Now it's Sunday. Up somewhat early to visit the marche at the Bastille. Lots of stalls and quite crowded. Mostly food stalls, but a bit of everything. We bought from: (a) some costume jewelry, (b) fruit, (c) flowers, (d) honey, (e) some turkish delight, (f) some organic juice, (g) some moroccan fried stuff, (h) some asian fried stuff. Then it was off to the Opera Garnier. Got there early enough to wander around a bit. It's really quite grand inside -- lots of gilt and ornamentation. The auditorium itself is relatively intimate compared to larger modern venues. Our seat was the last row of the main orchestra, which we got to via a tunnel and some stairs. Interestingly, our seats were only accessible by walking through the row in front of us. The view onto the stage, and the acoustics were very good, and the ballet, Cranko's Eugene Oneguine was very good too. Turns out it was the opening performance of the series.
After the ballet, we were hungry, so we made a quick trip to Quick. Then we decided to try and find an internet cafe. Wandered all over the area around St. Michel and Blvd Saint Germain, but no luck. It was a nice walk though, and we stopped by a branch of La Piscine, a designer discount outlet, where I bought a nice shirt. On the whole, the Left Bank seems more touristy than the Right Bank, in the BSG area in particular. Anyway, went home and were lazy for dinner. We still had all the stuff we bought from the market, and also had a head of cauliflower that we'd bought earlier in the trip. So because we had another big lunch the next day, we made a meal out of all of that and called it a day.
Monday. After consulting the Lonely Planet, we found that there was an internet cafe very close to where we walked the previous day, but we hadn't gone down that particular street. So we went there for a quick visit, and then went onto the Big Lunch at Pierre Gagnaire.
Suffice it to say that it was the Best Lunch Ever. And also, Most Expensive Lunch Ever.
After lunch, we wandered down the Champs Elysees to the Pont Alexander stop of the Batobus, which we took back to the Notre Dame stop. After a quick change of shoes and clothes, we walked down to Rue Mouffetard, where I was looking for a cd stop to buy a cd from the group Sundyata. Before the trip, I had read an article on Le Dame de Canton, a boat moored on the Seine that was a combo restaurant/nightclub. On their website, they had links to the various bands that had or were going to play. One I really liked was Sundyata, which is classed as "French Reggae". This genre has a basic reggae beat, but is mixed in with more jazzy brass, and this group in particular had a nice sound. They mentioned on their website that their cd was available at a number of Paris cd shops, one of which was on Rue Mouffetard. We weren't sure it would still be open, it being after the usual 7:30pm closing time, but took the walk anyway.
Rue Mouffetard is also well known for having its own market, and the Lonely Planet guide says that it's picturesque and where Parisians send tourists, but that that marche Bastille, which we went to, was more "real". Anyway, the Mouffetard market wasn't operating when we were there, but it's a pretty little street, with boutiques and other local stores. The cd store was open, and the owner was surprised that I knew this band, which isn't surprising, since it's a local band, and I'm a tourist!
Took the metro back home, and some time later, got hungry, so took the metro back out to Tolbiac to go eat at a pho place. It was merely ok, compared to the good pho places in San Francisco.
After the ballet, we were hungry, so we made a quick trip to Quick. Then we decided to try and find an internet cafe. Wandered all over the area around St. Michel and Blvd Saint Germain, but no luck. It was a nice walk though, and we stopped by a branch of La Piscine, a designer discount outlet, where I bought a nice shirt. On the whole, the Left Bank seems more touristy than the Right Bank, in the BSG area in particular. Anyway, went home and were lazy for dinner. We still had all the stuff we bought from the market, and also had a head of cauliflower that we'd bought earlier in the trip. So because we had another big lunch the next day, we made a meal out of all of that and called it a day.
Monday. After consulting the Lonely Planet, we found that there was an internet cafe very close to where we walked the previous day, but we hadn't gone down that particular street. So we went there for a quick visit, and then went onto the Big Lunch at Pierre Gagnaire.
Suffice it to say that it was the Best Lunch Ever. And also, Most Expensive Lunch Ever.
After lunch, we wandered down the Champs Elysees to the Pont Alexander stop of the Batobus, which we took back to the Notre Dame stop. After a quick change of shoes and clothes, we walked down to Rue Mouffetard, where I was looking for a cd stop to buy a cd from the group Sundyata. Before the trip, I had read an article on Le Dame de Canton, a boat moored on the Seine that was a combo restaurant/nightclub. On their website, they had links to the various bands that had or were going to play. One I really liked was Sundyata, which is classed as "French Reggae". This genre has a basic reggae beat, but is mixed in with more jazzy brass, and this group in particular had a nice sound. They mentioned on their website that their cd was available at a number of Paris cd shops, one of which was on Rue Mouffetard. We weren't sure it would still be open, it being after the usual 7:30pm closing time, but took the walk anyway.
Rue Mouffetard is also well known for having its own market, and the Lonely Planet guide says that it's picturesque and where Parisians send tourists, but that that marche Bastille, which we went to, was more "real". Anyway, the Mouffetard market wasn't operating when we were there, but it's a pretty little street, with boutiques and other local stores. The cd store was open, and the owner was surprised that I knew this band, which isn't surprising, since it's a local band, and I'm a tourist!
Took the metro back home, and some time later, got hungry, so took the metro back out to Tolbiac to go eat at a pho place. It was merely ok, compared to the good pho places in San Francisco.
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