I had awoken at 6 am (midnight Montreal time) feeling a bit sleepy, and I made the mistake to stay in bed. A blink of an eye later and it was 11 am. But apart from sleeping in, we feel we are more or less sync’ed to local time now.
We’ve have been fortunate enough to have visited Paris several times in the past, so we do not feel the need to visit any sites in particular. So this trip will be much more laid back than most.
The weather forecast threatens rain. Usually that would make it a great museum day, but it seems rain might be in our forecast for most of our trip.
Sundays, many shops in Paris are closed, but the Marais district is one area that tends to have most of its shops open. Our first goal was to head over to the neighborhood food market. It is best to visit much earlier, and we were late, so we hurried over.
Already several stalls were closed, but the vegetable and fruits stalls promised to remain open for a few more hours. And since the market’s various mini restaurants had our tummies growling we decided to stand in line in one promising vendor’s crepe and sandwich stall.
It took at least 30 minutes in line, watching the chef making scrumptious sandwiches and Galetes (a savory crepe sandwich). Hera ordered a smoked salmon sandwich, while I had a ham Galete. Each were stuffed generously with vegetables in addition to our choice of meats. The amount of parmesan cheese in my galette could have easily made it a cheese galette rather than ham. Although the amount of cured ham was also quite generous.
We took our food to a nearby park we had spied on our way, found a bench and enjoyed our meal watching children play about in the playground.
Well fed, we went back to the market, bought our produce, and walked back to our apartment to unload.
Back out on the streets, we walked over a couple of blocks to rue Veille du Temple. The street was crowded with tourists as well as locals. We walked in and out of various shops and past a side street we planned on taking to continue along this street, and then we doubled back to walk along rue des Rosiers.
The area Jewish history is still present, and we past a Falafel eatery we had sampled the last time we were here 9 years ago, as well as Bakery. The eggbread looked delicious as did many other items, but we were still stuffed from our meal.
We meandered along the various streets, heading towards Place des Vosges. Built from 1605-1612, it was the first European program of Royal city planning that would be the model of residential city squares that would soon be copied throughout Europe.
Victor Hugo, already famous, lived here at one time, where he wrote at least part of Les Miserables. We rested a bit in the park, enjoying the day.
Victor Hugo, already famous, lived here at one time, where he wrote at least part of Les Miserables. We rested a bit in the park, enjoying the day.
We headed south from Place des Vosges, Hera took photos, and soon we were at the Seine. We crossed over the bridge, and walked along the Left Bank, past the book vendors. While a fixture on the Left Bank, I wonder if their days are numbered.
Enjoying the changing views of Notre Dame Cathedral as we walked, we crossed over a pedestrian bridge and sat a bit to enjoy the sight. Hera did not feel like entering today, and we will have ample time to do so at one time.
There was a 60% chance of rain today, and we were lucky as not a dropped fell. But it was now past 8, and the skies were starting to threaten. With the wind picking up, we decided not to tempt fate, so we decided to walk towards home slowly. Of course Hera still took her photos.
Once home, it felt great to take off our shoes, and relax a bit.
