Wednesday Wanderings In Paris

Today was another laid back, kind of lazy day for us.  Again, we didn't have a definite plan, only a general area to explore.

Our starting point was a very old market area, Les Enfants Rouge Market.  It was called the "red children market because many years ago (in the 1800's) there was an orphanage next to the market and the children wore red uniforms!

This is an indoor market, and has a few fruit and veggie vendors, fish and meat vendors, and a cheese seller.  We bought some fresh fruit from a nice young man, when we asked him a question about the different kinds of figs he had, he just cut them open and gave us each one!  They were delicious!  We also bought a new vegetable to try--it's called a romanesco.  Supposed to taste like a cross between brocolli and cauliflower.  It's very interesting looking:

 The Japanese, Lebanese, Italian, Greek and African food vendors were busy with the lunch crowd, and some of it looked and smelled delicious!  We weren't ready for lunch yet, so had to pass it by.

We did our usual exploring and wandering around this area, and then sat down for a beer and coffee.  I just love the view from these sidewalk cafes:

As we were pretty loaded down with our food purchases, we Metro'd back to our apartment to drop off our groceries.  We decided we were very hungry, so we stopped at a small cafe in our neighborhood to have a quick sandwich.  We thought we ordered one sandwich to share--but I guess our "fractured French" didn't work so well!  We each got a sandwich and a beer, so not only were we quite full--it was a very expensive lunch!  Oh, well......at least it was a very good sandwich, and I have half of mine left for breakfast!

We thought today was a good day to take a boat ride on the Seine, so we headed over that way, paid our 11 Euros each, and got a front row seat.  We "cruised" up the Seine, around the Ile de Cite and Ile St. Louis and back for an hour.  It's great to see the beautiful bridges from the river; the detail on them is amazing.  Who else but the French would make bridges this ornate?:

 This one (below) has Napoleon's crest on it!

We also had great views of the Eiffel Tower and some beautiful buildings:

After our "cruise" we decided to just walk until we found a nice place for a warm drink, as it had been a bit chilly on the water.  We turned down a likely looking street and strolled along for several blocks, checking out the menus at a few bistros along the way.

The area started looking familiar, and we realized we were right across the street at our favorite "moules y frites" restuarant!  We decided that we were just meant to have those delicious mussels for dinner again tonite;  those healthy veggies and roasted chicken we bought earlier today can just wait until tomorrow night! So we popped in and got a lovely table by the window.  What a view, I never get tired of this:

We ordered the usual big pot of mussels, but tried new flavors this time.  David got the provencal with tomatoes and olives, and I tried one with smoky bacon, mushrooms and cream mixed into the white wine broth.  They were both delicious!

Tomorrow night we WILL eat all that healthy food we bought today.

We called it a day after dinner, we were just plain tired!   A short Metro ride, and here we are relaxing in our apartment.

There's nothing like a lazy day in Paris................