SATURDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2008

This afternoon, we decided to go back and visit the rest of the Ile St. Louis since the weather seemed promising. When we go outside, it was sunny but a bit on the cool side.We took the bus to the island and walked around the "quai" on the perimeter where we saw some of the lovely apartment buildings. We wished those living there would stop being so unkind as to leave their shutters closed so that nosey people like us couldn't see in. We came across this elderly gentleman reading his paper in the park.

We went half way over the Pont St. Louis which joins the island to the other island in the Seine, the Île de la Cité. Just as we had remembered from last year, there was a jazz trio playing. They were American ex-pats who have been here for years. We enjoyed their music. We went down the principal street of the island to finish off our checking out of all of the interesting shops there. We came across a bookstore with the following book in the window. Translated it means "Short stories for children who fall asleep quickly". We thought it was very cute.

We went back to the Pylones store and bought some cute gifts. To get an idea, click the name and see the selection of products, mostly for kids.We then walked down to the main Bertillon store and had some of their ice cream in their own store. Remember we had some in another store on Thursday. We had three scoops each, including Armagnac with prunes, Kirsch with candied fruits, pistachio, caramel, and pralines. You have never had such good ice cream in your life. I would say better than some of the gelatto we have had in Italy.
Outside, we noticed a crowd around the front of the church. This was the second wedding we have seen here. When the married couple came out, they posed for some pictures and then walked up the street, turned and walked over the Pont de la Tournelle and went down by the river for another series of pictures. We followed along as any good Parisian would and watched the proceedings.

We walked two more blocks, hopped on the 87 bus and went back home.

This evening was our time to eat out so we chose a small neighborhood restaurant a block from the house. I think we were the only foreigners there. It seemed to be what we think of as a typical place for the locals. It was called Le Traversiere. We had a good meal, Alexandria having tuna and Erwin had duck breast. Topped off with a good dessert and of course a nice bottle of wine. We returned home full, perhaps a bit too much so since we weren't able to fall asleep quite as quickly as we normally do.