Nautical flats and naughty drinking

This has been a busy week of seeing flats, as we have to move out of this one on the 8th of November. Between us we viewed about six, some fairly grim, some inappropriate - they've slightly blurred in my mind. I saw one near Montparnasse which only had a single bed. I viewed it with two men, one of whom was giving me terrible evils because the landlord kept addressing answers to me. Obviously the flat was no good to us anyway but I couldn't bring myself to say that outright so I was asking questions and looking interested... a big waste of everyone's time! I think it's all quite competitive. The other guy asked me downstairs how we were looking for flats and I considered not mentioning FUSAC to throw him off the scent! So I am getting competitive too. But he mentioned it anyway so please don't feel bad for him. I saw him in the American Library the next day but he was fairly random so I didn't say hello.

On the way home from Montparnasse, I passed a little boy playing on one of the enormous grates which appear to let air in and out of the Metro system. This one was blowing air very strong - the little boy's coat was flying up around his arms, and his game was throwing balls of paper up which soared about 30 feet into the air, and then landed on a tree nearby. The tree was covered with these balls, it was a weird Parisian fruit tree.

Today we are going to look at a cabin in a houseboat next to the Eiffel Tower, and a teeny flat in the centre of town with two beds on two mezzanine levels - one for us and one for our guests! When Richard phoned the landlord of the latter he said "I am sorry to have to ask you this, but we've had very romantic couples here in the past, but it is very small, so I need to know..." and Richard thought he was about to say "how in love you are" but he continued "whether you weigh a lot"! In the photo it looks like a ship's cabin too - perhaps we'll keep the two beds for ourselves if things get bad in such close quarters, and we can call instructions from our respective crow's nests about hoisting the mainsail and preparing the slop. A very nautical day we are going to have!

Yesterday we went to see a flat in Montmartre - it had a view of Sacre Coeur if you stuck your head out the window and looked left. It was nice but not quite right - possibly we are being fairly picky, but I think we'll either fall in love with somewhere or run out of time, and for now neither has happened. Then I went to meet Katie and her baby Louis who were in Paris for the weekend. It was lovely to see them both, and we had lunch in a cafe especially for children. After that we went to the Pompidou, as I'd asked Katie for ideas about places with views from high up to draw from. We sat in the posh restaurant at the top and had brusque service and coffee and a really wonderful chocolate cake. The drawing below I did from one of the plastic corridors on the edge.


Later Richard and I went out for a local drink. We found a bar which was fairly empty and had three beers each. This quantity was commented on by a lady propping up the bar and by the lady serving us. We had already established a jolly rapport after I'd gone up to ask for nuts, been given a bowl then promptly turned round into a pole and threw them all over myself quite violently. There followed commotion as the regular's dog got excited about the nuts and the owner got on the floor to scrabble them up as "noisettes sont mal pour les chiens". I helped too and so did the other regular and the barlady. All in all a good icebreaker. She brought us more nuts plus I had saved two on my sleeve, so it was all a happy ending. (Unless the dog is now dead from nut poisoning.)

Anyway, the drinks cost us a packet, and we got the distinct impression that perhaps sitting and having three beers was a bit weird and full on. We'll have to get more sippy and refined in our drinking habits. Or drink at home more.