I was surprised to find a shop on Rue de Buci selling only nuts called Pistacherie. As you might think from its name, it mostly sells pistache nuts but there were other varieties and they did interesting things with them such as covering macadamia nuts with cheese powder. It’s a fun place and I left with a little bag of nuts to munch on.

The window of this pretty shop.

Some of what is offered.

Pretty display in the shop.

And this was in the window.

While on the Street Art Tour in neighborhoods new to me, I saw lots of things to photograph.

The reflection in a cracked rear view mirror.

I liked this coffee cup painted on one of those protective doors covering a shop.

I wanted to get both yellow clad legs as this lady quickly walked by but only got one.

Sort of a scary fellow to have over your door.

You can see how high the area was where we walked. I seldom see the Pompidou Museum from above-just at Montmartre in front of Sacre Coeur.

One of the street cleaners. He could hardly walk and looked to be way beyond retirement age. For some reason, this often seems to be the case in Paris. You never see them energetically sweeping the street, just using their brooms here and there and slowly moving along.

He had turned on the water which then rushes into the gutter taking debris into the sewer system. Being from Texas I was at first appalled when I saw this, feeling it really wasted water but, then, they didn’t ask me my opinion, and I think it is waste water.

Recently, trying to do a little something different and wanting to walk around parts of Paris I’m not very familiar with, I decided to try a Street Art Tour and picked this one: Street Art Tour . I’m always finding interesting street art around Paris-along with grafitti which I don’t like-so it was fun to walk around the Belleville, Oberkampf and Menilmontant areas and see some new things. We met our leader, Demian, a nice guy from England, at the Parmentier metro stop and set off from there.

The Space Alien is probably the best known. I’ve been seeing it for years-mosaic tiles made into the alien.

Here’s an enormous one slowing peeling off the wall.

Of course, there was Nemo, one of my favorites. He always gets permission to do his art.

This intricate art is done by a husband wife team.

We came upon a group of artists at work. The air was full of that smell of spray paint and I was worried about their lungs.

Some art on the ground.

Interesting. I’m sure it means something socially.

Another well known artist (I’ve blanked out on his name). The tree isn’t real-it’s painted on the wall.

A quick video taken during the tour.

So, the tour was fun and I’ve posted only a few of the many street art that we saw. It required a lot of walking, some of it uphill, so you have to be in fairly good shape to do the tour. I’m sure I was the oldest person on the tour as it is something young people are interested in as a rule but I found this whole other way of life interesting to hear about and see.

I never get bored with the Left Bank. There’s always something interesting or beautiful to see.

The cow had me wondering if Paris was going to start one of those decorated cow displays again as they did-along with many other cities-several years ago.

I just loved the color and texture of the chairs and stools in this restaurant.

The desserts in the window of Gerard Mulot always look like art.

I don’t know how many more locks will fit onto this bridge crossing over to the Left Bank. They used to cut them off but now it looks like all of them will remain.

Here are some unrelated photos, all taken with my Iphone as I was here and there in Paris.

A view of the Arc de Triumph from the side. It was just nice to get another angle as I am so often seeing it from the front. It’s been the stage for a lot of action in the last couple of weeks, first with Veterans Day here in France and the laying of the wreath at the tomb of the unknown soldier and then, yesterday, a visit from the newly elected President, Hollande. It poured and his suit was soaked. I saw this on the TV as I wasn’t there in person.

A view of Avenue Daumesnil. This is a line of shops, most having to do with decoration and very high end, that once housed wine. The Promenade Plantee is on top where an old railroad track once ran.

Some McDonald’s in Paris now have a little coffee section and you can even get their macarons. This sign shows a cafe gourmand, a little plate of tiny desserts to go with your coffee which many restaurants now serve.

This was the first iris I saw in bloom on Promenade Plantee. I never see one now without being reminded of Provence. The roses are starting to bloom as well.

I started using the Internet many years ago. It was in the days when you had to dial up and wait a long time until you heard that unique sound that said you were now online. I started out using AOL (America On Line) then and I’ve never changed although I keep being told that I should. AOL, back then, had many interesting boards or forums and I visited them often. I found that sharing problems and information with others in that setting to be very helpful. After I moved to Paris I went often to the Paris Board and not only learned a lot about Paris and France, but I also made some great friends who I met when they would come to Paris and organize group dinners or parties. There were so many really great people who have remained my friends to this day. One of these is Dezi-not her real name but her “handle” on AOL. She has been in Paris recently and Maurice and I met her for lunch and caught up. It makes me sad that the AOL boards are now gone. I guess it was trying to become more like Yahoo but I miss the old setup. Here are some photos from my walk around the Marais with Dezi.

She rented an apartment or two in this area. The cafe was under trees and pink blossoms were everywhere.

One of the statues of a Wallace fountain there had been “gussied up”.

A bike in front of a wine store.

Cute flower arrangement at a florist.

The lovely, ageless interior of a boulangerie.