I thought that I’d tell everyone a little bit about Paris and where I’m living.

I’m in an apartment on Rue Montorgeuil.  Don’t ask me how to pronounce the name of the street.  It seems that everyone here says it different.  For instance, when I was leaving the hotel where I was staying to come to the apartment with all my worldly belongings, the concierge corrected my pronunciation of Rue Montorgeuil.  Then, when he walked outside to the cab to give the taxi driver the directions, the driver corrected him.  I’ve mentioned where I’m living to every teacher at the school, and each one has a different way of saying the name.  I finally decided that the closest I can get to the correct pronunciation is to sound like I’m coughing up a hairball as I pronounce the last syllable.  You know, Mon-tor-guyahhkk!

Rue Montorgeuil is a fabulous street.  I couldn’t have a better location.  I’m no more than a 5 minute walk to the school.  From the front of my apartment building, there is a hardware store directly across the street.  I bought a French hairdryer there today.  I can’t read the instructions on how to turn it on or what the temp is, but the thing looks haute couture.  I’m thinking of framing it when I get home.  To the right of the apartment, across the street is a dry cleaners.  Whoopee!  Clean clothes for another week.  There’s a ‘super’ market to the left. I say ‘super’ not because of the size, but because I’m glad to have somewhere to buy water.  Parisians don’t drink water.  So, I was thrilled to discover that they sell it in bottles to Americans.  There are two great fruit stands on the street and florists aplenty.

Restaurants abound: Thai, Italian, Chinese, English.  And a few French.  There is a fish market, a boulangerie, a boucherie.  Every type of food you can imagine can be bought on this street.  The street isn’t longer than 6 blocks.  And it’s all pedestrian.

The greatest thing on this street, though, is Stohrer.  Remember that name if you ever visit Paris.  It’s the oldest bakery in Paris.  Nicholas Stohrer opened the location in 1730.  It was opened before America was even a country!  Stohrer is known for the baba au rum, a cake invented by Nocholas, and today it’s known as having the best chocolate éclairs in the city. That’s saying a lot in a city famous for its pastries.  But if you’ve been in business for 283 years, I think you can perfect the chocolate éclair.  And that’s what Stohrer has done.  I plan to buy an extra suitcase to fill with their éclairs.

Paris has the most incredible architecture.  The buildings are grand.  It’s an experience to walk around this city.  It seems that every building has a history.  I love to stand outside and stare at the facades of the great museums and marvel at the intelligence of the designers in creating such loveliness.

There is one other thing about buildings in Paris that strikes me as interesting.  When you walk into the oldest buildings in a neighborhood, you can feel the list.  For instance, the building where my apartment is housed has a very narrow spiraling staircase that goes up to four floors.  I’m on the third.  When you walk up the stairs you get the feeling that you are tilting to the bannister on the inside of the staircase.  It’s like the Casa Loco at Six Flags.  Everything is on a slant.  You feel like you’re walking uphill when, in truth, you’re walking down.  That’s exactly how old Paris buildings are on the inside.

This was proven to me the other day when I was in the local market.  I was pushing a small cart along.  I turned to reach for the yogurt and took my hands off the cart.  The next thing I knew the cart was rolling down the aisle towards the front door, picking up speed at a rapid pace.  I ran for the door, yogurt in hand, and threw myself in front of the out-of-control cart before some little French child was bowled over.  You don’t want to tangle with a French mother protecting her child–which is another thing I’ve observed.

Tomorrow is another round of talk and write in French.  I’m hanging on by my fingernails.

A bientôt!