Pickled heart of the son of Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette

Went to Saint Denis - home of Stade de France, for World Cup Rubby, a huge immigrant community living in tower blocks and the reason for my visit - Basilique de Saint-Denis.
The church is was the first major structure built in the Gothic style and is where the kings of France and their families were buried for centuries. In 2004 a glass jar with the pickled heart of the son of Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette, the boy that would have been Louis XVII, was sealed into the wall of the crypt.

After 19 months of French classes and hours of study it appears all you need is:

"Bonjour madam/monsieur/mademoiselle" - when you go into a shop or restaurant or bar or museum
"Je desire" - when you want something
"Merci madam/monsieur/mademoiselle" - when you get it
"Au revoir madam/monsieur/mademoiselle" - when you leave a shop or restaurant or bar or museum

Canal Saint Martin

Ouch! I have sore feet from all the walking.

I wandered the four and a half km length of the Saint Martin Canal. It was opened in early 1800s and narrowly escaped being filled in and paved over for a highway in the 1960s.

This evening I went to a cafe where I was never served and never understood why and so went to the movies instead.

In 'Pariscope' -the weekly events guide - I counted up 267 different movies showing this week.

Rue de Vertbois

Here is my little rue in the Marais. Next door to the apartment is a tiny shop where a man makes violin bows - not the string, just the wood bit and further down the street a young guy repairs what looks like old railway clocks.

Spent most of today is wandering around the Left Bank et Les Halles - my old haunts from the 80s. It does not seem the same as I remember it. My old cafe is now a 'sportsmans bar' and my hotel has been turned in a vintage clothing shop!

While there are still dogs under my feet in the restaurants, a mayor in greater Paris has been forced to give up the use of a repulsive spray on the homeless to move them on!

The centerpiece at Place de la Nation

The flight from Sydney just seemed to go on and on but the connections worked and my luggage and I turned up at Charles de Gaulle. I caught the train into Paris with the tourists and the usual North African and Eastern European train jumpers singing for change.
The apartment was easy to find. It is simple and well positioned and the owner Madam Claude is a honey. She gave me a list of facts for the area, supermarkets etc and now have a place full of cheese and cakes.
I have a 'carte orange' which means I can travel around Paris by metro or bus for a week for about 16 euros -what a bargain. I caught the metro to Place de la Nation for no reason and wandered around the shops and had a few beers in a cafe watching the the world go by.