For Parisians, nothing is ever perfect …and this includes the weather: a sunny, cloudless sky, like the one today can be completely ruined by ‘un petit vent’. Nevertheless, this unusually warm October day seemed to entice every Parisian and tourist in the city, and rightly so. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky and the ‘petit vent’ behaved itself.
Today, we ended up in the Marais: it seemed the rest of the city did as well. Rue Franc Bourgeois, parallel to Rue des Rosiers in the 4th arrondissement had been made in to a pedestrian only street and people were pouring out of tiny jewelry shops, browsing in Camper and Bobbi Brown and hovering outside every café that had a ‘terrasse’, waiting patiently for the chance to overpay for a cup of coffee. At the end of Franc Bourgeois, lies the perfectly shaped Place des Vosges hosting several restaurants and cafes all the way around its perimeter; Café Victor Hugo however has a special place with both tourists and locals, serving a wide range of dishes, from big goat’s cheese salads with honey and walnuts to bigger, heartier ‘plats’ such as grilled salmon and ‘filet de boeuf’: whatever you choose, it seems that ordering a side of ‘frites’ is customary.
After over-eating, we walked back towards the masses in Rue Franc Bourgeois, past the Centre Pompidou, and down towards the Seine, over the bridge, right into the madness of Rue de la Huchette in the 6th arrondissement. The street follows through to Place Saint Michel and the two boulevards, Saint Germain and Saint Michel. Such an ‘exhausting’ stroll deserves an ‘apero’: Rue de Buci, near metro Odeon, just parallel to Boulevard Saint Germain, houses several bars and restaurants and seems to be buzzing 24/7. 3 bars are worth mentioning: first on the left, Cafe Conti which is a little more expensive than the others but has good WiFi, hence the difficulty getting a table. The second, a little further down on the left, we have dubbed ‘Happy Hour’ as the sign indicates a few selected 5 euro cocktails, but fails to mention what the bar is actually called…‘Happy Hour’ stands out for its decor, with tiny tables and heart shaped seats out the front and a tendency to serve different flavoured mojitos on a regular basis (yesterday was strawberry or mango). The last bar, and the local favourite, is Bar du Marché, the last one on the right. It is almost impossible to get a table, but when you do, you are served by an amusingly dressed waiter/waitress and will have a wide selection of meals as well as ‘plats de fromage ou charcuterie’ to accompany your ‘verre de Bordeaux’.It gets to 7 o’clock and suddenly the bridges of Paris are lit and the roads become crazy, all those having come in, now going back out, crossing their fingers that such good weather will last until the next ‘dimanche’.
