And ERDF said, "LET THERE BE LIGHT!" And hot water, heat, and electric currents.

So today I spent the morning waiting for ERDF, the French electric company, to send someone to turn my power on. Fortunately, he showed up, and better yet, he showed up around 130 or so, so it didn't waste my whole afternoon!

The weather was beautiful, so I wanted nothing more than to go wander the city. I set off with the vague idea of heading to BHV -- think Sears I guess, only 6 stories high and in the center of Paris -- to find some random stuff my apartment lacks. I wandered down Bd Saint Germain, cut over to Bd Saint-Michel, and headed towards the Saint-Michel fountain.

For a change, I tried to walk at a leisurely place. I probably looked like a moron, because I instinctively haul and weave through people, and I would suddenly catch myself and slow down and all the people I'd hurried past would hurry past me. Oops.



The order of these pictures is reversed because apparently I'm incompetent with uploads, I'll do better next time, I promise! Mommy, this one is for you -- this is that restaurant in the Latin Corner that we went to when you came to see me, with the nice man who loved your Canadian accent! Remember how good the escargot was?



Kim et Josh -- à vous. Je sais qu'on a tous de belles histoires de nos aventures dans ce quartier, surtout au Latin Corner Café :) Je sais pas la raison pour les ballons, mais voilà, c'est comme toujours!



On my way back towards Bd Saint-Germain I cut past Notre Dâme and then headed through the Latin Quarter (see above). It was packed over there, as usual.



The view from one of the bridges seemed like the quintessential Paris picture, so I felt obliged.



This one is for you, Lin: This is the school and craft supplies floor of BHV (which I today learned stands for Bazar de l'Hôtel de Ville), and even French kids need their TI-83 ... or whichever fancier new one has appeared since my geometry days. I think graphing calculators are cheaper in euros ... must be made in the good old USA.

For the record, while I was wandering BHV, they were blaring what sounded like Madonna's greatest hits in the music section. Awesome. I danced past the post-it notes to Like a Prayer. In the grocery store later on I got to listen to Coldplay.



This picture is as much of the Hôtel de Ville as I could get my non-wide angle lens to fit into one picture. It's not actually a hotel, that's what they call their Town Halls. Wish the Village of Manlius looked this imposing ... FOUND MY CAMPAIGN PROMISE!




I'm keeping a count of how many of these I can find in the city of Paris ... this is one of two or so I've even noticed so far.



This is my apartment building! That little blue number on the dark door is 30, Rue de Grenelle in the 7e arrondissement. I live on the fourth floor, which, to the French, could be anything from the fifth to the eighth floor.

Now that I FINALLY have electricity, I needed to go real grocery shopping. I forgot how intense grocery shopping is in a walk-up ... never mind hiking back from the grocery store halfway down Rue de Rennes to my apartment!

All in all, a leisurely day. Orchestra is bright and early tomorrow morning, so I guess I'll have to head to bed at a reasonable hour tonight!