Where to Next?: Meandering Around The Marais

Our last day in Paris and we decided to spend it wandering around the 3rd and 4th Arrondissements - The Marais.

When you wander around without a definite plan, you come across some of the best surprises. For us, on this day, it was a market

selling the most beautiful flowers...

and food....

and fruits and vegies....

and seafood...

and meats and cheeses...

and a bit of live music...

It was our plan to purchase a French - English dictionary whilst on our travels so we looked up where we would find a couple of bookshops in The Marais. It turns out that some bookshops don't open on a Sunday - and fair enough. Some open at 1.05pm and some don't open until 4.10pm. After passing the ones that would open on a Sunday at their odd times, we got there too early, so rather than retrace our steps or wait around, we moved onto the next one. Our last chance was a place called the Hotel Sully Bookshop. We arrived at the Hotel Sully, but there was no bookshop to be found.... just a seedy little corridor with a desk at the end.... However, as we walked down the street a little bit, there was another Hotel Sully, which was a little more salubrious and it had a bookshop. Dictionary found and purchased. Job done!

Moustache is french for "whiskers"

This shop ⬇ "Moustaches, Le comptoir des chins et chats" is a pet shop for all your pet needs. This poor little pup was desperate to get inside, but his human kept telling him to go back outside, so he would put his head down and his tail between his legs and slump outside, only to stand in the doorway and wait for his human to look away, then he'd sneak back in.

One of our many jobs this day was to find a fabulous boulangerie or patisserie, and a few were found, however for all your macaron needs - you must head to Pierre Hermè.

Here's a little special treat for you all. Now what would possess you to step outside dressed in short robe and slippers? He was standing in front of a cafe, and no sign of a hotel door anywhere close by. He had a cigarette in one hand and his phone in the other.

Any guesses as to what he was doing or why he happened to be there?

Doors! Doors! Get your doors!

I don't think it is a secret that I love old doors. I particularly liked this green on of the left for it's door knob placement.

We sat down in a funny little bar where the outside tables were all full and the inside was empty. Apparently France is 'heading towards' a no smoking policy in restaurants, but at the moment, you can still light up on the terraces - where the tables are right on top of each other and all the doors and windows are open, so no matter where you sit, you are sitting in the smoking section.

In Paris, it is the chic thing to do to sit out on the street to see and be seen, so we often had the inside to ourselves!

Except today when we were joined by an American couple who live in Paris with their French dog, Ollie. He knows exactly how to behave at the bar. He sat on his human's lap (it's easy for him because his human sits with her ankle on her knee rather than crossing her legs all the way because she's never been able to do that.... strangers tell you the oddest things!).

There were people everywhere. Being a bank holiday long weekend, it wasn't surprising. There was music in the street and this little lady in the green on the left was dancing her head off. At first, I thought she was just a passer by enjoying the ambience, but when someone wanted to by a CD, she got her purse out to give some change. She might have been the base player's mum?

We wandered through lovely parks where all the trees are perfectly manicured.

I'm not sure if the lady to the left of Jenny was getting up or had just fallen over....

One of my favourite pieces of music is Pacabel's Canon and whilst walking through the park I could hear it being played, but couldn't see anyone. Then we spotted this group. They were playing under an arched walkway, so the acoustics were wonderful. They didn't have their mums there dancing though, which was a little disappointing.

I want you to read this profound passage and tell me what the hell it means.

Again, because of the long weekend and the 1000s of people around, there were no free tables in any of the cafes we passed. We thought we'd get out of the Marais and try our luck on the Île de la Citè. No such luck! They were either closed or full.... except one - and there was a reason it had available tables! This is where, and we didn't think if would be possible in Paris, we had the WORST croque monsieur ever. I mean, how can you get a ham and cheese sandwich so wrong? In disgust, we left our half eaten croques and headed for the nearest crêperie....

Thank you Nutella.

It had been recommended that we try Berthillon ice-cream and there were a few shops along this street, but there was a line like this at each one. We were happy with our crepe and moved on. I mean, how good can it really be?

What a perfect idea after a day of wandering!

⬇

I don't know what country these tourists were from, but it was somewhere that they don't mind queuing! These 100s of people were lined up along the side of the Notre Dame Cathedral to get into the pre booked tour entrance.