A decisive moment?

Yet another beautiful day! We've been so lucky with the weather whilst we've been here.

We walked a little further afield to find a 3rd boulangerie from which to purchase our morning victuals - this one seemed a little more posh but the food was just as good! On balance we liked the first place best so will probably go back tomorrow.

Out on the balcony for breakfast I once again noticed activity on the roof where the man had stood on the chimney yesterday. This time there were two men and it looked as though they were building iron railings. A staircase? Could the man yesterday have been sketching the plans? He seemed so much more meditative than someone drawing up plans would be... And could all the necessary blacksmithing have been done in 24 hours? I'm not convinced!

But enough of that!

Today we spent exploring the lanes and architecture of the Marais but first we stopped off at the île Saint-Louis for some of the famed Berthillon's ice cream. We weren't disappointed!

It was a year ago today that Spokes and I first met up "for a coffee". We'd met on a number of previous occasions of course but never before in such a pre-planned way. Neither of us was sure whether we were going on 'a date' but one coffee (tea in my case!) turned into several (and cake) and then into a meal and by the time we finally went our separate ways it was eight hours later... It may not officially have been 'a date' but it seemed we got along rather well! And 12 months later we still do.

We had coffee again today (chocolat chaud for me!) sitting outside on the pavement at Cafe Minime on the Rue de Turenne and watching the world go by. We also had a long sit on a sunny bench in Square Léopold Achille and reflected on how happy we are.

Then we meandered over to the Pompidou Centre for our second photography exhibition in as many days. And this one was a marathon! We must have spent over 2 hours looking at 500+ photographs by the legendary Henri Cartier-Bresson. A truly magnificent exhibition which covered everything from his earliest family photographs through Surrealism, street photography, reportage, politics, forays into moving pictures, post-retirement landscape photography and everything in between. One of the best and most comprehensive shows I've ever seen. We were both a little overwhelmed with it all and could barely string a sentence together when we emerged, blinking, into the twilight - although we did note that despite the many differences between this show and the Mapplethorpe exhibition we saw yesterday both included portraits of Truman Capote!

In need of food, and fast, we stumbled into a pizzeria and ate until we were able to speak again!

We rounded off the night with a stroll along the Seine before heading back to the Metro at the Hôtel de Ville, outside which this shot was taken, just before midnight. Of all the pictures I took today, this one seems to me to best reflect the spirit (but, alas, not the talent!) of Cartier-Bresson.

For today's tune I'm torn between Joni Mitchell (for the 2nd day running) with In France They Kiss on Main Street and Adam Ant's classic Young Parisians (featuring the immortal line "Young Parisian's are so French, they're always called Du Bois") - so you're getting both!