Sunday: What Parisians do for fun on Sunday
Trip Start
Jun 26, 2008
1
17
26
Trip End
Aug 11, 2008
Paris,
France
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
I woke up early-ish to get to Mass at Notre Dame. I decided to walk over which was a great choice since the morning was clear and breezy and very few people were out yet. Mass at Notre Dame was beautiful as long as I was able to ignore the tourists wakling through and in and out and taking pictures. Many people came to mass obviously as a kind of "show" which was a bit bothersome to me but otherwise the music was lovely and the homily interesting.
After mass I walked over to Rue de Moufftard where there is an open air market. The first thing I came upon was a blues band performing on the street. I sat and listened to them for a while and then moved on into the heart of the market. Cherries were the popular item of the day and everywhere I turned there was a vendor yelling "Mademoiselle goutez! goutez! cerises!" I did buy a kilogram of cherries and some carrots. At the other end of the market was an accordian band (almost too cliche). A big group was crowded around for what was basically a sing-along. Everyone had sheets with traditional French songs and the whole mass was singing along and eventually dancing along as well! The best thing about this little gathering was that it was almost purely Parisians. I stuck around and sang along some but then decided to partake in another French pass time... the cafe.
All around the market were cafes. I was fortunate to find a coveted spot outside where I ordered my cafe noir and people watched for a good while.
After the market I walked over to the Notre Dame area again. It started to pour rain which did well to ward off lots of the unprepared tourists. (I luckily had my umbrella.) But after a while I too needed to get out of the wet so I walked into Shakesepares & Co which is famous (English language) book store. It has gained its fame for being a haven to writers and readers and I found that upstairs in the book store they had all sorts of nooks for reading as well as walls and walls full of old books which were there as a sort of library. I spend a few hours there just reading and relaxing from all the walking around I did earlier. It was quite a nice break!
Finally, I had to return home to get ready for the night's festivities. Bastille Day was on Monday but on Sunday night all of the Firemen houses have big dances. A group of friends and I got together and went out to one of the balls in the area. It was a great chance for me to once again practice some French! We also spent a while in Bastille Square where there was a big "international" concert going on.
All in all a pretty eventful day!
Monday: Bastille day
