It Was All About Me!

Mom and Aunt Connie decided to undertake the challenge of taking the poussette on the bus because we were headed across town.  They folded up the pousette and Mom picked me up and we got on the crowded bus - standing room only for the first couple of stops.  While Mom wrestled me and the poussette into the bus, Aunt Connie worked her way up to the front to validate the tickets.  When we got off the bus we went a few blocks and then entered a store that made me sit up and take notice.  It was a whole store for DOGS!  It 's called BHV La Niche and it has everything a dog could ever want (except a poussette)  and some things this dog didn't necessarily want, but Mom thought they were cute.  I was only interested in the abundance of TREATS in all shapes and sizes - crunchy ones, soft ones, long chewy ones and little tiny ones. MMMMM!  Mom wanted to get me some doggy sunglasses but the man said they were sold out.  Not to be deterred in her determination to accessorize me in something stupid, she settled on a hat instead.  At least she did get me some treats - the long, chewy ones.






BOL!  Look at all this stuff!

I don't think black does anything for me.

Now we're getting somewhere.  Is this my good side?

 Or is it this one?

Here we are all loaded up, waiting at check-out.








And look what we found when we left the store, on the window of the BHV bicycle shop:

                            Graffiti becomes part of pop culture which becomes commercial.

After we did my shopping the ladies did a little of their own in the part of the store for humans.  Again, I was quite a hit with the crowd there, both the sales staff and the customers.  Leaving the department store we meandered through some of the narrow streets and stopped at the some of the more interesting shops on our way to rue Montorgueil.  This narrow cobblestone street is now a pedestrian zone lined with markets and specialty stores such as butcher shops, cheese stores, bakeries and pastry shops, many of which still have their original signs hanging above the doors.  It has the ambiance of a village where prestigious artists mix with up-and-coming artists.  Formerly it was the way into Les Halles for the produce from the countryside where it would be redistributed for sale around the city.  Some very famous people such as Stendhal and Balzac frequented the restaurants here.

Au Rocher de Cancale is a classic
French bistro which opened in 1846.  Notice the (faded) neo-Renaissance
facade.

A (gulp) horse meat store.

                                                 A hardware/home goods store



The most exciting part of the day came later, when Mom and Aunt Connie ducked out of the sudden shower and waited it out with a glass of wine.  We were enjoying people-watching when we heard drums nearby.  We could just see some young black men doing something that looked like a cross between a dance and martial arts.  We were glad that they moved down the street toward where we were sitting and began to perform right in front of us.  We found out that what they were doing was called capoeira, which is an Afro-Brazilian martial art/dance dating back to slavery in Brazil.  You can find out more about it on this web-site:  http://au.bantus.org/about-capoeira/
It takes great agility and strength and these young men were very impressive.  I was thrilled to have my picture taken with them.

Like my moves?