Sunday 20 December - Flaneurs

After some more shopping at Monoprix we visited our friends at Diva et Chocolats. They were both pleased that we had returned to Paris.

A short Metro trip took us to Bourse and we stopped in to Le Grand Colbert to make a reservation for lunch on Christmas Day.  It was surprising that they were not already fully booked – tourism is down at the moment.

It was a beautiful mild day with plenty of blue sky.  The Jardin du Palais Royal was very busy with some playing pick up soccer and others just enjoying the warm weather.  The flower beds were particularly colorful, possibly as a result of the recent world conference on climate change.

Palais Royal

The rue de Levis seems to be going from strength to strength.  There are new food shops (baker, patisseur, green grocer) as well as a number of high end clothes shops.  There were two carpet sellers with their wares spread over their cars.

A short walk in the afternoon took us to the Square des Batignolles where the kids were riding the free Christmas roundabout and petanque was in full swing.  The small stream and pond was pretty busy, the water seems particularly clear at present.

This Mandarin duck was strutting its stuff in the Squre des batignolles.