Day 8: From JFK to La Marais district of Paris

Day 8: May 17, Paris

Weather: Glorious, cool to moderate (low 60s), clear, a day for walking

THB remembers very little about the flight since he fell asleep while the plane was still at the gate, woke up briefly to eat part of his dinner, then went back to sleep and was awakened by the scraping of forks on plates as breakfast had been served.

If only that meant he got a decent night’s sleep. NOPE!

Land at Charles De Gaulle and end up in a bus to the terminal. Passport control a breeze, the bag makes it off the plane, a guy is there to take us to our apartment. All goes nice and easy, and someone from the agency we rented through is here to walk us through the key points: there are 3 codes at various points to get to the unit on the 4^th (or is it 5^th?) floor.

 

The view from our place

Another view from our place

After unpacking, we get a real thrill: a huge farmer’s market a few blocks away (we’re near Place de Vosges in Marais and the market is near Bastille plaza). Prices seem very reasonable, here is a list of what we bought:

-        Baguette and a walnut loaf

-        Roti chicken and potatoes

-        Two types of cheese

-        Two types of Ravioli (mushroom and black olive) and a bit of grated parmesan

-        Apples and pears

-        Roses

-        Lemons and limes

-        Two types of snacks to go with drinks

-        Rocket lettuce

-        Three types of strawberries

-        White asparagus

and maybe some other stuff THB forgot about (like the melon)

Here’s why we didn’t buy more: the market is on Thursdays too.

Here’s what we bought walking back to our apartments: Ketel One vodka and a bottle of Chablis (50E the pair) and milk in a box.

Roti chicken and potatoes and baguette for lunch.

THB and DB already sold on the location and that’s before we start touring our hood, which is loaded with galleries, upscale shopping, good looking cafes, and a ton of bistros.

 

Zuber, we own a glass head of his

Place de Bastille, near our place

We decide to walk to find a map and guidebook (THB cleverly, and unintentionally, left all back in E-ville, who wants to lug all that extra weight around!). It takes us about a 20-25 minutes walk to get to Shakespeare & Co., just around the corner from Notre Dame to get a very good map and very light guidebook.

From there, we stroll the Seine for another couple of miles to the Palais de Tokyo miseum. This area has been converted to a nice outdoor walking path, complete with lots of phys-ed stuff, games, shipping container picnic areas, biking, and even a yoga class.

 

Notre Dame

ND from another perspective

Remember the lock problem in Amsterdam...same-same!

More locks

There are people in here, having a picnic

DB had to tell THB what this was...yoga on the river

The Palais de Tokyo is a dud, non-artists making art (they should stick with their day jobs) and clearly is suffering some malaise as there is graffiti surrounding the building and the large fountain is waterless and skateboarders rule the staircases. $20E to enter, and THB did not claim the senior rate (hey, maybe THB is not a senior here though THB recalls they have gone to mandatory retirement at 62…or have they?

Taxi back to the apartment, $15E, where we find out:

aa)    Our neighborhood is car-free on Sunday afternoons and there are a ton of people roaming around (and many stores are open) and

bb)    From a new neighbor: the guy who owns our unit lives/works in Rio part of the year….will this be THB’s random way to find 2016 Olympics lodging?

 

Across the street from our place

Dinner of vodka gimlets, cheese, bread, snacks, apples, and a tour through 50 TV channels, all in French.