Walking in Le Marais

Place de Temple -- neighborhood park

Mariage Frères


Jamin Puech


Le Carnavalet Musée

Place des Vosges

Art Galerie

Thundershowers from a Café

Today I decided to do a non-metro day. It was a beautiful warm day with almost-blue skies when I left the apartment, but I stuck my parapluie into my handbag anyway just to ward off any possible raindrops. I walked by my neighborhood park at the Place de Temple on the way to my first stop, tea at Mariage Frères, recommended by a friend. This is probably the best known French tea company, and was founded in Paris in 1854. While I was convinced that yesterday’s tea was the best in the world, I’ve now come to reconsider that rash judgment because today’s fare exceeded even yesterday’s. I began with more Rooibos Vanille thé and then added a Tarte De Fruit Fraîche – a wonderful cookie-like tart shell filled with a beautifully prepared custard and topped with fresh berries. I’d like to add this to my metro routes as well but I can’t walk enough during the day to continue consuming this many calories.

Looking at my map, I realized that I was very close to 30 rue de Vieille Temple where, according to a good friend, Jamin Puech was located. This is a beautiful handbag shop with elegant yet unusual bags of every shape, size and color. Since handbags are one of my weaknesses, I of course found at least 3 or 4 that I would have loved to purchase. However, at the moment I’m saving up for a French cooking class my last week here, so decided to forego the new handbag for now. However, should that cooking class cancel, these handbags are a definite possibility!

Signs to the Place des Vosges were prevalent in this area, and since it was included in my plans for the afternoon, I headed in that direction. On the way I came across a beautiful building that I could only see through a grated gate, but it was of marble and stone and had beautiful lawns and roses in the courtyard. A sign on the wall showed that this was the Carnavalet museum, another landmark on my list-of-places-to-visit-while-in-Paris-for-a-month, so in I went. The Carnavalet museum is dedicated to the history of the Paris. It not only contains numerous paintings but many practical everyday items as well – clocks, bottles, coins, chests, documents and furniture are just some of the objects to be seen. The picture I’ve added here is of the Central Garden in the museum which is just beautiful in the Springtime.

As I left the museum, a light rain was falling, so I gleefully pulled out my umbrella and continued on my way to Place des Vosges. While I don’t recall ever visiting this area on previous visits, I had heard about it many times although never quite understood its significance. Per the internet, it’s one of the oldest squares in Paris and “one of the most beautiful”. The Place is a symmetrical square surrounded by buildings with red brick and white stone facades, steep slate roofs and dorm windows, all constructed over arcades somewhat similar to the Galeries I saw yesterday but not enclosed. Construction began in 1604 by King Henry IV.

I began to walk around the square under the covered arcades since it was still sprinkling. The arcades are filled with art galleries, exclusive shops and cafés. One of my favorites was an art gallery with a very unusual sculpture one could see from the window. I was amazed the picture came out as well as it did since it was taken through glass, but as you can see above, it is of a young man carrying a valise that is missing part of his torso. By the time I finished inspecting this artists sculptures, I realized it seemed to be raining a bit harder. Obviously not a good time to start home, so I pulled up a café chair to watch the rain and have a cup of hot chocolate. [The pleasures of French hot chocolate were discovered on a cold and windy day earlier in my trip!] As I sat waiting for my chocolate, I saw lightening shoot through the sky followed quickly by great rumbles of thunder. Then the deluge began. Everyone sitting near the edge of the arcade, including moi of course, ran for the interior. Clearly things were going from bad to worse, so I pulled out F. Scott Fitzgerald and began to read and sip my hot chocolate. About an hour later I started home through a misty afternoon, watching my step on the wet cobblestones as I went.
Bonsoir