Day 2 - Bastille Market and Parc de la Villette; Today's steps: 15,000

I got a solid 8 hours of sleep last night and woke up feeling pretty good, and so far seem to have overcome jet lag, but I always find jet lag to be worse after getting home.  I made coffee, showered and dressed, then had a breakfast of yogurt and some of last night's left-over baguette slathered with the delicious butter containing sea salt crystals - it is so yummy.

I walked over to the Place de la Bastille, which Rick Steves refers to as "Europe's greatest non-sight" as the Bastille no longer exists - torn down by disgruntled Parisians in 1789 at the beginning of the French Revolution.  On Thursday and Sunday mornings one of the biggest outdoor markets in Paris is held on Blvd Richard-Lenoir, one of the streets coming off of the square.  This market has everything from apparel to zucchini and is crowded with people buying their weeks groceries.  There are butchers, fishmongers, fruits and vegetables, fromageries, charcuteries, flowers.  You name it, you can probably find it.  Very little is "farm to table" as most of the produce comes from the big wholesale market south of Paris in Rungis. I bought some strawberries, olives, a cauliflower, and a little quiche for tonight's dinner.

On the way back to the apartment, I stopped at the Monoprix to find a light weight blanket.  The only cover here is a sheet and a heavy comforter.  I was a little chilly last night with just the sheet, but I knew I didn't need the comforter.  The Monoprix can be compared to Target.  They have groceries as well as clothing, household goods, etc.  Surprisingly, I couldn't find what I wanted in their bedding department. All they had were comforters and duvet covers.  I found a light cover with the throw pillows, but when I got it home, I discovered that the tag indicates it is a bath sheet. It really isn't big enough for a blanket, but it is thermo-weave, so it should be okay.

After taking my purchases back to the apartment, I went to a nearby cafe for lunch.  I had escargo as my starter - with lots of garlic, butter, and parsley, and good baguette to soak it up.  For my main course, I ordered the Salade Cesar du Chef.  You never know what you are going to get when you order a salad here.  This was a Caesar salad in that it had lettuce, Parmesan cheese, and Caesar dressing, but in addition, it had a hard boiled egg and tomato, plus chicken breast crusted with a corn-meal type breading.  The disappointment was that the root end of the lettuce leaves were rusty, so I had to cut them off.  Otherwise, it was pretty good.

In the afternoon, I walked to the Metro station at Place de la Bastille.  I successfully loaded my Navigo Pass using my Barclays chipped Visa Card and PIN, and also bought 2 Metro tickets with cash from the machine (the Navigo is valid Monday through Sunday, so I had to buy tickets for today).  This is no small feat as prior to having chips, US credit cards didn't work in most machines in France, making machine purchases difficult for Americans.  My card is one of the few that has a PIN - most are signature only.  By the way, there is some evidence of the foundation of the Bastille prison in the Metro station.

I rode the Line 5 up to Parc de la Villette - a long ride of about 12 stops.  La Villette is up at the northeast corner of Paris and is the largest park in the city.  I went up to see the Imagine Van Gogh exhibit.  Today was the last day and there was a fairly long line for tickets - I waited in line about 20 minutes.  The exhibit was interesting.  Details of Van Gogh's paintings were projected onto multiple huge screens (this was in a very large building, probably bigger than anything we have in Seattle). Each screen had a different detail from the same picture.  As the pictures changed, classical music played in the background, including that of Eric Satie, a French composer who was a contemporary of Picasso. Mom and I visited a museum in his home in Honfleur years ago, so I am somewhat familiar with his music.

After the exhibit, I walked around the park for a little while.  I wanted to see the big sphere or La Geode.  The Canal de l'Oureq, which joins Canal St. Martin further into Paris, cuts through the park and a tourist boat was going through the locks. The park was crowded with Parisians at play.  There are a lot play areas for kids and many kids had push scooters.  Everyone was having such a good time, and I just may have been the only tourist there!

When I got out of the Metro station to walk back to the apartment, it was sprinkling a little; otherwise, it has been a very nice day - partly sunny or partly clouding, depending on how you look at it.  It is cool, in the mid-60's, but I do get warm walking around.

There were lots of shops open today.  Historically, part of the Marais is the Jewish quarter, so many of their shops are closed on Saturday but open on Sundays. However, the City of Paris recently relaxed the the city's rules about stores being open on Sundays, especially in Central Paris where most tourists hang out.

The sidewalks in this neighborhood are a hazard!  Most sidewalks in Paris are uneven and often slant toward the curb, so shopkeepers can hose them off, but the ones around here are especially bad.  There appears to be some utility work being done, so there are areas where there is a patch of dirt or a metal sheet (or even plywood) in the middle of the walkway.  I have to constantly watch where I'm walking and not because of doggy doo (actually haven't seen any) - falling is not on my itinerary.

It was a good day and I did exactly what I had planned to do today.  Still need to firm up my plan for tomorrow.