A Box of Chocolates

Forrest Gump was not talking about Airbnb when he made his observation regarding the role chance plays when making one's decisions, but it would be entirely appropriate for today's move. We left an apartment that was cramped, none too clean, and with a shower drain that moved slower than Mitch McConnell scheduling a Supreme Court nominee hearing. Now we are in a lovely little artist's studio with great decorating touches, a comfortable "murphy bed" where Jayne is currently spending some quality time this afternoon, and a bathroom that is cleaner than the one I use at home. The neighborhood, while only about a mile from the other place, is near a charming pedestrian market street with green grocers, butchers, and wine merchants. We are across the street from one of the city's largest cemeteries (not the one with Jim Morrison) so I imagine the neighbors will be quiet. Also, there is a bicycle rental rack not twenty feet from our doorstep and tomorrow (Sunday) is a no auto traffic day for the streets in this area, especially established so people can peddle around. I am going to try to snag us a couple of velocipedes as soon as I can in the morning.

Yesterday we took the metro to a tourist information center on the other side of the city to pick up some museum passes. You can get a pass that will let you into the Louvre, Versailles, and a bunch of other places for four consecutive days once you activate it. That is the trick, of course. Knowing that the museums are mostly closed on Mondays and Tuesdays, we will wait until Wednesday before activating it. When we returned from buying the passes, we went through a very nice park which has the Natural History museum, an old zoo with old animals, and these super cool greenhouses.