It was a rainy day today, but yesterday I found myself under a beautiful cherry tree in full bloom. It was a sunny, cool day. The street is not pretty except for these trees. 
Today was rainy and cold made worse by a strong wind. We had a lunch date with a good friend up on Blvd. Montparnasse. It used to be a area where artists and writers congregated. We took bus #28 as far as it goes up Blvd. Montparnasse and walked the rest of the way. Our restaurant, Le Bar à Huïtres, is on one of these busy corners. Le Dome, is famous and probably past its hey-day. Many of the restaurants here specialize in shellfish. I stood on one corner and snapped a couple of photos — it was so cold I couldn’t wait for traffic to pass for a better shot. Hopefully, you get the idea. This is a busy place. All of these restaurants have outdoor stalls where you can also buy shellfish to take.
Sitting close to us, these folks are enjoying one of the grand tiered platters of shellfish. There are different types of shellfish — some we don’t have. Most comes from Brittany. I don’t think it is clear, but there is dry ice which is making a white smoke coming out of the top. Our lunch below was a little less interesting visually, but those mashed potatoes were to die for. Absolutely the best ever.
A tiered display was added to the outside stall which we saw upon leaving. Enticing — one of these days we are going to order one of these. However, since I don’t eat raw oysters, we have hesitated to do so. Below — have you ever seen an oyster this big? These are gigantic!
Our friend is an artist and her ‘atelier’ (studio) is on Blvd Montparnasse (that’s why we had lunch here) This is an interesting place. I don’t think we have anything like it in the US. The city of Paris sponsons the endeavor. The building has a sign “ABA — Ateliers beaux-arts de la Ville de Paris.” Translated: Studios for fine arts of the City of Paris. Anyone who applies can rent a space here. There are sections for painters, sculptors, and other artists. One pays a small fee according to income. Provided, also for a small fee, are all kinds of art materials. Interesting! The building opens at 3 pm. Thus, we were waiting with others for the doors to open.
On the side of the building I was this plaque. One sees these all of the city — tributes to fallen resistance fighters. Here is one to a man by the name of Robert Marchand. According to the tribute here, he was captured, tortured, but didn’t ‘talk’. Before being executed he said, ‘I die happy knowing that I did my duty.” 1942
We are seeing poles (not trees) wrapped in these white cloths. We’ve no idea why and haven’t had a chance to ask anyone. Very strange! We’ve never seen this before.
All over our neighborhood (and I’m sure the city) are electric car charging stations. Here is one charging. We thought the position of the charger was interesting. Despite the cigarette butt seen here, Paris is the cleanest we’ve seen in years. We walked the 1 1/2 miles from the restaurant to our apartment. I planned it that way — we took the bus up MONTparnasse (uphill) and walked down Montparnasse after lunch.
pianomd 
My heart is breaking!
pd
What terrible news. Tried to call you but nothing happen. The news coverage is good and on the air constantly (especially CNN). Every day I turn on the news and hope to hear something positive, but, now with Notre Dame and out-of-his mind Trump I think the world cannot survive much longer. H
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All is not list. Humanity will prevail. We see it in Stepanakert. We are here now weeping with all the world and with France . But we are heartened that brave people saved the structure.
So we’re you still in Paris during yesterday’s tragedy?
Sent from my iPhone
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