I woke up this morning in Paris

Where even the log in directions for Blogger are in French. I just got back from the bakery, Rainbow and the Post Office. A person at the Post Office trying to mail a letter to Estonia wanted to know if it was enough to write "Par avion" on the envelope but other than that every word and gesture was pure American.

Here are a tiny few images. None of this is sight seeing material. These pictures are for me and for my traveling companions to help fix some of the few tiny details in memory.

The neighborhood boulangerie where all of the French ladies spoke impeccable English but humored our attempts to order their pastries and breads in French. They would gently correct our French pronunciation while at the same time dealing with actual French people who came in attempting to do business in actual French.What oh what would we have done without the giant supermarket on the corner. The toilet tissue is in the basement, the facial tissue is on the ground floor and the napkins are on the third floor, food is in the basement, in between wine, bread and mostly women's clothing: Monoprix.Our corner brasserie. We ate there once, it was adequate at best but it was always available. There is a more famous La Rotonde on the Left Bank, this is La Rotonde des Tuileries.Our apartment. This is a view from the front window back towards the kitchen and down the hall to the bath and the bedroom. Mrs. Smith just might possibly be checking her work e-mail.The steps up to the second bedroom, the loft.But on the way up be sure to WATCH YOUR HEAD!!!!The bedroom.There was tennis on from 11am every day and we watched a lot.This is what hot water looks like in France.So now I am at my dining room table in Roseville. My body time says after 11pm but it is still only late afternoon in Minnesota. Everyone says that the way to beat jet lag is to attack it, stay up until dark and try to force your body back onto its natural rhythms. I am trying, really I am trying to follow that advice but truthfully I think I will be beating the sun to bed this evening.

There's no place like home.