The weather was so perfect today I wanted to preserve it in a bottle: hot, cobalt-blue sky, blazing sunshine, and a cool breeze blowing in from somewhere. Impossible to stay indoors!  So I met a friend in my most favorite large park in Paris.

I must really like this park because it’s on the other side of the city from where I live. I make one change on the metro, from the number one central line to the number 14 line. But the travel time to get there is worth it.

Bercy Village is located at the end of Bercy Park (metro stop Cour Saint-Émilion on the number 14 line.) Tastefully designed and spread out along a single pedestrian street, it houses an even number of shops and restaurants. It’s what I call a “feel good” place.

This is my most favorite shop. Gorgeous soaps, bath products, body creams as well as clothes, jewelry and a few home furnishings. If you’re looking for gifts – for yourself or for others – this is the place to go. It’s also beautifully air-conditioned.

Here are their signature glycerine soaps which cost 5 euros apiece. I bought a green one (Verveine which is lemon verbena). I also bought a gift box of four jasmine soaps for only 12 euros per box. The prices at Fragonard are reasonable, the quality excellent.

Towards 4 pm my friend had to leave, so we separated and I sought out a quiet, shaded place in which to sit and read my book. I spied a bench with two elderly ladies sitting at one end. “This looks nice and quiet,” I thought, “The perfect spot.” I said “Bonjour” to the ladies and asked if they’d mind if I shared the bench. “Not at all,” they replied.  So I sat at the other end and pulled out my book. But the two elderly ladies were far from quiet. They were giggling and taking selfies on their iPhone and jumping up and down to pose, first one and then the other. At one point one lady was even video-taping the other one. 

I imagined myself saying, “Hey, will you kids keep it down?! I’m trying to read a book here.”

Jeesh…old people today…they’re not like they used to be.