A few observations

Paris, France - 12:52pm local time - 59 degrees Fahrenheit - overcast & occasionally drizzly

1. After being in Spain, where if the sunlight doesn't wake you up the heat coming off of it will, it's really hard to get up at 8am when it's cloudy and cold. (Read: I got up at 11am today.)
2. Yesterday I walked from the apartment to the Moulin Rouge in Montmartre. To get there I walked past the Sacre Coeur area. I knew I'd officially left Sacre Coeur territory and entered Montmartre when the souvenir shops gave way to sex shops.
   
3. The neighborhood I'm staying in: In the nearest streets to the south and west of the apartment there are a lot of African and Middle Eastern people. In the streets the ratio of men to women seems to be about 10:1. In most of the cafes and bars, the clientele is 100% male. I passed by one store/cafe where the clientele was 100% female. Today I explored to the northeast and was delighted to find a bunch of Chinese grocery stores and restaurants only a block or two over.
4. This morning I chatted for a bit with Flora, my Airbnb host. It turns out she's a professional photographer. She has two books ready to be printed but she can't find a publisher because there isn't a lot of money available in France right now to support the arts and printing books of photography is expensive, and these days they choose to undertake projects only from the same well-known photographers whose books they know they can sell. One of the books is about maternity - the good, the bad and the ugly of pregnancy and motherhood. The other book is a love story told in three settings: Tasmania (where the love ignites), Smhrshuhblerg (didn't quite catch the name here), and Japan. Last winter (2013) she was an Artist in Residence in Quebec. Not Montreal - it was a rural area. There will be an exposition of her photographs from her time there...soon? (I think I overheard her 9 yr old son on the phone saying she was going to Canada in August.) The theme of her exposition: frozen. These photos could tell the final part of aforementioned love story, where the love and the people are frozen. At least, this is all what I *think* she said. My French isn't great.
5. I had forgotten how to find a decently priced cup of coffee in Paris. From being in Spain, I was already used to the idea that you pay more to sit out on the terrace/patio than you pay to be inside, but I'd forgotten that in Paris you also pay more to sit at a table than you do to stand at the bar. I'd forgotten that any cafe/restaurant with a terrace will be more expensive - inside or out - than a cafe/restaurant without a terrace. I'd forgotten that you pay more for a coffee at a place on a main street than you do at a place on a little side street. So many rules! Yesterday I found a place that only charges €1,20 for a cafe au lait at the bar, which was like striking gold. The only issue was I didn't feel particularly welcome there; I think it's one of those places that doesn't have a lot of female clientele. Today I found a place just a couple streets over where I felt very comfortable/welcome - I think with time I could get some good French practice in there - but the cafe au lait was €2,50 at the bar because the place is on a main street. Do I go for the price or the atmosphere? Tricky. Very tricky.