Beginning with Food

I finally found the first disk of photos so now you can enjoy my delightful discovery of the patisserie (pastry shop) only two blocks from our Paris hotel. Is it any wonder I succumbed? They also sell bread, which, joined with soft, flavor-full cheeses and some pate, makes a perfect sandwich. Along that short block, we could buy fruit, fish, deli things with no name, sausages, vegetables. On one day there was even an outdoor market.

Do you know the English film “Enchanted April?” Four women rent a villa on the Italian coast to escape the rain and gloom of London. The trip there is long, cold and wet. They arrive by buggy at night, suspecting that the whole thing was a mistake and that they should have stayed home. The next morning, early, one of them wakes and opens up her shuttered window onto sunshine, singing birds, flowers, and the glorious Mediterranean below. It is April in Italy. For us, it was April in Paris.

After arriving on the 5^th at Orly outside of Paris, finding the Metro (subway), climbing with our backpacks up and down interminable corridors and stairs in the Metro, asking questions, following directions, we finally llimped into the Hotel du Commerce. It’s a small hotel on a tiny street on the Left Bank. Hauling ourselves up three narrow winding stairways cloaked in darkness (later we found the light switch), and down a one-person hallway, we found our 8 x 18 ft. inexpensive ($50 a night for two) room.

Opening the door, here’s what greeted us: Bright colors, one bed large enough for two, a sink, and a tall screenless window opening to an unencumbered view of our part of town. Across the way, apartments with balconies full of flowers and trees; on the street below, students sitting outside the bars talking and smoking. Cars managjing somehow to go both ways on the street, missing trucks and bicyclists.

The toilet is down the hall, just like home, and the shower is downstairs near the reception desk, not quite like home but it was OK. The breakfast room (pictured) was bright and happy. Several times we did our shopping then brought it back here to eat. I felt as if I was in a scene from the opera, “La Boheme,” or the movie, “Gigi.”

At the desk, you see Laurent, our charming and helpful host..

This gentle little corner of Paris was the perfect place for us to begin our lightly-planned adventure.