Life: A User's Manual

First full day in Paris - a Sunday - and a walk down to the Seine from our hotel in the Bastille area of the city. This was a quick shot of an apartment block on the eastern end of Ile de la Cite taken from the adjacent Ile Saint-Louis. A grand building with many windows, it brought to mind George Perec's fabulous novel.
As we crossed the bridge between the two islands, we paused briefly to watch and listen to the group of musicians playing on the bridge. There were crowds in front of Notre Dame - of pigeons and of people. The pigeons gathered to peck at crumbs scattered by an old lady as she paused in front of the statue of Charlemagne. Moments later a group of young tourists gathered around their tour guide who clapped his hands to get their attention before dropping snippets of history for them to peck at.
Crossing to the left bank on the Pont Neuf we headed for the Jardin du Luxembourg, slightly on the look out for somewhere to watch the cycling later (Liege-Bastogne-Liege). Meeting some of the others in the gardens we made a more determined effort to find a bar with a TV but with no success. We gave up and just went into a bar on the Blvd Saint-Germain. They had a TV but it was showing music videos. However when we asked they said 'no problem' and changed channels to the cycling and we spent a relaxed afternoon watching the final stages of the race, before walking back to the hotel.