First Day in Paris

 After an uneventul, but long, trip we arrived at the apartment about 9 PM, got an instructional tour & the keys and then went out to scout the neighborhood.  Had a lemon sugar crepe, bought a bottle of red wine, went back to the apartment to unpack & get some sleep. The apartment is cute & very functional for a small space.  It's two flights up a circular staircase that people have probably been climbing for 100 years, give or take a few, so the steps are quite uneven.  It was a challenge getting our suitcases up them but we managed without injury. It took a few tries to learn how to get the key out of the lock after turning it to lock, but I've always had some sort of trouble wit french locks.  Today we slept til 10 before heading out to really explore the area in daylight.  Cold & drizzly but not bad, just enough to make my hair go flat and using an umbrella makes it too difficult to take pictures.  We walked all around the Place des Vosges & then all around the Marais.  Stopped in a couple of shops that were on our list & actually open despite the holiday - May Day (Labour Day)- which is a very big one.  Had lunch at Chez Josephine on Place Marche Sainte Catherine.  I had the duck confit with potatoes dauphinois and Leas had steak tartare with fries.  Ver good.  Then walked over to Isle Saint Louis and the Isle de la Cite. As usual, the line to get into Notre Dame was the length of the plaza. Back by the Hotel de Ville where there was a basket ball tournament - 3 courts going in the rain.   Picked up some cheese at Laurent Dubois, a bottle of 2011 Crozes-Hermitage, a baguette & macarons at Pierre Herme for our dinner.  Then we stopped for a kir on rue Saint Antoine before heading home.  All in all, a very good first day & one where we covered a lot of territory.