Paris, 17 April 2012

The weather today was not good, not good at all.  Wind, rain and a high of eight degrees.  What is there to do in such conditions?  Well, how about a visit to a book-store followed by a leisurely lunch?

The wonderful complex of bookshops, Gibert Joseph, is located on the left bank of the Seine in the heart of the university precinct or Latin Quarter. The main book shop  is five stories of wall to wall books.   Every time we have visited there it has been full of people buying everything from the most serious books to hard-bound "comic" books which, by the way, can be very sophisticated. The French are great readers and seem to be able to read almost anywhere.

Gibert Joseph

After a long browse and some purchases we wandered down to the dozens of restaurants that are found near Place Michel.  A pleasant three course lunch with a starter, main course and desert cost ten euros. 

After lunch with the rain steadily increasing and the temperature dropping we caught the bus back to Montmartre and home where we enjoyed coffee and a quiet afternoon.  In the apartment, we have a nice flatscreen television with access to the BBC, Sky News, Al Jazeera, Bloomberg and CNBC.  All the news at the moment seems to be about the Norwegian mass murder and we have had detailed coverage of the first day from inside the court room.  Today was the second day and coverage was more restricted.  We were wondering if the Norwegian case is covered in such detail in Australia and in the United States.