Up the mountain

It's dark outside but not late on this October evening. We've had dinner and feel a little restless so we put on our coats and walk out to the street with no goal in mind. We are in Paris after all and surely, something interesting will happen. To the right is Notre Dame and the Quai. Not tonight, too lonely for our mood. We turn left and walk down rue Maître Albert to Place Maubert. It is like a village, the shops are all still open even though it is approaching 9 pm. It's a Wednesday evening so the scaffolding for the Thursday market is up and I have to duck under the pipes, by now an ingrained habit. We head up the hill toward Place de la Contrescarpe. It will be lively up there in Hemingway's old neighborhood and if we get tired from climbing the hill there will be places to sit by the fountain and drink a glass of wine or maybe a grog au rhum. Halfway up the hill on rue de la Montagne is this ancient fountain. Just behind the fountain are three pubs that we have never been in for some reason even thought they look quite nice. I'm pretty sure that on our next visit in a few weeks that we will stop in to La Methode to see if it is as nice as it looks but tonight we continue up the hill to Contrescarpe and its larger fountain. We will check to see if one of the book stores is still open and browse there until they close. As the evening comes to an end for us we slowly work our way back down the hill, pleasantly warm with memories of not enough evenings spent like this in years gone by.