A week of ups and downs in Paris!

It’s been a strange week; both good and bad. On the negative side I lost my phone and of course all my contacts numbers, because I never keep a hard copy. You think I would learn but I never seem to. Then a few nights later the teller machine ate my bank card, so it has been a frustrating week. However, it is not all grim and darkness, I have been to some interesting places in the last week. Starting with last Saturday I went to lunch for L’s birthday. We went first to a café in Montmarte for a drink; kicking off the afternoon with a nice glass of red. We then headed up the hill to Le Moulin de la Galette restaurant. It is on the site of one of the old windmills of Paris and I have often walked passed it and wanted to see what it was like, so was very happy to go to lunch there. There were 10 girls and one guy, with a majority of them being French, a lot of the conversation was in French and was quite testing of my limited French skills. Then after the lunch we headed back down the hill to another café/ bar for another drink. Altogether it was a lovely way to spend a Saturday afternoon. Drinking wine and eating yummy, yummy food. In true French style there was a set menu where you can order three courses. For starters I had Salmon with roe and lentils followed by cochon and veges followed by Opera Gateaux. Then I stumbled home, full of good food and wine and pleasant memories. Following a relaxing weekend, came St Patrick’s Day on Tuesday, prompting M, L and me to go to O’Sullivans in Pigalle for a night of dancing. Also this week I have been to two nice bars to listen to live music. On Thursday, T was singing at a bar in Bastille called Discoteque, so I went along to check it out. It had a very grungy, hip vibe with a bar as you walk in; then a couple of small rooms leading into each other all painted in a yellow colour with pictures of jazz musicians and posters and records hung up around the place. T is a singer songwriter and performed a set of her songs; it was a great sound, similar in part to Suzanne Vega with the same mellowed tones. Then on Friday night I went to the Swan Bar in Montparnasse to hear N sing some Jazz. She has an amazing voice and spent a nice few hours drinking a glass of red and listening to the haunting sounds of jazz wafting through Paris. So, it has been a busy week for me out on the town in Paris, and bar a couple of mishaps along the way, was altogether not a bad week in Paris.

Below are some pictures of Le Moulin de la Galette restaurant