L work, C play

• C got a late start after writing postcards to the nipotini (you know who you are!) and taking a picture of last night's restaurant.
• C headed off to Montmartre, a neighborhood. Mont = "mount" and there was some hill climbing. (The dictionary says that martre = "martin" (the animal), but C's not sure that's what it refers to in this context.) Frommer's walk was again, as in the Marais, not very accurate. It was hazy, so there weren't good views of the city. C just got a (French-style, on a baguette) sandwich at a take-out place and ate on a bench by the water tower, called a "water castle" in French. He bought a straw hat in a tourist shop. There was no price on it, so the owner joked that it must be free (it wasn't). Only one sketch artist approached C, and he was surprised at that, since he was a single male. C went back to hotel early and took a nap since he was tired and we are traveling tomorrow.
• Following the advice of a food guide we'd bought, we decided to go back to the place we'd been on Tuesday, the idea being that you'd get better service the second time. Of course, since the book wasn't really working for other advice (on making reservations — their advice was more appropriate in Arles), it's not surprising it didn't quite turn out that way. As on Tuesday, we got the set menu, but when it came time for dessert, we noticed that they had profiteroles, but not part of the set menu. So C asked (in French of course) if we could get one order of profiteroles instead of two set menu desserts. The answer was "Non!" Now on Thursday there'd been some discussion about the cross-cultural training that N. Americans get when they get posted to Paris, and apparently one of the things in the training is that (stereotypically) the first response to a request in France is negative. So even though it was a bit annoying, it was also a bit funny. C dug out his bargaining skills, honed in Mali, and eventually we did get the profiteroles, for a discounted price, though, not just substituted for the set menu desserts.