May 6

Views from my window in the Artus Hotel during my first trip to Paris in August 2005.




Looking south down the rue de Buci.



Looking north at the Blvd. St. Germain.

In the first photo, the street that intersects rue de Buci at the orange awning is the rue de Seine, which is where the current top pick for my stay in October is located. It's a 6th floor walk-up, which is a bit of a challenge and may go a long way to explaining the extremely reasonable rental price. The rest of the way is explained by the tininess of the apartment. So -- tininess and steps, but I'm not very big and I have very strong legs and since it's located a dangerously short distance from the rue Bonaparte location of Ladurée, I figure any opportunity to burn off all the palmiers I'd eat is a good idea.

I've gotten word from the agency about the cost of the rental and I have the money to hold the apartment for a week in October right now. I do not, however, have the money for the airfare, which is a problem. Don't yet know how refundable things are with the agency, but if I don't have a ticket it seems silly to have a place to stay. OTOH, I have to do one or the other of them first. Oy. There's also the question of do I wait to buy a ticket in hopes that prices come down a little. In the past, there's always been that golden hour for air tickets -- book too early and you pay too much, book too late and they sock you for waiting until the last minute. But with gas prices the way they are, part of me is thinking that it would be a good idea to get a ticket as soon as I can, despite the fact that everything I'm looking at for my dates is over $1000. I don't think it's going to come down much, and it's likely it will continue to go up. When I total up all the money I need to have to do this and not be miserable, it makes me waver a little. But when I think about an indeterminate amount of time without another Paris visit, it makes my soul hurt.

So. More belt-tightening. Ignoring the e-mail from Neiman's this morning about the private one-day sale with lots of wonderful things going for 40% off. (It will be even more difficult because I have to physically go to NM today to pick up a load of pre-shopped stuff for a client that I'll be delivering to her tomorrow. This is going to take more willpower than Weight Watchers...)

I loveloveloved the quartier pictured above. It's a very specific part of Saint Germain, and while it was certainly a little bit touristy, it just has the most wonderful feel. It helped that the first time I was discovering it it was August, and therefore a little more quiet than it would have been normally. There is an open-air market on the rue de Buci, and my first morning in Paris I popped up and got ready, then I bought a peach at the market and after wandering for a few minutes, I stood in the courtyard in from the the church of Saint Germain and ate my peach in the Paris morning light. It was the most delicious peach I have ever eaten.