VISITING PARIS
Everyone seems to be going to Paris these days and every one of us discovers and is delighted by a different part of Paris. So while everyone else is going to Paris I am going to remember the things that touched me the most. So this post is mainly for me. But if someone else is looking for things to do in Paris they might find something on this list that they would like to try. There are very few tourist sites mentioned. There are of course a number of museums that would be worth seeing if not too crowded including the Louvre. But where I’ve had the most fun is wandering around and exploring. I will also cross reference these experiences to the posts that I made a year ago in April and this spring in March mainly because of the photographs I posted. This is a first draft to be added to.
WIDER PARIS AREA
1. Bastille Outdoor Market. (April 21, 22)d In a narrow park leading away from the giant Bastille plaza with the golden statue of the winged victory on top is a twice a week, Thursday and Saturday, market with stalls. It is great fun to walk through. The streets around here are interesting and not far away is our favorite restaurant, Temps Des Cerises (April 21)
2. Samaritaine (April 11 22, Jan 13 23) and Lafayette Gallery (April 26 22). These two huge department stores are both a wonder to behold. Each has a huge center inner five or six story atrium with a stained glass roof and balconies all around the central courtyard. Samaritaine has recently been remodeled. The goods are elegant and expensive but it is great fun to wander through either of store.
3. Haberdashery. (April 22 22) Near the Seine are three very interesting stores for craft people. Ultramod has all kinds of hats and across the street is Mercerie where there are all kinds of ribbons and buttons. Not far away is La Droguerie with a huge selection of brilliant yarns. This was Kathe’s favorite store in Paris. And just around the corner from La Droguerie we went into a huge church with stained glass windows without a tourist in sight.
4. Champs D’Elysses. (April 2, 3 22) Paris’s most elegant street with the Arc De Triumphe at one end is on a slight hill. The fun here is simply walking down the street and looking at both the elegant shop windows and the elegant people that you pass.
5. Jardin des Plantes. (April 28 22) To get away from Paris completely take a walk through the beautiful Jardin des Plantes a botanical garden and park with huge indoor green houses.
6. Sainte Chapelle (April 29 22) was the only tourist building that we visited and it was worth the visit although on our first try we discovered that you have to get tickets on line ahead of time. It is not large and doesn’t take long to visit but is certainly beautiful.
7. Pere Lachaise Cemetery (March 11 23). This huge cemetery with many famous people (hard to find) buried in it is an interesting walk and a place to meditate on the ways in which people preserve their memory after they die.
8. St. Germaine de Pres. Beautiful church and Cafe Flores. (April 25 22)
MONTMARTRE AREA
1. Montmartre and Sacre Coeur. (April 10 22, March 13 23) All around Montmartre are shops selling all kinds of things and a number of restaurants. Just up the street from the Montmartre Metro station and carousel just below Tim Hotel is an open area with lots of tables and chairs where it is fun to sit in evening and watch the people go by and drink wine.
Sacre Coeur with its great view of Paris is crowded with tourists but off to one side is a square where local artists sell paintings and people get their portraits drawn. (April 12, 17) On the other side of the hill there are nice cafes and almost no tourists.
2. Rue des Martyrs. (March 12 23) Walking down almost any street in the Montmartre area or Bastille area would be stimulating. But we stayed in Montmartre and walking down from our Airbnb was Rue des Martyrs with colorfully painted shops with marvelous window decorations along with a number of restaurants.
3. Pain Pain. (March 13 23) This bakery was close to our Airbnb. Every morning people would form a line outside to get fresh croissants and other delicious breads for breakfast. Again there are hundreds of marvelous bakeries in Paris but of the few I visited this was my favorite.
4. Bouillon restaurant. Down the hill in Pigalle, a kind of sleazy tourist area, is Bouillon where you can get a very good, inexpensive meal with the possibility of several courses at a low price. There is usually a long line of people waiting to get in, which is a good sign. The line moves quickly.
5. Paris Flea Market. (April 15, 16 twice, 23)This enormous flea market has some individual yard sale type flea market stands with individuals getting rid of objects they don’t want. But it is mainly collections of small roofed stalls, little shops, selling everything under the sun. If you walk to the flea market you will pass through an African section of Paris. (April 17)
6. George Sand House, museum and outdoor cafe (April 24). George Sand was a French woman writer who used a man’s name in order to be published. Her house is interesting with a museum area that had an exhibit of romantic women heroines, now over, but I am sure there will be something similar. The best part of the visit was sitting in the outdoor cafe.
BILLYBABA’S WANDERING 