bonjour - oui - pardon!

oui pardon bonjour - that's most of my French vocabulary, though I still find myself saying "excuse me" instead of "pardon" when I bump into someone on a busy sidewalk. 

Paris is populated by over ten million people and though some speak English, I still feel like I'm being a lazy, disrespectful American when I need to ask someone  (using the remainder of my French vocabulary) "parlez-vous anglais?"

Wednesday I wandered and walked several miles of territory I hadn't explored in my first trip (8 years ago) enjoying the weather and Paris vibe. 

  In other words, I mostly avoided tourist stops when I could. 

I walked past some cheese shops -noticing some interesting, potential subjects. Especially that donut shaped cheese!

At one point I stumbled onto Notre Dame  ; that cathedral named after the American university.

It's still impressive though the crowds were oppressive ♪♫(poem or really good rap lyrics?) 

 I was drawn to this mural I could see a block away only to realize I'd stumbled onto the georges pompidou center. 

It appeared they were installing some Claes Oldenburg sculptures out front. (He's the guy that did the clothespin in Philly - FYI )

That sculpture made me hungry so,

I had a sandwich in the shade, people watching outside. 

A view of the museums exterior. 

I returned to my map-free wandering...

In the evening I met Federico and a friend of his, who was also from Philadelphia, at Chez Paul - a highly regarded traditional French bistro. 

I had no problem navigating the city to get there- unlike the French language. So when Federico helped with menu options I hadn't realized that the healthy sounding salad I ordered was my third pork serving in a row (I had a delicious ham sandwich for lunch and young pig the night before).

The salad was covered with fried ham and an egg what appeared to me, a bed of concentration-camp arugula that was at least a nice color if tasteless "greens".

I chose duck confit as a healthy main course :).  

Federico explained the "French Paradox" to me. Parisians remain thin and beautiful despite all the cheese, butter and noticeably small portions of vegetables in their city diet. The belief is that all the wine consumption balances it out. I personally think its the smoking. I'd not be surprised if French babies were born with a cigarette in their mouth. EVERYBODY here smokes and smokes often.