La Preuve

9 a.m.

OK, finally, here is proof that I am in Paris!

I woke up promptly at 6:30am (I had set my watch alarm) and puttered around until I went out at 8 in search of bread. I went out the back entrance to the building complex--no one had told me about it, but it's quite a bit closer to the apartment than the main entrance, and empties onto a very quiet street.

I had found it yesterday from the outside and my little electronic key worked on the key swipe. However, when going out, I couldn't find the button labeled "Sortie" that would unlock it from the inside. Remembering where the key swipe was on the outside, I held my key out through the bars of the gate to unlock the door.

It was still almost dark out and the streetlights were on. Some street sweepers and dog walkers were out, some of the latter creating more work for the former. A #69 city bus rumbled down rue de la Roquette, with none of the usual traffic to impede it.

As I walked past a butcher featuring Halal meats, the streetlights suddenly all went off, reminding me of the scene in Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown where Pepa has been out walking all night in Madrid and suddenly the streetlights turn off. Luckily, I had been sleeping and not walking, and sleeping rather well as I opted to close the roll-shutter to try to make it darker and to keep out the cold a bit.

My neighborhood bakery was open (Boulangerie Ellini, 7h-22h, mardi-dimanche), but won't be tomorrow (Monday). I decided to try again a croissant pur beurre (0,95 EUR) and a delicious and crispy ficelle thin loaf of bread (0,65 EUR).



I came back for breakfast. Birds of all sorts were singing in the garden, and church bells were ringing in the distance. I found the self-timer on my camera (inconveniently buried in a settings menu) and took a picture of myself.