Today is market day on Boulevard Richard Lenoir, and I'm excited about exploring Marche Bastille. I look it up in my Lonely Planet guide and discover that, unlike almost every other retail outlet in Paris, it opens at 7am (and not 10 or 10.30 or even 11am like some other places!!!). So although I'd normally have a leisurely morning and leave the apartment at about 9.30am, today I'm out the door at...... oh, about 9.25am ;-)
Another icy morning in Paris and I rug up really well knowing that there will only be slow market browsing and no 4.9km uphill walk to warm me up. But even with my layers and thermals, scarf, hat, possum fur socks (yes, bought last winter in Hobart!), boots and Polartec gloves, there's no staying warm this morning. It's not long before my fingers and toes start to feel the numbing effects of the penetrating cold. Later I check the weather website and apparently it's 1 degree C but feels like minus 2 degrees because of the icy wind - I am not at all surprised!!!
Not to be thwarted though, I browse anyway. I wonder how I'll go with my limited French - I've already practised my standard "Je ne parle pas francais" and "Je ne comprends pas" so that I can trot them out when necessary!! Everyone is very friendly and smiles when, after the requisite "Bonjour", I have to explain that I don't actually speak French (clearly I had them fooled with my fabulous French greeting)!! Some kindly try out their English to make it easier for me, and so I manage to get by with a few well-placed words, some gestures, pointing, smiling, and watching the cash register for the required amount :-) In the end I feel quite pleased with my first market visit - haricot (green beans), courgette (zucchini), aubergine (eggplant), tomates (tomatoes), endive (same in English), filet de perche du Nil (Nile perch) and a lovely bunch of tulipes (tulips, of course) to brighten up the apartment. I nearly buy a couple of goose eggs (I ask the lady if they're duck eggs and she understands the English word and says "no, goss" which I have no trouble understanding is actually "goose"). At 3.80€ each though I decide they'd have to collectively be as good as a whole dozen garden-variety chook eggs, and in the end I decide that's unlikely!
Finally I'm done, and I'm freezing, so I make my way back to the apartment to warm up by the lovely heater that stays on day and night - walking in the door after such a chilly outing is becoming one of life's simple pleasures :-)
Early in the afternoon I brave the outdoors again. I'm pretty sure it's warmed up since this morning - it definitely feels warmer, I'd say it's at least 2 degrees C by now!! ;-)
My goal this afternoon is to follow one of the Lonely Planet guide's suggested walking trails - called Medieval Meanderings in the Marais (no, I can't take credit for that clever alliterative title.........).
The Marais district is literally just "down the road" from the Bastille area and is full of Renaissance architecture. I'm no buff, but I recognise an attractive building when I see one (my idea of attractive, as opposed to, say, the Perth Arena architect's idea - jus' sayin'), so I enjoy following the 2km walking trail that takes in Eglise St-Paul St-Louis, the Place des Vosges, and various "hotels particuliers" which are not, as I first thought, hotels, but in fact were built as private mansions for aristocrats in the early 17th century. These are some impressive buildings!!
The Marais area also houses a couple of museums, not that I'm a big frequenter of museums, but I pick and choose. Unfortunately, the Musee Picasso (one I would probably have chosen to visit) is currently closed for renovations and won't be open again until spring. Since that's actually tomorrow (I wonder if they know?), there's a chance I may get to see it before I leave Paris! :-)
One of the last streets on this particular route, Rue des Francs Bourgeois, is where I find my kind of shops and I can't resist stepping in to a couple - Jo Malone perfumes and Guerlain - to smell their divine fragrances. My favourites are definitely Jo Malone's Wild Fig & Cassia, and Guerlain's Aqua Allegoria range, probably Flora Nymphea or Mandarine Basilic - they are gorgeous!
With that pleasant interlude over, it's time to make my way back home and out of the cold. After my successful market shop this morning, I'm planning to make a pot of vegetable soup for dinner. It's such great soup weather and a bowl of soup will be the perfect end to my fifth day in wintry Paris :-)
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