Weekend
7: September 27th – September 28th 2014
Saturday, September 27th
Spoiler
alert- It was a pretty quiet weekend for us as we did not plan any train trips
or out of the country trip. Just a
weekend in Paris J. So
if you chose to stop reading – we don’t blame you.
The other
co-worker that came with us to Paris wanted to go shopping so we slept in then
met her on Rue de Rivoli for some shoe shopping! We didn’t end up finding shoes
(as Stevie’s co-worker was looking for shoes for a wedding she was in next
weekend). Nevertheless it was fun just to go shopping in Paris (for Stevie and
Rachel, that is) for the afternoon. Stuart didn’t have as much fun as us, but
he was quite the trooper!
As we were
shopping along the street we saw the Tour Saint-Jacques. A lone bell tower from
the 16th century church was all that remained from the church that
was there. The French Revolution destroyed the church.
Also along this
street is the Hôtel de Ville or Town Hall of Paris. The building is quite
impressive and the location has been used since 1357 (or so Wikipedia says).
After checking out the building we kept walking down the street into the neighborhood
known as Le Marais – also known as the gay neighborhood. It has some more
shopping but more unique vintage type boutiques. We did stop for a small little
butter cake that is known to Normandy (Kouign Amann) at a nice boulangerie.
After shopping we
went home and took a nice little powernap before our evening. Another co-worker
of Stevie’s that works at the research facility and has been in Paris for about
two years invited the three of us to a show. She bought the three of us some
tickets to a light and fun comedy show at the theater La Grande Comédie. The
show was “Le clan des divorcées”.
It was about a divorced woman looking for roommates and ends up with two other
divorced women as roommates. One of the roommates was supposed to be from
England and played “the dumb blonde” while the other woman was played by a man
and was the star of the show. The women put an ad in the paper to get some
dates and the woman played by the man was the only one who actually got an
honest date but turned it down to stay with her/his friends. It was a cute show
regardless of the language barrier. Even in quick French we were able to get
the gist of the play. It’s probably a lot funnier actually knowing what they
were saying!
After the show we
got some dinner at a nearby brasserie then headed back towards the city center.
We were able to see the Assemblée Nationale (National Assembly or House of
Representatives) all lit up on our way to the river. We then watched the Eiffel
tower glitter and waited for a friend of a friend of Rachel’s to hang out.
While we waited along the river, we were able to do some serious people
watching. There is a lot of seating right along the river and hundreds (no
joke- hundreds) of people were just enjoying bottles of wine and hanging out with
their friends before they were off to the clubs or whatever people do after
midnight in Paris. There are a lot of bars and restaurant boats along the river
too that were extremely popular. We didn’t stay out with the others too late, but
we did wait around to see the tower glitter again then it was off to bed for
us!
Sunday, September 28th
Another
unplanned day in Paris. This weekend was very nice with sunshine and warm
weather so we tried to stay outside today. We got up and went to the English speaking
church 10 minutes away from us then headed towards the Champ de Mars for
breakfast and people watching around the Eiffel Towel. We also passed the Paris
aquarium on our walk to the tower from church. Anyway - the park (Champ de
Mars) is big and was extremely crowded, even on a Sunday morning. We got some
crepes nearby and found a bench to peoplewatch. This peoplewatching included
viewing some sort of square dancing in the park led by an American with men and
women dancing. The women had on very rufflely skirts- not exactly your jeans
and cowboy boot sort of attire you would think to wear when square dancing.
After breakfast we
made our way to another huge park in the north side of Paris, Parc La Villette.
This park houses the Cite des Sciences et de l’Industrie (City of Science and
Industry – museum). The museum has a geode that looks like a giant mirrored
golf ball but it’s actually a theater inside. There was also a submarine
outside the museum as well and the rest of the park had a lot of play area for
kids and adults! It was a great day for a picnic or just sitting in the park.
There’s also a music museum and a concert hall in the park. After exploring
around the park, we walked along the canal (Canal de l’Ourcq) that runs through
the park. Apparently there was a sort of utopian recycling festival that was
going on that we walked through. There were interesting pieces of art made of
cardboard and plastic bottles as well as a bunch of pamphlets on different
organizations that stood for recycling or public education on some sort of
environmental or social issue.
We took a stroll
through the festival alongside the canal then made our way to the metro,
stopping for a fresh baguette to buy for dinner.
We didn't do much
after that as Stuart was a little bit sick this weekend so we took it easy.
Next weekend though….AMSTERDAM!
Bien amicalement (sincerely),
Stevie and Stuart
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