Sous le ciel de Paris // Beneath the Parisian Sky
Today I woke up and walked Amy down the stairs and bid her goodbye in tiny shorts in the cold morning weather, being greeted by the sky, a dark deep blue and the horizon a golden yellow colour, set behind the iridescent Notre Dame. Then I slept in until around nine, slipped some pants and a coat on and took myself for a walk to get the essentials (milk, yoghurt, oats, and of course three pain au chocolats) from the nearest Carrefour.
The sun was out, and I felt like today would be a good day.
After wandering through the markets and having lunch, we ventured out in the afternoon for one of those "self guided city walks" through some of Le Marais. Our first stop was L'Eglise de St Gervais, where as I was entering, a man was exiting and asked me in French how I was going and if I'd like to go out with him. My response: "dude, we're at the door to a church". Didn't actually say that, rather I gave him the dirty look and shrugged him off. Time and place, son.
Sleepy from caring for our food babies, we stopped in at a little café-restaurant and had espresso and little pastries and tarts and macarons, and then continued to wind around the place.
We arrived at L'Hotel de Sens (the oldest Mansion in the area) which had its own "tapestry gardens" (small maze-type hedging) and slouched on a timber bench beneath the afternoon sun lazing about and watching pigeons dart around the maze. I remarked "what is this? A maze for pigeons? It needs to be at least..... three times this big!" because I for some reason have the ability to associate every moment in Europe with a Zoolander reference. We also came across and Israeli market store with every type of lentil, sauce, spice, and desert imaginable from the vast south-eastern areas of Europe and of course, Israel. The smell was undeniably incredible and so were the prices unfortunately. But gosh the glacés cherries looked gooooooood.
I had an Amelie moment when there were sacks full of different lentils and grains which I was tempted to dip my hand deep into and then let the individual seeds fall as I lifted it again.
Around the back-side of the Notre Dame we located a park and within it a cluster of accidental Chinese hipsters, which we arrived at after digesting Berthillon icecreams (Salted Caramel, Coconut and Extra Bitter Cacao) and finding a nice, outrageous and crisp collared shirt for Floyd for his birthday and I advised the African shop owner that I would bring back all the boyfriends I was collecting for a bulk fitting. Belly laughs ensued.
Returning to the apartment was a great idea because alas, more food. And then the afternoon wasted away into the night and we were ready to face the next day, which I honestly cannot wait for!
