roadtripping.

The Honeymoon: Beerman, Blinky, and Me.

The next day we had Plans. Visit the markets. Check out the skyline from the roof of the Samaritain. Investigate rental cars. Stop by Tati to pick up some shampoo and whatnot. Look for an optician, since I'd broken my glasses and couldn't find any frames I liked in Toronto. Dinner at a nearby restaurant that had good reviews but was still reasonably priced. Have a drink at La Coupole.

Also, we wanted to connect with Lodo, a friend of TG's cousin Peter. Another great thing about our Oberkampf home: there was an internet cafe across the street. Lodo lives in Lyon, where we were headed on the roadtrip portion of our journey.

The thing about Paris is that everything is gorgeous. You don't have to go looking for the sights; they're everywhere. All of the buildings are beautiful. Even the department stores are art nouveau marvels, with breathtaking architectural details.

And surprises. Along the Seine, there are a million flowershops and nurseries and pet shops - where they had a common squirrel on sale for 70 euros. Wha?

And just everyday beauty - couple kissing on every street corner. "They do that for the tourists," TG said. "The government pays them to be charming. 50 euros a year."

We headed up past the Opera House to Hausmann, which I believed would take us to a street with a nearby car rental agency I'd sussed out. We didn't get far before we hit a crowd in the street - degustation! - a winetasting at Auge, a shop that's been around for centuries. They stopped us and encouraged us to drink a glass (or two!), and we bought a couple of nice bottles.

Maybe it was the wine that caused us to miss the car rental place. In any case, we were walking along for what seemed longer than I had anticipated, so we pulled out the map to figure out where we were. TG pointed to the Arc de Triomphe on the map: "that doesn't look far." And lo and behold, when we looked farther up the street, there it was!

So that was our next stop, obviously. Naturally, it was closed. The only people who could get near it on that day appeared to be veterans of a war we didn't remember.

It was getting late-ish in the day, so we headed back to our hotel to shower and dress for dinner. I had bought a pink silk jacket at Camaieux to wear (we were on the pack-light-and-shop-while-you're-there plan).

Au Trou Normand had been recommended by one person or another as being "authentic" (i.e. not overpriced and filled with tourists) and was conveniently just a block or two from our hotel. It's a tiny bistro, and we arrived at just the right moment - as soon as we were seated, the place filled to overflowing. The tables were tiny and jammed in so close the waiters could barely pass by, people were eating at the bar, and some people were even getting bar service sitting on the sidewalk outside, on the hoods of parked cars. I had duck, because I can never resist duck. The food was amazing.

Our next stop was the Left Bank and La Coupole. This is where the tourists were! I think we overheard more English and German than French. We stayed for one drink at La Coupole, but the prices were too crazy to stay for long. 8.50 euros for a cocktail! Yikes. There weren't very many people there either.

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