We'll skip ahead to when I finally got myself out the door to go to Marché des Enfants Rouges at about noon. When I opened my window this morning it felt cold so I dressed in boots, jeans, and a thick sweater. Such a bad decision. It was nothing but sunny and bright when I was on my way to the market. The sun beat down on me and I started sweating as I hoped for some kind of weather miracle to save me from my bad decisions.
I walked place the farthest place I had been on Beaumarchis where I had turned to go to the Pop In. I figured out that I should probably cross the street and start looking for a small alleyway considering that my instructions said that I should be making a left turn. I crossed the street and walked a bit further. Thank God I was paying attention to the signs because I would have never noticed that the street (something about filles) suddenly took a left hand turn and changed into a fairly broad avenue. I went down the street and saw a sign for the market within a block. I simply followed the signs past the crowded cafes and other food and flower vendors. I started looking for number 39, and would have almost missed it entirely if I didn't happen to see the sign for the entrance; a simple green arch stating the name.
The market is semi covered and tons of stalls, some selling products and others set up as restaurants, crammed into the space of a courtyard. There was so much activity that I was nearly run over. I wandered over to a stand selling Lebanese food and decided to give it a shot. I've never had Lebanese food before and figured that at least it was something new. The process is that you wait in a very long line to give your order and then wait there at the cash register until your order comes up. There is always one person waiting and one person ordering and never more than that at a time.
I ordered a Chiche Taouk sandwich despite the man barely being able to understand my horrible French. I waited so long that the owner had to yell at his worker and ask where my sandwich was. I finally got it and went to a nearby park that I had passed to eat it. There was no way that I was going to get a table in the crowded market. The sandwich was delicious. It was grilled, lemon marinated chicken wrapped in a type of barely pliable flat bread with lots of lettuce, pieces of tomato, and white sauce. Super tangy and fantastic.
While I was eating I happened to look at the building across the street and noticed that it was the Cirque d'Hiver! I had heard of the building during my internet searches but didn't put it on my list of things to see. I was satisfied taking a few pictures of the outside and moving on to my next adventure at the Maison Victor Hugo.
The museum (house) of Victor Hugo just so happens to be at one end of my favorite park Place des Vosges. The museum is underwhelming at best. It's a recreation of what the apartment supposedly looked liked based on writings and an eye witness; all of his furniture was actually sold at auction long before anyone wanted to preserve his apartment. The museum is free, and if you have a few minutes of down time, worth seeing. The decor was actually really surprising. I did not know that Victor Hugo had custom furniture done and even did some of the work himself. Some of the apartment had a Chinese theme while another was tropical. C'est bizarrre.
The outside of the house near Place de Vosges
The shortest metro trip for me was to go to Hotel de Ville. It's another famous landmark that I was under the wrong assumption was no longer in existence. It's actually only three stops from Gare de Lyon and the trip took me fewer than ten minutes. Hotel de Ville is actually a huge mansion on the banks of the Seine with a large plaza in front of it. I took a few pictures and then went across the bridge to Notre Dame.
Hotel de Ville. It's not just a metro stop.
The ice cream is really good and tourists and Parisians alike make the trek to stand in line for their fix. I got a scoop of speculous on a cone and it was heaven. The ice cream is at the perfect temperature so it's melty but not melted down your hand. The speculous ice cream had large streaks of speculous butter in it and big pieces of cookies. Despite the scoop looking small at first, it is enough to fill the entire cone with ice cream and actually lasts a slow eater like me for awhile.
I took my cone back across the bridge to the garden that surrounds Notre Dame. It is so weird in Paris how are stuck around the city and the community crowds in around it. The park contained a sand pit for children and many people were living their daily lives with no regard to the church. I took a few pictures while finishing my cone. I then walked to the plaza to take more iconic photographs of the church. While there I took the photograph of a nice American couple and they did the same favor for me.
No one ever comments on how pretty the gardens around Notre Dame are
I hate to admit it, but Notre Dame is less thrilling in person than it is in photographs. It's just a church. I do admit to the craftsmanship and iconography being amazing, but the same vein can be found in other equally amazing churches. For something so complex and intricate to have been built so long ago, and survived, is truly amazing. However, we're all trained to believe that when we see a monument the light of God will shine down upon us and it will be the most beautiful thing that we've ever seen. It's just not the way it works. I did find it interesting to see the church's deteroriation up close. Pieces of the sculpture have nearly been eaten away entirely by the elements. I did stand in line to tour the inside just for the sake of being able to say that I've been inside. I was also disappointed by the inside. It was too dark to really appreciate the architecture or decoration, but I did really like the stained glass.
The side of Notre Dame
After the church I stopped to buy a postcard for Elizabeth before heading home.
I'm happy that I finally conquered something that I was so scared to do alone a few weeks ago.
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