Quiet day on the Left Bank

Tuesday October 22 was a mix of sun and cloud with a high of about 14C.  We were both a bit tired.  I woke up at 4:30 a.m. and decided that I should check the Canadian election results.  I stayed up to 6:00 a.m (midnight Toronto time) watching the results.  Alain woke up with a bit of a stomach bug, so we mainly hung out at the apartment in the morning.

We had decided to spent Tuesday on the Left Bank.  We walked over the Seine.  It was so strange to see Notre Dame Cathedral with missing parts.

One view of Notre Dame post fire
The Seine in the sun


Selfie on the Seine

View of Notre Dame 
Close up of the damage
We walked along Boulevard Saint-Germain, passing my all time favourite cheese shop- Laurent Dubois.

Laurent Dubois Fromager

We wandered for quite a bit, stopping for a bowl of soup at a restaurant serving healthy food and drinks.

We also stopped at the Dries Van Noten store, where Alain indulged in some retail therapy.

Outside of Dries Van Noten store
Alain with his new top

We decided to go to Shakespeare and Company for an event that went from 7:00 p.m.- 8:00 p.m.  We went there a lot when we were in Paris for three months in 2011, and try to go to events during our annual trips.

James Gregor was going to be reading and also interviewed about his debut novel, Going Dutch.  The book has generally received good reviews.  It is about a bisexual love triangle set in the trenches of dating both on and off-line in New York City.  One reviewer said "As a debut work of fiction, it is a knock-out".  It turned out that Gregor is a Canadian, born in Nova Scotia.  He has an MFA in Fiction from Columbia University.  He also worked at Shakespeare and Company 10 years ago!  A homecoming of a sort.

He read three excerpts in between being interviewed.  The book sounds like a lot of fun and the writing is excellent.

Announcement of the event

Outside of Shakespeare and Company-- lots of Going Dutch in the window
View into the bookstore

James Gregor on the left being interviewed by one of the bookstore's staff (an excellent interviewer)

We began walking back to the apartment along the quai and I took an eerie picture of Notre Dame Cathedral at about 8:20 p.m.


Notre Dame looking very forboding 

It was then back to the apartment where Alain cooked a fish dinner- excellent meal.  A quiet day (for us) in Paris.  Wednesday October 23 will be our last full day in Paris.  We head back to Toronto on Thursday October 24.   I will post one more blog of our last day on our return to Toronto.

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