Ghosts & Gobelins

We arrived in Paris early Tuesday morning and caught a train from Charles de Gaulle airport to our hotel Residence les Gobelins just south of the Latin Quarter. After dropping off our bags and settling in I confirmed my suspicion that an old war injury in my leg was playing up. A little fevered, swollen and sore I decided to keep an eye on it and hope that things would head south and leave me bed-ridden for a few days.

Residence les Gobelins.

In order to keep us awake until a reasonable hour we headed to rue Mouffetard as suggested by our hotel owner. Mouffetard is a nice little market street with cafes, bars and plenty of places to grab a baguette or pastry. We propped ourselves outside a cafe with a cigarette and cafe au latte in grand Parisienne style. We smoked and drank and people-watched until the novelty wore thin and then headed out to the Notre Dame cathedral for an easy afternoon stroll.

Shakespeare & Co Bookshop.

Darren had earmarked Shakespear & Co bookshop for a visit after reading about its history amongst Paris based writers. We popped in for a look through (one of the few English language bookshops we've found) and witnessed the nice girl behind the counter handle an 'intellectual' looking for 'something to change his life'. We followed up with a nice walk around Notre Dame itself and then back through the touristy alley-ways off the 'left bank' of the Seine river to our hotel.

Darren picking up some reading material.

I decided to have an early night and rest the leg while Darren braved a traditional french resturant meal. Gobelins appears to be a great selection for location. The hotel is perfectly suited to our needs and pretty much everything is a short walk or a quick ride on the incredibly efficient Metro train system.

Outside Notre Dame Cathedral.