Every day is better than the next!

I have a plan to take a boat ride today – it includes the Canal Saint-Martin, as well as the Seine. It’s been a few years since I took a boat ride, so I’m looking forward to it with this weather!

Stay tuned!

Later tonight, I hope to meet a friend for dinner on the Seine with a bottle of wine. We have lots to catch up on. (Update: we’re picnicking at La Vasque – the Olympic Torch! – be still my heart!)

Beyond that, I started my day with all the terrace doors open, and I did some exercises and yoga here in the apartment with my music playing on my iPad. Luigi was beside himself and had to climb on me, which made the bridges exercises quite interesting.

I am excited to share that I finally found a way to keep my baguette overnight! Normally, no matter what I do, I end up tossing the remains of it. They just don’t keep – especially if you order “une tradition” which is made with only 4 ingredients (and is protected by UNESCO). They go stale faster. Here’s what you do: freeze it! I took it out this morning and let it thaw a bit, and voilà, c’est magie. Worked like a charm!

The reason I needed to freeze the baguette at all was because I was unclear at the boulangerie. I mean it’s less than 2 Euros… so I just let it go. I wanted to order une demi-tradition (a half baguette), but I said it in such a way – I paused – une tradition – mais demi, I heard it come out of my mouth and the guy moved like lightning to start my order, and there was nothing I could do. I realized it sounded like une tradition et demi. Big difference! lol!

So… I acted like it was exactly what I wanted. Honestly, I could see myself doing the same thing in English. Home I went with a baguette and a half – 3 times what I’d intended.

But, I froze it, so no waste!

More later… I’m off…

Writing while on the boat at Canal Saint-Martin… silly me, people were lined up an hour in advance. I arrived 15 minutes prior, so no top deck for me! lol! I am to be inside, below deck. Just as well. Maybe I’ll do this trip, old-school – as if iPhone didn’t exist (she said while blogging!).

Well, at least I had first dibs at the bar. A woman alone with a glass of rosé? Literally every other row has people, and I sit with 7 empty chairs facing ghosts across three bistrot tables. I’m a pariah to families. Seriously, I feel like a leper. That is the way it is and always was for divorced women. I well remember my mother and how no one would befriend her. In those days, no one was divorced. Scandalous! Even the church didn’t want her presence. Can you imagine? Of course you can. My father never suffered. But I digress. And move on.

I did get to interact with some little ones!

Thirteen minutes in, and I am now thrilled to be down below deck and alone. People on land are waving frantically to the folks up top – having them wave their arms in the heat as we wait between locks. Now I’m noticing the people up front are fanning themselves while I sit in a/c. OK, now I feel guilty. But I could not have planned this better. lol! Thank you, dear Universe for saving me from myself. I would’ve been on the top with no relief in sight!

Meanwhile, the guide speaks in French and then repeats it all in English and hardly a soul is paying attention.

So here I sit with tears suddenly trickling down my face. What? Where did this come from? Glad I’m alone now. Wow. Unexpected. Somehow the French music reached my heart above the din of family noises and whatnot, reminding me how special this city and its people are to me. It saved me, and continues to do so – as well as nourish me in ways I cannot describe or understand.

Even a cheesy boat ride in this city can turn your heart into mush. I have a lot of memories and some very special people here.

I took a long walk home because again, the weather. I wandered into a patisserie to pick up sweets for tonight’s picnic, and then I the BHV department store – which was all turned around. I ended up in women’s shoes and lingerie, but I controlled myself.

By the time I made it to St. Paul’s, my feet were hurting. I stopped into the pharmacie and bought a bandage for one of my toes. I contemplated going into the church and dipping them in holy water hoping for a miraculous recovery, but the pharmacie was closer.

That reminds me – Birkenstocks are everywhere. I took a photo two days ago – and now I notice everyone is wearing them. I contend that the Barbie movie made them chic!

The walk felt longer in the sunny side of the street. Plus, my feet and the charming uneven pavement.

I mean no disrespect when I say this, but if I could have chosen my Native American name it would’ve been “tenderfoot.”

Aside from shoes and lingerie, I passed by the Sennelier pastel display… a brand I always use… they call to me from time-to-time. When are you coming back?