Cancun in 2013

We arrived in Cancun last Sunday (Feb 17) for our annual Winter vacation. Our flight from Newark was bery good and we arrived 30 minutes ahead of the scheduled time. We arrived in our time share at the Clipper Club on the lagoon. We have been coming here for quite a few years, except when we traded for Spain or Portugal, or Williamsburg, Va. The Club is small compared to many of the other resorts here, but we like it. It is small enough for members to get to know one another or to renew old friendships.

Tuesday, Oct 30

Well, we were originally scheduled to leave today so instead we went for a walk starting at the place de la Concorde and then down the rue de Rivoli along the covered walkway and all the shops. We stopped at W. H. Smith, the English bookstore where we picked up a book since all of those we had downloaded onto the Nook reader have been read. This is a very interesting store with almost all of its stock being in English. It is very popular with quite a few people browsing and buying. Prices are rather high, some of the paperbacks of the top ten list selling for over thirty dollars.

We continued on down the rue de Rivoli and then up past the very modern place du Marché St. Honoré, a three or four story office building with a passageway running through center, with several large furniture stores. We got our bus at the Opéra back to our neighborhood.

We had some refreshment at the Café Charlot and noticed across the street a shop called Hier, Aujourd’hui, Demain (Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow). It's an antique shop. They had on display about a dozen or so model cars some being capable of holding a small child. From what I could see, they seemed to be authentic reproductions of old cars and trucks, including a red fire engine. Some said 1939. See photos.

 Later we had dinner at the local café le Sancerre on the corner. It was a good meal, considering that eating at a café can be problamatical.

More to come tomorrow. 

Sunday, Oct 28

We got home from our walk on Sunday, listened and watched the internet for info about Sandy. We felt that our return flight scheduled for Tuesday might be canceled so we called the airline, Open Skies. They told us that both Monday and Tuesday flights were still OK. We checked with them about rescheduling and they told us we could do that without penalty but the soonest would be for the following Saturday. We decided to take the seats for Saturday thus extending our visit here for four more days. Life is tough! It's a good thing that we did because on Monday morning, they announced that both Monday and Tuesday flights had been canceled. If we had waited until actual cancelation, we wondered if we would have had to reschedule into next week along with all the others on the canceled flights.The airline waited longer than many of the American ones to cancel flights. Part of the problem was that the American airlines wanted their planes out of Newark, whereas Open Skies flies in from Paris and then returns several hours later so that their planes are not there for a long period of time. In any event we are here for a few more days and I will add a few more postings before Saturday.

Sunday, Oct 28

This afternoon, Sunday, we went on the bus to the St. Paul church which on the rue Saint-Antoine, a street which a bit farther to the west becomes the rue du Rivoli. We met up with friends, Steve and Eric, and Rick, a friend of theirs.  While we were waiting for them we spotted a very large dog whose owner told us was a schnauzer. It didn’t look like one, see photos. What do you think?

We walked over to the place des Vosges and then to a café where we sat for a while and chatted about what living in Paris is all about. We parted company and went back home. In the evening, we dined at the Café des Musées, a place we discovered on this trip which we like very much.  

Saturday, Oct 27

We went down to the rue du Rivoli but just after we arrived, it started to rain. We ducked into a cafe and spent an hour or so before we went back home. Didn't do much for the rest of the afternoon, and due to the weather, we went for the last time to Les Enfants Rouges restaurant which is just across the street. Not much done today.

Thursday, Oct 25

We finally got off to visit the Jewish quarter, something we have been trying to do for a week or so, but were always deterred by bad weather. We started out at the lovely place du Bourg-Tibourg at one of the several cafés on the place and spent an hour watching the world go by and basking in the sun, which has been absent a lot lately.

We then walk up the street (below) 

and around the corner to visit with Marcel, an old friend who has an antiques shop on the rue des Guillemites. Unfortunately he was not there and the woman there told us she did not know when he would return. Being the owner of the shop, he can come and go as he pleases. We left our card with a brief message. We hope that we may be able to get back there before we leave next Tuesday.

We walked through the quarter, principally on the rue des Rosiers and some of the smaller side streets. We saw many interesting things there. For example:

We had an early dinner, by Parisian standards, at the l’As du Fallafel. We each had a pita bread stuffed with fallafel along with some French fries and some red wine.

We walked a bit more and then went back to the rue de Turenne and took the bus home. We were gone over four hours and had a good workout. Too bad we missed Marcel.

Wednesday, Oct 24

Today, we did some chores and then off to the Saint Germain area where we visited the Debauve & Gallais store to replenish our depleted chocolate supply. While we were in the area, we stopped off at Les Deux Magots café for the usual. Dinner was at Le Mâchon d’Henri, probably for the last time this year. They are always very nice to us and we appreciate this.