The idea that Australians are laid back and take a leisurely, balanced approach to life needs to be reviewed. Parisians appear to have a far more leisurely, relaxed approach to working than we see in Sydney. They don't seem to get out and about until at least 9 to 9.30 in the morning. Then the strain of working gets to them and between 1 and 3 they retire for some rest and lunch.
Getting up at 7 am (we are normally at the gym by 6.15 at home so 7 am constitutes a lie in) and going to a local boulangerie at around 8.30 is a relatively solitary experience. It's not very interesting walking past shops before 10.30 in the morning as they are mostly likely to be closed. As you know August is the annual holiday season for French citizens and the new autumn/winter fashions kick off around 1st September. So one thought we had in coming here around 20th August was that the last of the summer fashions would be on sale and a lot of regular consumers would be on holiday. This theory is partly valid in practice but it means that between now and mid next week we need to buy any summer bargains as they will most likely be gone after that time.
We've been lunching around 2pm and having a light supper at around 10 pm. Interestingly it seems that dinner is often started at around 10 pm in Paris (hence why it's so quiet in the early part of the day).
We've had two lunches so far and they have really constituted our main meal of the day. One was recommended in a walking guide book. Both have been really ordinary, truly not worth it. Our new strategy is to lunch at minimum one star Michelin restaurants (our thinking is that in the new austere economic state of Europe the one star restaurants will offer fixed price lunch menus that are excellent quality and, whilst not inexpensive, at least should not be a waste of time - I'll let you know in a future blog if this idea actually works).
A fairly famous department store near here is called "Bon Marché". It's ironic that "Bon Marché" in French means "cheap" but this store is more like David Jones i.e. not cheap. It has a great food department (a bit like the one at David Jones but much better). The "Market of St Germain" is mostly rubbish. It is called the only "closed market" in Paris which is an odd way to describe a shopping mall.
Last comment for today - we wanted to buy some wine for our apartment and found this wine shop 100 metres away call "La Dernier Groutt" (means "the last drop"). We went in and, in French, I asked about the various wines, explaining that being from Sydney, we knew nothing about French wines. At this point the wine merchant said in French that he could speak English as he was from New Zealand. I then said "Je ne dois pas parler en Francais avec un Néo-Zélandais" i.e. I'm not speaking French to a Kiwi! It turns out he comes from Tokoroa (mid North Island timber town), has been studying philosophy at the Sorbonne (University of Paris) and knows Quade Cooper who is playing for the Wallabies this weekend.
It's a funny world.
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