Sunday bike ride

Cool temperatures and menacing clouds didn't prevent us from taking our Sunday afternoon bike ride along the Seine.

But several minutes later we had to take refuge under a bridge during a cloudburst. Brrrr!

Oysters

This rainy Saturday morning we went the rue de Lévis to pick up some oysters and to chat with Frédéric Dubourg, son of my dear friend Francis, owner of la Cabane à Huitres. Francis has been battling cancer for the last 18 months and has not been well enough to leave his home on the Arcachon basin near Bordeaux. Business at the Cabane has suffered in his absence, as Francis is the heart and soul of the tiny place.

However, the oysters are still delicious, and Francis' son Frédéric makes the trip from Arcachon to Paris each week to sell oysters in the rue de Lévis market on Saturdays and Sundays.

Most people buy the tasty mollusks to take home, but Frederic also has a faithful group of clients who come each Saturday at 1PM equipped with bottles of Muscadet to sit and chat while enjoying a plateau of the briny treasures accompanied by several glasses of wine.

I was lucky enough to visit the oyster beds where these are grown. You can read more about that adventure here.

Springtime in Paris

Winter in Paris passed without a single snowflake and now an early spring and unseasonably warm temperatures have Parisians out enjoying the sunshine.

Sorry to hear that my friends who live in Calgary are still buried in the snow.