A sunny afternoon in the gardens

That would be the Luxembourg Gardens in Paris, on the edge of the Latin Quarter. I worked in this neighborhood for several years in the 1970s and early 1980s.

The building itself, the Luxembourg Palace dating to the early 1600s, is now occupied by the French Senate. There are tours of the Senate chamber. There's also an art museum. But most of the action is outdoors.

And of course the puppet shows for children, tennis courts, the fountains and basins where children can float their little sailboats, and all the chairs where the wandering weary can sit and soak up sun and beautiful views. That's what I did on a hot Saturday afternoon.

Back in the day, you used to have to pay to use a chair. There were attendants who partolled the gardens and sold tickets to people who were seated. Nowadays it's all free.

As you can see, no expense is spared when it comes to flowers and manicured lawns. Le Jardin du Luxembourg is a real oasis in the middle of the city, especially when the weather is fine.

Our weather right now is similar to what you see in these photos, only slightly cooler. Yesterday our neighbor the mayor had us and other neighbors over for an afternoon in her garden. We enjoyed a five-hour lunch and interesting conversation. One piece of news was disappointing, however: Madame Barbier in the village has put her salon up for sale. She has developed allergies to the products that a hair-dresser has to come into contact with on a daily basis. We'll miss her after 10 years of the best haircuts we've ever had.

Paris in July: a café a day (4)

Le Café du Marché is on the rue Cler in the 7th arrondissement, not far from the Hôtel des Invalides and La Tour Eiffel.

Rue Cler is a short street full of food shops and cafés — a rue commerçante but not exactly a market, even though some shops display their merchandise out on the street, which is reserved for pedestrian traffic only.

The 7th is one of the most upscale parts of Paris — very BCBG (bon chic, bon genre), meaning stylish in a kind of preppy way.

Paris in July: a café a day (3)

Le Bistro au Franc Pinot is on the Ile Saint-Louis, in the middle of Paris on the Seine. It's not so much a café as a bar and restaurant.

There's no big awning and no outdoor seating, but Au Franc Pinot offers a splash of color all the same, along with a splash of franc pinot or "honest wine."

Maybe you can tell that I'm on a kind of post-vacation vacation. I still have so many photos of Paris that I want to post that I'm not really taking photos of the garden or vineyard these days. I take some cooking and food photos, and maybe I'll post some of those later.

For now, I'm just enjoying remembering what a good time I had in Paris in July — when the weather was so hot and at the same time so pleasant — and thinking how nice it was of CHM to put me up and put up with me chez lui those two times in one month. Our weather now is autumn-ish: chilly mornings with warm sunny afternoons, and very dry.

Paris in July: a café a day (2)

Au Roi du Café is at the corner of the rue Lecourbe and the rue des Volontaires — again, in the 15th arrondissement. First, a close-up, and then the full photo.

The photo yesterday and this one today were taken in the morning, before the heat really built up and sent people into the cafés. This is the café where I had a glass of white wine and some delicious olives back at the beginning of July.

If you live in an apartment with no balcony or terrace, a sidewalk café is the place to go for some fresh air, nice shade, and interesting people-watching.