Ah, Paris!

Gargoyles on the belfry of the church of St. Severin

Saturday night, after midnight, the storms broke and we heard thunder and lightning crash above the sheltered medieval courtyard in Dijon. Sunday dawned with blue skies chased with fast-moving puffy clouds. We took the 11:01 TGV from Dijon, and as the high speed train bucketed across the rolling countryside toward Paris, the skies darkened and roiled with more stormclouds.

It only takes an hour and a half to cover the 163 miles between Dijon and Paris, and the speed is almost dizzying. The rain caught up with us briefly, streaking the windows with water, but soon we left it behind. We made it to our Paris apartment in time for an evening stroll and an early dinner.

The two garret windows at center are ours

Our flat is in a touristy neighborhood, so the evening streets are full of roaming camera-hung hoardes. Directly across our building is the beautiful old church of St. Severin - our garret windows look out onto the belfry.

If you crane your neck, you can see the top of the Eiffel Tower from one window, and from the other the towers of Notre Dame.

Notre Dame's towers, on the right

We found a grocery and provisioned ourselves for breakfast, then ate serviceable couscous and tagine at a tiny Tunisian joint. Later, we sat at an outdoor table of the brasserie on our doorstep and sipped a glass of wine while watching the crowds pour by.

Our street

The restaurants here are all geared to the tourist crowd, with menus in English, serving popular French dishes like soupe a l'ognion or "authentic" Savoyard fondue. We'll be wandering further afield for our fare, but in the meantime, there's nothing wrong with a glass of cheap rose and a dish of peanuts as we people-watch.