Bonjour Paris -- day 3

The love affair continues. Today I set out to visit the collections at the Musee National des Arts Asiatiques-Guimet, and I was very impressed. The building is light and airy, with wooden floors and white cotton roman blinds and the whole feels incredibly serene (how much of that is architecture and how much can be attributed to the Buddha statues displayed I don't know). The displays are well laid out, and the audioguide proved interesting and informative, although they could've added a few more entries to my admittedly gluttonous taste. One thing about the audioguides though, I wish they would use the headphone-model and not the hold-the-phone-to-your-ear model, they're so uncomfortable.

On the way over to the Musee, I couldn't resist and visited the market at Avenue President Wilson. If there's one thing I want to take with me back home is a market like this. It has all you need, from cheese, vegetables, fruits (see left) and meat to olives, bread and flowers. Nice as the market was, with the rain and the cold I made a mad dash for the Museum to dry up and heat up.

Final stop for the day was the rue Cler, a 10 minute short hop over the Seine. By the time I got there, the rue looked a bit like I suspect I did: washed out. But if the sun is shining, I'm pretty sure the rue Cler is positively vibrant and alive. Nevertheless, I managed to get some of my dinner-shopping done, and discovered the Lenotre store (just between the Metro stop Ecole Militaire and rue Cler) which wins the medal for 'friendliest staff'. The man behind the counter helped me with my French, in the kindest way, making me feel wonderful instead of a dunce.