I did a tour with a mother and her daughter. The daughter was such a cute little thing, age 9, and she carried her stuffed pig with her everywhere. The pig, named Piggy-it’s a she-was in every single photo that I took of them. I decided that he deserved a photo of his own.
The little girl was really suffering from jet lag and a couple of times begged to go back to the hotel so she could sleep. That’s when I asked her mother if she ever let her daughter drink Coca Cola. The reply was no, she had never had it, not even once. Because her mother wanted to finish the tour we decided to buy her first bottle, plastic, of Coca Cola. The little girl loved it and chugged it down and immediately brightened up. I felt a little guilty as I’m sure she is still begging for a coke every day.

It’s hard to find a more glamorous or romantic bridge than the Pont Alexander III. There are often photographers there taking photos of brides and it’s no wonder with cherubs and sea shells all over it.

The beginning of the bridge.

The part of the bridge facing the river. I love the line of lights.

One of the lamp posts against a dramatic sky.

Right across the street from the bridge are the Petit Palais and the Grand Palais used for art exhibits now. This is the Grand Palais.

The elaborate doorway of the Petit Palais with a ship at the top, the symbol of the city of Paris.

Tennis has begun at Roland Garros here in Paris. Maurice and I both used to play tennis and although that is no longer the case, we still like to watch it. There is a wonderful ambience there and we love to go. Sometimes we buy tickets being hawked outside of the complex but this year we entered a lottery for a chance to buy tickets and are going twice.

A view of some of the outer courts.

The exterior of the Suzanne Lenglen court.

Here is a sculpture of Suzanne.

The court where we watched tennis.

We got to see Serena Williams, an American, play. I have to say that I have seen her play better tennis. She made all sorts of errors and nearly lost. She has an apartment in Paris, by the way. Maybe one of these days I will bump into her if I happen to be in the 6th.

Of course, there isn’t always sunshine. There were two hours of rain the day we were there. They were really efficient at covered and uncovering the court. It got very cool very quickly. I was wearing light jeans and a T-shirt and brought along a light sweater and, luckily, put a rain cover in my bag. I put all of this on and was still cold so I bought a really cute light sweat shirt jacket and put this on too. The combined colors were light green T-shirt, light brown jeans, black sweater, lavender rain coat and the coral jacket I bought. I also was wearing a green and orange baseball cap. All of the colors showed too as there were all sorts of lengths hanging here and there. I was lovely, I tell you.
One of the sponsors of Roland Garros is Peugeot, the car company. They have a very interesting store on Champs Elysees and I noticed that they sold little glass jars of the famous red soil from the tennis grounds which makes me wonder if perhaps I could sell air from Paris in a cute little vial.

The temperature was well into the 80′s this weekend which seem extra hot to me in a city with building and streets capturing and reflecting the heat. I don’t do well in extreme heat, always trying to find areas with shade. I was in Palais Royal part of the time with some friends and joined many others from Paris enjoying the day.

A cooling tunnel of shade under the trees.

Looking out from under the trees.

Catching some rays while getting a little cool air by the fountain.

The sun streaming in through the arches into the covered walkway where I was keeping in the shade. A few hours later clouds arrived with a little rain which helped cool it down.

It’s just so photogenic.

Going to heaven.

And yet another photo of this old tomb.

The Lapin Agile, a cabaret that has been there for years. Toulouse-Lautrec used to hang out here.

You don’t have to be new and shiny to be beautiful.

Almost everyone has heard of the Moulin Rouge. I’ve never been to one of their shows-it’s just not my thing. The other day I was in the area and took a few photos.

Here it is- a red windmill. I’ve seen a few of their shows on TV. I’d rather hear jazz myself.

I was surprised to see this door handle on a shop nearby. It turns out to be a shop selling all sorts of items relating to the Moulin Rouge. It’s around the corner from the Moulin Rouge on Rue Lepic.

For instance, you can buy these little windmills to take home. I didn’t go in the store but I’m sure they have cute things.