St. Eustache & a Little Shopping
Trip Start
Jul 23, 2008
1
9
27
Trip End
Aug 14, 2008
Where I stayed
Rental Apartment
Paris, Île-de-France, France
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
One thing I like about being here is the quiet pace. We can do as we please. Not feel rushed to see 12 monuments per day or whatever. I like not feeling pressured to see as much as I can every day. I like waking up when we just do, having breakfast, going shopping for lunch and dinner, having lunch at home, and then going out for the afternoon--doing whatever pleases us.
I like walking places too, even though it's tiresome sometimes. It's nice to not rely on transportation--except that of our own legs and feet. Of course, that isn't always the case, up to this point, it's been nice.
When DH called, it was nice to hear his voice. I was glad he had started his journey to Paris. He was just leaving for the airport (LAX).
Afterwards, we headed out walking down Rue de Turbigo into the 1st arrondissement. We found a Bureau de Change (after waiting in line forever at the post office to see if they did money exchange--nope). The exchange place was a bigger ripoff than the first place I went to.
From there we went to St. Eustache and went inside; it's quite pretty. The kids played for awhile at the park next to it while I sat on a bench under the shady trees. When they were played out, we walked around some more.
We popped into a shoe store, Un Air De Cuir, that had great prices (i.e. bargains). I found some black boots, and DD bought herself some black flats.
As we made our way back home, we found a VERY cool kitchen store, "E. Dehillerin." It's been open since 1820, and it looked it with old, old wood shelves and lots of flavor. We went downstairs, where I first discovered the copper pots. I have coveted copper pots for quite some time. They are SO expensive though.
We made our way back upstairs, and one of the guys started talking to us, at first in French. Then he wisely switched to English. We talked to him for quite awhile and learned that he knew Ina Garten (Barefoot Contessa) because she would go into the store when she was in Paris. He said she speaks French very well.
He was an interesting person, and liked talking to the kids also. He speaks many languages, which is always impressive to me. Finally, I asked him about the copper pots. I decided on a smallish sauce pot and purchased my treasure. Though not cheap, it was much more inexpensive than what it would cost here in the States. So I'm thrilled. It is something I can hand down to one of the kids.
As we neared the Place de Republique, I saw a crepe stand, and the kids had been asking for crepes. So, why not? So what if it's dinner time? I ordered my usual Marron (chestnut cream), DD ordered Nutella with banana, and DS ordered Nutella with coconut. I sent the kids into the Tabac where the seats were so we could eat them there. The crepe guy was nice, and we talked a little while he made the crepes.
Our crepes were delicious of course! When I paid the crepe guy on our way out, he said he was closing and gave us some crepes to take home. How cool is that?
We went home and relaxed a little, before we went to the Monoprix late to find something for dinner. The store was very busy and the shelves were nearly empty. We decided we wanted something on the light side. So we got some cheese, lettuce and veggies for a salad, salad dressing, and bread. Plus we had pickles. So that's what we had for dinner.
