One of my favorite things to do in Paris is to walk aimlessly with no plan or agenda. Since the metro has been unbearably hot the past week given the serious heat wave (and you know it’s hot when a Californian says it’s hot), I’ve taken to walking places to try and catch a little breeze. Yesterday I got out of work a few hours early, and started walking in the direction of my apartment in search of nothing in particular aside from a store with air conditioning.
Just to clarify, my fellow co-workers and I had just spent the previous three days doing inventory and only left early because we finished ahead of schedule. For those of you who haven’t worked in retail…this means scanning and accounting for every single item in the store…it’s a painfully slow and tedious process, but necessary nonetheless. And I must say, I think it was helpful for me to be able to familiarize myself more with some of the books we have. But where was I…
So on a very hot Friday afternoon I decided I would head to Le Bon Marché (an upscale department store) because I knew generally where it was and I was positive it would have AC. After a long couple of days, a little retail therapy and air conditioning sounded like heaven to me. I had never actually been inside before yesterday; I had merely walked by every time my friends and I were headed to Lili’s Brownies last fall. (Home to the best pound cake I’ve ever had. Ever.) It was refreshing to walk through the store, but in the end, I resisted the temptation to buy anything despite the luring “soldes” (sale) signs I saw throughout my visit. (I did, however, splurge on a 9€ filet of salmon at their specialty foods store across the street – La Grande Epicerie de Paris – but hey, you only live once).
Speaking of splurging on food – check out my loot from the market I went to this afternoon:
Yum!
In keeping with my love of walking and desire to take Paris in at a leisurely pace, I decided to go out exploring my quartier. We finally got some rain this morning which gave way to some cooler weather – perfect for my midday stroll. I made my way over to the Marché Saxe-Breteuil at about 1:30 (I’ll have to remember to go earlier next time because half of the stalls were closing when I got there and were pretty much all closed when I left at 2). But I still managed to score lots of fresh veggies. The highlight of the trip was definitely befriending the monsieur at the olive stall. He had every type of olive imaginable, various sun-dried tomatoes and onions in broth, as well as about fifteen varieties of tapenade.
About ten samples later, I took the olives and tapenade he suggested and said an enthusiastic à bientôt (see you soon) because I will definitely be going back next Saturday. I was so thrilled on my walk home – I had always heard that vendors at street markets in Paris were friendly, but was so happy to have discovered it to be true for myself. Next week I’ll wake up at 7 get there by 10 or 11 so I can spend more time browsing.
And on my way home I snapped a few photos of my absolute favorite Parisian monument, Napoleon’s Tomb. I can’t explain why, I just absolutely love it…
Olives and tapenade from my new best friend
Spooky Eiffel Tower
