practice my French listening since I know the flow of the mass.  Well, that didn't work too well.  It was a children's mass and there were ~100 kids there between the ages of 18 months to 5 years old.  I don't think the French are keen to disciplining the kids.  Obviously they all get donuts regardless how they behave.  Any way it felt good to go to spend some time in God's house.

The rest of my Sunday has been relaxing.  Another walk in a different direction, bought some fresh fruit and now it's about time to think about dinner.  Tomorrow starts a new week at work and maybe a new place to stay.