Day 11 - We Did a Little Shopping in Downtown Paris - I Bought a Desk at Ikea

My new typing desk

Paris is a city of 2 million people. It is surrounded by another 10 million people in the suburbs. If you live in the city - you probably would find it better to not have a car. People tend to shop daily for food. They travel by cab - uber - subway - bus. More and more they use rented bikes - electric bikes - electric scooters - and electric motorcycles. 

Yesterday - we took a subway north to an Ikea in a downtown shopping area. I was looking for a small typing desk for our room here. I like having my own little space to type while looking out the window watching people - cars - and traffic. 

We have been having excellent weather since we came here. We have experienced 60 to 81 degrees. Most of the time it is mid 70s and partly cloudy. Tallahassee is a lovely place to live most of the year - but in June - July - August - it is 90s and 90s. We enjoy the relief from that. The streets in 

Paris are tree lined - we have had a few sprinkles - nothing heavy. We keep the windows open a bit - no heat - no AC - no screens - no bugs. 

I got this little cute black metal desk for 20 euros. It is adjustable and pretty heavy. It even has a little drink holder. I can go in my room = and have a private place to type. As with everything from Ikea - it came in a small heavy box - with tools to assemble it. Both Keith and Liz work from home and have separate offices in separate rooms. Lulu will be teaching a couple classes while over here in August - she can use this desk and shoot her camera out the window while she teaches - from Paris. 

On the way home - we walked by the Eiffel Tower. Because of the plague - the tower elevators were closed. It is opening up this weekend. What nice pictures you get from there. 

Ikea is by the US Embassy

I have exciting wedding news. You may remember John Charles LeBeau - a friend from Tallahassee. He was a doctoral student at FSU and he rented our brick house for a few years. I had picked him up at the Tallahassee Airport from France and moved him right into the house. For 3 years he rode his bike to campus at FSU. He graduated and got a job as a professor at Kent State. I wrote to him last week asking him where he was. He said he just married on June 25th - and would be in Paris on July 9 to 11. Tomorrow we are taking them to lunch at 1 pm. Their hotel is by the Louvre. 

On July 14th is Bastille Day. It is the French "July 4th" - they have a big parade here and military flyover. We plan to see that. It is followed at night by a big fireworks display on the Eiffel Tower. Sun does not set until 10 pm here. We are at 49 degrees north. 

After that on July 19th - England is supposed to open. If we can get in and out without covid tests (money) - we will go there for a week or two. Lulu already has a Residence Inn booked on the Thames River just in case. We love London in July - the shows - shopping - weather - people - and food. We spent 10 summers there when Lulu used to teach at the London FSU Campus. Some of you have visited us there. 

We are also  planning trips to - Norway/Sweden - Prague/Auschwitz - Avignon. I would not mind going back to Germany too. Before you know it - it will be September and time to go home. We plan to pick up our Tesla then. Someone has already emailed asking to buy our Honda van. Cars are really selling well there. We will hold onto it for a while.

Lulu has been awarded a grant to do research in Australia for two months. Australia is super closed now. The grant has been extended - but we are hoping to do it as soon as possible. Australia has only had 50 people die of covid because they completely locked down. Compare that to the 600,000 Americans that have died. Australia has 25 million people. USA has 330 million. Still 50 is an amazingly low number. When we go there - we will be based in the capital of Canberra - and she will work at the Australian National Library. 

The Eiffel Tower
is right behind our 
apartment.