Paris Day Three - A slow day in the sun....
Trip Start
Aug 21, 2010
1
12
27
Trip End
Sep 22, 2010
Paris, Île-de-France, France
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Another beautiful day in Paris and we wanted to visit the Marais district. Originally we were going to be staying in the Marais area but two weeks before we left we were told the apartment we were renting was to be sold so were 'upgraded' to the one we have in St Germain.
We headed out via the greengrocer (for Tony's fruit fix) and the Metro, to Place de Republique.
The Marais is a great area with lots of lovely cafe's, so after a quick visit to Rue Dupius where we would have stayed we stopped for lunch at Sopranos. Although I baulk at eating Italian in France, it was a great spot and we enjoyed two very good pizzas with a bottle of Rose in the sun.
Then it was on to Place des Voges - one of the most beautiful squares in Paris. Victor Hugo used to live here and it is full of art galleries and restaurants.
Walking on we ended up in Arsenal, at the top end of the Canal. It was a beautiful spot and we sat and enjoyed a beer and iced tea in the shade by the river as it had got very hot.
Then we strolled round the Ile St-Louis (next to Ile de Cite). This is the most expensive property in Paris so I picked up a real estate brochure..........you just never know!
The views around this area are great and once again we see yet another facade of Notre Dame. It really is a most amazing building.
I was on a 'mission'........to find the Shakespeare & Company book shop. Claire had told me about it and we saw it last time but never stopped. This time we went in to discover what has to be the best book shop ever! Earnest Hemingway used to frequent this place along with many other great writers such as Lawrence Durrell. Downstairs the books are all for sale but upstairs is all about just reading. There is a chair, a piano and a bed and anyone can come and just read the books and enjoy the ambience. None of the books on the upper level are for sale. I bought my first Hemingway..........A Moveable Feast. Very fitting to buy it from this shop.
We needed a few groceries so popped into the local supermarche. This one is on three levels with only stairs, so no trolleys here! (I have a theory that French women have such great legs because of all the stairs they have to negotiate every day).
After a pit stop at home we headed out for a meal at a little brasserie down the road. We had a lovely waitress who spoke quite good english. When we commented on her english she said she had spent a holiday in Australia four years ago. We said we were from New Zealand.
Waitress: "Aaah. I *love* New Zealand! Where do you live?"
Us: "Wellington"
Waitress: "I went to Wanaka and Queenstown with a Kiwi Experience tour. NZ is *SO* beautiful and Paris is so boring!! There is nothing to do in Paris."
It was reminiscent of my conversation with the Parisians at lunch the day before. They bemoaned the lack of parks & recreational places to go to in Paris, so I guess you have to leave home in order to really appreciate what we have.The waitress understood our request for a flat white, but said the machines they have cannot do the milk hot enough to achieve the right effect. However, she managed to organised quite a good cafe creme which was made perfect by the addition of a glass of ammoretto!
So ended another great day in Paris.............tomorrow we venture out of the city to Giverney....
