Our Bar in Paris

In the deepest Marais in Paris you can find a small bar called Au Petit Fer à Cheval (At the Little Horseshoe). Note Bill sitting at the bottom left of the picture.

Staff are welcoming.

So are the regulars. Weeks after I took this picture, Danielle came and sat next to me and asked me how the picture had turned out. She introduced me to Lili.

On cool nights, Bill and I settle inside

Unless tempted outside by the warmth of the giant heaters.

But most of the evenings have been warm and the doors of the bar stand open.

Fer à Cheval has lots of excellent opportunities for people watching.

As does the busy rue Vieille du Temple.

We also enjoyed watching the regulars at the bar across the street: La Belle Hortense.

Bill sometimes makes pencil sketches as we sit and then transfers them onto watercolour paper when we got home.

Which brings us back to the night that Danielle sat beside me and introduced herself. She also introduced her buddy, Pilar, a local poet. We had been curious about the locals. The locals had also been curious about us.

We also had a formal introduction to Lili.

Jegory wandered over from Belle Hortense.

He demanded we admire Pilar's new shoes. I scrabbled to get my camera so I could get the shoes,

And Pilar's rather lovely leg,

And the lovely Pilar herself.

Jegory also asked us to admire his new emerald ring.

John, a local jeweler, also joined us around our table.

Danielle also introduced us to Bouba, our regular waiter, who took orders for another round.

I've just finished writing this post. Au Petit Fer à Cheval is only ten minutes away. Time for a stroll through the streets of Paris to our bar.

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More: We discovered Fer à Cheval in 2011. Here's the post we did at the time: Saturday Night in Paris.