My routine of Cafe au Lait via my French Press and a croissant from my local Boulangerie, that I purchased last night on my way home, is a perfect way to start another fabulous day in Paris.
Today I'm going to explore Canal St-Martin, Bastille and Oberkampf, which include the arrondissements (neighborhoods) of 10th, 11th, 12th, 19th and 20th. My colleague from work, Kristi Gomez, gave me a copy of an article from a craft magazine about a collection of artisan shops at the Viaduc des Arts, I can't wait.
Can I reiterate how cold it is out?! Seriously it never got higher than 30 today. Yikes! But I forged on. Canal St-Martin was lovely and I'm sure in the Spring, Summer or Autumn it's even lovelier. These photos probably won't do it justice.
I was pretty sure what this said and found it odd and funny. It reads: Thank you for respecting the property, the site and the tranquility of the riverside. Music forbidden.
After this photo I saw a post office and decided to duck in for a couple of postage stamps and let's face it - to warm up. They had a great selection of holiday cards. I practiced some French, then the very nice postal employee practiced her English and I bought a couple boxes of cards and some stamps. I needed to mail Mom and John their belated Thanksgiving card.
On my way to my next stop, I passed a friend game of boules. They were so caught up in their game, they didn't even notice me snap the photo. http://www.discoverfrance.net/France/Sports/DF_boules.shtml
My next planned stop was the Marche Richard Lenior (Richard Lenior Market) - a produce market that's held every Friday and Sunday. My hope was I'd find something other than produce there too. http://www.davidlebovitz.com/2006/02/the-sunday-mark/ Unfortunately, I wasn't able to find my way to the market, did I mention it was cold? So I moved on to the Bastille in hopes that the Viaduc des Arts would deliver.
On my way, I noticed big heavy clouds had moved in and the wind began to whip around. As I climbed the stairs of the Metro in Bastille I could see that it was snowing out. Once on the street level, I tried to snap some photos of the snow, as if I'd never seen snow before - LOL - but the pictures didn't really turn out, so I resorted to taking a photo of my coat sleeve as evidence.
Once in Place de la Bastille - yes, the infamous storming of the Bastille prison on July 14, 1789. http://www.aviewoncities.com/paris/placedelabastille.htm
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| The only monument still standing on the square is the Colonne de Juillet, a column commemorating another revolution in 1830 during which king Charles X was replaced by king Louis-Philippe. |
I quickly realized my tummy was growling and decided to refer to my guidebook for options. Lucky me, I was in a perfect spot - listed as one of the area's best cafes was Café Français - the description in part read: A sidewalk perch for people watching. Admittedly it looked warm so what the heck.
It wasn't clear if there was a hostess or if you just sat yourself, so I stopped the first waiter I saw and asked in French if he spoke English. The response "My English not very good" he points to another waiter and says "his English good". So I go up and ask about seating, he pleasantly tells me to feel free to sit anywhere. This is where I'll insert my firm opinion that the French ARE NOT RUDE. They're just particular and you have to be aware of their idiosyncrasies. Remember, we're in their country - they don't have to speak English.
Low and behold, guess who's section I sat myself in? Yep, My English not very good. We laughed, I proceeded to order my chicken sandwich w/ frites and the most wonderful cup of hot chocolate EVER! Well, today anyway. http://www.davidlebovitz.com/2006/10/paris-hot-choco-1/ I couldn't be bothered to take a photo, but it was the most heavenly, thick, rich warm chocolate served in a stainless steel creamer to keep it piping hot - Mmmm...enough said. The sandwich was good too. The snow began to fall harder, although not sticking to the street, it made for a lovely break.
Now on to Viaduc des Arts. As I make my way through Place de la Bastille I spy the Opera Bastille, which is a lovely building.
If you're interested http://www.operadeparis.fr/cns11/live/onp/L_Opera/Opera_Bastille/index.php?lang=en Paris has several major opera houses. Perhaps I'll visit one on a future trip.
In a nutshell, Viaduc des Arts is an abandoned rail line that serves as the setting for a lovely garden and walkway atop (neither of which I experienced, since it was dark when I got there). Below in the hallowed out old vaults of rail station are a collection of artisan shops. It's really quite a treat to see the restoration of a historic building. http://europeforvisitors.com/paris/articles/viaduc-des-arts.htm
First stop, and for me the best shop, Le Bonheur des Dames ("ladies delight"). It really was a pure delight and looked exactly like the photos in the article I read. For those of you in San Diego, Paris' equivalent to The Grove. A two-story space filled with all sorts of goodies and the bonus, it was decorated for the holidays. They specialized in fabrics, but had lots of other fun items - I bought some French looking Christmas ornaments.
The shops go on for a mile. I walked the length looking for Le Comptoir, a shop that was to be stuffed with a gorgeous selection of wool yarn. Sadly they've left the Viaduc des Arts for an online business. It would have been fun to meet fellow knitters in Paris. http://lecomptoir.canalblog.com/
When I arrived home my legs seriously felt like I did when I had played out in the snow too long. I think I might have said that about yesterday too - but it's true my thighs were freezing! I was glad to make it home to my toasty apartment, where I promptly poured myself a glass of wine reflecting on my fabulous day.
One more day to write about - stay tuned.
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