We woke up to SUN. Which was a sign of how the day was to be. Late morning saw us off to one of our favorite stores, the FNAC. But on the way, the bus route took us past the St. Sulpice church so we decided to revisit, We admired the fountain in front of the church which commemorates Fenelon, writer and former Archbishop of Cambrai. As you can see, the church exterior is being repaired, not by the Church but by the Mayor's office of the city of Paris. Interesting!
We always admire the interior of the church. The "chapelle de la Vierge" (Virgin's Chapel) is especially wonderful to see.
Those of you who have read The DaVinci Code will remember that St Sulpice figures prominently in the plot. The church has posted a disclaimer about the authenticity of that part of the scenario. See below a segment of that disclaimer posted on the wall of the church. Click photo to enlarge for better reading.
After our church visit, we went off to the FNAC. This is a chain of stores, a combination of Barnes and Noble and Best Buy. We like to look through the books, most being in French. The CD and DVD selections are also immense. One has to be careful about DVD's since ones bought here may not play at home because of recording systems in different parts of the world. There is also a very nice cafe on the lower level where we had a good light lunch. See the photo of a part of the store and the cafe.
After the FNAC we went to one of our favorite chocolate shops but it was still closed for vacation. Should have known better. We took buses to get back "home". We had purchased a transportation pass called "Navigo Decouverte" which allows unlimited riding on the buses and the Metro. It's about $75 a month and well worth the price. At full fare, it's about $1.25 per ride and we sometimes do five or six rides per day. Do the math!
For dinner this evening we decided to try one of the small local bistrots. We have found some very good spots this way usually at very fair prices. Not all were open on Monday so we went to one called Le Duc de Richelieu on Parrot Street. We entered and found a small room with about 12 tables and a large bar. There were a few more tables in a small rear room. They had a fixed price meal with several choices for each course (entree and main course) for $18. It was a very good buy. Wine and a dessert brought the price up a bit but it was still a good deal. They of course had a la carte choices too. The service was a tad slow but all were very pleasant and helpful. It turns out the bistrot is only a few steps from the Gare de Lyon, the rail station for the trains to the south of France. Interesting area.
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