Snowing for day 2

For the second day in a row, we are having snow in Paris.  This is a very rare event since the weather here is very temperate so it really rarely snows much less for two days in a row.  Earlier the flakes were huge so I got out my camera and snapped a few photos from the apartment which is located on the 4th and top floor on rue du Faubourg St. Antoine between the famous Place de la Bastille and Place de la Nation.  The snow only lasted a few minutes and melted quickly so later I walked over to the Marché Alégre, our local farmers' market, to shop for fresh fruits and veggies.  On one of the adjacent streets is a wine bar called Le Baron Rouge so I stopped in to pick up a bottle of their organic Côte de Rhone to have on hand in case we want a glass for dinner sometime soon.  Most people think that everyone here drinks wine at each meal but it's not true, it is true though that it's normal for people drink a glass at one of their meals.  Unlike in the States though people normally just drink at meals and only a glass or 2 at the most.  The Barron a quaint, rustic place with about 6 large wooden barrels of different types of wine at the entrance.  People often take their own containers in there and the staff fills it from the barrel of their choice. A litre of wine is about 4E80 if you bring your own container and 50 centimes more without. 

I'm back home, had lunch and it's started to snow again. Although it's pouring, I doubt that it will last very long. There's not a lot to get excited about with the snow but it's really nice while it is falling. 

This is the first time in my life of living in a city where everyone lives in apartments and where individual family dwellings is non-existent. I don't know any of my neighbors except our next door land-lady and the woman downstairs who chain smokes so much that we get constant whiffs of it in our place that has a well-placed NO SMOKING sign, doesn't do any good in this case. Our neighbors are basically strangers who inhabit all those windows on the buildings surrounding us. Our building has 5 other apartments and a restaurant on the first couple of floors.  Mind you I've never eaten there but I daily smell their plats du jour, although I have had coffee with a croissant there.  It's a cafe/tabac so is a sort cheaper version of a brasserie.  We have 2 grocery stores on our block plus several shoe shops and various other businesses.  It's definitely a big city environment and popular area of Paris for shopping and for night clubs for young people.