The Marais is fun, dense and pretty hectic. It was great to stay there, but especially nice to be in Place des Vosges, which is a little oasis. We ate at Hugo Cafe (charcuterie plates and cocktails) and got gelato frequently at Amorino. The shops under the arches were goofy upscale “art” galleries, the kind of galleries that sell giant scaled things with mirrored finishes and sculptures covered in pseudo “graffiti”. There is a lawn in the centre, one of the few parks in Paris where sitting on the grass is permitted, so it is often full of people. It’s nice though.

Victor Hugo’s paris apartment on Place des Vosges has been turned into a museum (extremely weird decor) so I checked that out one day.

Victor Hugo’s apartment

a few of my favourite neighbourhood dining experiences….

Charcuterie Plate at Cafe Hugo

It’s about the packaging.

Brioche French Toast at Berthillon

La Praluline!

Interior view of our apartment. After our long days out, we got right down to business.

We inadvertently took the seediest possible route to Sacré Coeur (stumbling druggies/drunks/piss on the path). I kind of like the exterior…I’d been there before and thought it was several hundred years old, a timeless Christian landmark overlooking the city. My sister, who did her research, informed me otherwise. It’s about 120 years old, and built to cover a smear of bohemian undesirables whom the city forcibly cleared out during a civil uprising, bent on cleaning up the area and making a moral statement. It was built to “look” old, which is lame.

We did a trek home from Montmartre through town and the covered passageways that we’d heard so much about. They contain a weird mix of stores selling dollhouse supplies and used bookshops with dusty, faded stock and antiquated vendors to match.

We lasted about 6 minutes in the crowd at the Lafayette Galleries shopping mall, just long enough to snap this pic and get the hell out. We were done for the day afterwards.

Gabriella and I went back to the Louvre to see the rest of it, and sit for a bit to draw. It’s open late on Friday and free for youngsters under 26, so there were a lot of those. I noticed that the Egyptian galleries (very popular) were closed and that the French painting galleries were not. Keeping the kids in French immersion? We got temporarily lost in 18th c. decorative arts, which I must admit, I’ve had my fill of…though this little room was pretty!

So the other day when we were in St. Germain, we had just reached the top end of Blvd. St. Michel when we heard a cacophony of sirens and the street started stacking up with police vehicles, including one heavily armoured van. There were a dozen total, all lights blazing. The most disturbing element was that the police (4 to a car) were all wearing black balaclavas and earpieces and looked like terrorists themselves. They got through the intersection and more police cars continued randomly flying by for the next fifteen minutes. We couldn’t find any reported incident for that day (Jen checks the news every night) That’s how it is here.

Below, Mara risks the automated, self-cleaning public toilet. Exits unscathed.

The group split this morning and I took advantage of time on my own to explore northeast of the Bastille. I ended up lost in sketchville for about a half hour then found my way back to Rue St. Antoine. I was looking for an artisan-rich neighbourhood off Rue Crozatier, but instead found the Marché de Aligre, which was nice! Just a dense foodie/flea market full of locals getting their produce/fish/etc and chatting it up. I never came across any artisan hideouts. Secretive bunch.

I got up onto the Viaduc des Arts (no arts, but a 30 foot wide garden that runs about 2 km along Rue Daumesnil) and had a pleasant stroll back to the Bastille. Good views!

We got on the Batobus in the morning to cruise to our general destination, with a plan to cruise back from the Eiffel Tower in the evening. A nice way to go about things if you aren’t in a particular hurry.

The Petite Palais

Popped into the Petite Palais, which is a lovely Belle Époque building..

I realized on this visit that the fun I had at Versailles last time was more to do with the getting there (on bikes) and the tour guide (funny and cute) and the cameraderie of the group. Versailles itself is elaborate without being beautiful. The gardens are vast but not interesting. The press of other visitors is exhausting. I’m not saying that it’s not visually stunning! (I’ve had more sleep so I am amending my first draft here)  My sister and I agreed that our aesthetic definitely aligns with the Italian sensibility rather than the French. Things are put together more beautifully there. (We think!) and gardens have more whimsy, are more human scale.

Here is the one and only photo of all of us.

Olivia, Mara, Jen, Gabriella, me and Nancy.

Very interesting conversation taking place. The wind picked up that day but it’s been warm since.