Monday Cleaning and a Walkabout 2-1-16

Holy Cow! We're in our return month, February.  We mused a bit today about how last February we were nonchalant about seeing things because, "we have so much time, why be in a big hurry".  If you've followed us a bit then you know that we've seen a fair amount, and we're not real choosy about picking our targets.  We do have standards but they're pretty low.  Deb said her only disappointment was the trip back to Paris from Vienna, because 75 percent of it was in the dark.  I think if your having a bad time or you're bored on an adventure like this you need to look in the mirror for the culprit.  I guess that limited deck time due to the heat would be disappointing a bit, but we could always go to a park and sit in the shade, which we did.
Enough already, Deb wanted to do a cleaning today so I got kicked out for a couple hours.  I went over to the canal and walked along taking pics and looking for a lunch opportunity.  I got some fun pics of a group of cormorants(?) or herons(?) sitting on a line of buoys in the basin.   And I crossed the only foot bridge on the canal that I
 haven't walked across since we got here.  I had a donner kebab and frites for lunch and then went back to pick up Deb.


Deb has not seen the canal since it was drained and wanted to see the cleanup effort. So we took a bus down to the place where the canal goes into the tunnel ending up at the Arsenal basin next to Place Bastille.  We began by looking at the last set of locks, which are
being cleaned and walked back up the canal all the way to our apartment.  Deb was discouraged by the amount of trash in the canal, and I felt the same way when I first saw it too.
We stopped at one of the premier boulanger/patissier shops in Paris and bought goodies for breakfast along the way.  I was surprised that they are cleaning the canal from the bottom end up to the top.  I think I would have done it the other way so that any slop over would run
down to the lowest point, but then I've never cleaned a canal.  We had the advantage of the wind at our backs so the walk was very pleasant and not cold.  There is a new bistro that just opened along the canal in one of the new buildings just a block away so I'm sure we'll give it a try before we leave, Paris is ever changing.
My sister asked if we weren't getting nostalgic for the places we've enjoyed eating as we make our farewell tour.  My answer is no, it's just plain greed; we're greedy to get more of the great food that we've enjoyed while we are here.  One can't be sad for all the great times, one can only be sad that they couldn't be shared with all our friends.