Bonjour Paris -- last day

My last day in Paris was designated Marais Day, discovering all this part of Paris has to offer. I had to pinch myself a couple of times to assure myself I hadn't inadvertedly taken the train to Disneyland Paris, 'cause it sure felt like an open air amusement park. There were tons of tourists around trying to find that Marais magic. Nevertheless, and not minding the slight drizzle that started on the walk over, I had a nice time.

I walked into the Marais on the rue Rambuteau, which is filled with supermarkets, greengrocers and boulangeries. One of the shops lining this road is Au Pain Sucre, where I gawked at the little artworks in the display. Since I'd already had so many pastries this week, I decided to give this one a raincheck (no pun intended).

Down the rue des Archives where I stopped at a magazine store and picked up three French food magazines to read on the train back. My French is just good enough for me to get the gist of the recipes and stories, and what I don't get, I'll have to ask one of my French classmates to translate.

At the end of the rue des Archives is an entrance of BHV, the department store. Great selection of books and stationary, and a swoosh designer look restaurant. Shame it wasn't quite lunchtime yet. Just a few doors up on that same street is the Cafe BHV, which is a cafe cum epicerie cum flower shop. Very cool, very nice products and very swanky place to sip your coffee.

Next two stops were tea and tea. I went over to the Mariage Freres and the Palais du Thes. If you like the traditional style store, Mariage Freres is your store, but bring a wad of money. Don't get me wrong, I like my tea, but I felt hesitant to buy anything, since I've already got so much tea at home waiting to be brewed. Palais du Thes is slightly more modern, and the staff are slightly friendlier. They serve tasters, and their prices are lower than Freres Mariages.

Of course, no day in Paris for me is complete without some art, and this time I'd picked the Maison Europeene de la Photographie for my fix. I struck it lucky, since there was an mesmerizing exhibit on Dutch photography and another exhibit on the Dutch photographer Johan van der Keuken. I loved the architecture of the building, which was a skillful combination of the old, wooden floors and large windows, and the new, swish marble floors and all white walls. The picture at the top of this post is of one of the pictures I enjoyed most.

On to books. Food on the rue Charlot is a foodbookstore cum gallery, and has sections with English and French Language books. I liked the concept of the store, but if you're really after cookbooks, you might be as well off in the basement of the Lafayette Maison store, which has a sizeable selection of cookbooks (mostly in French).

I decided that I couldn't leave Paris without one more treat, so I took the Metro over to the Galleries Lafayette, to visit their Maison and Gourmet departments. The Maison section had some great deals, and I struggled hard to remind myself that I don't have my own kitchen and I'll be moving at least twice in the next year and I don't want to be lugging around cast-iron Le Creuset pans. So I ended up buying pain au chocolat from Eric Kayser's outlet in Lafayette Gourmet to have on the train back tomorrow as breakfast. The two pictures here are of the chocolate aisle in Lafayette Gourmet, yes, they have a separate aisle just for chocolate. The pin-up chocolate was definitely one of the strangest wrapped foods I've ever seen... I wonder if these sell like hotcakes?

PS And today was memorable in another way as well, I saw people in a branch of Oliviers and Co, hurrah!

Practical details:
Au Pain Sucre
14 rue Rambuteau
Paris

BHV
52-64 rue de Rivoli
Paris
(take the exit at the back, at the book section to end up on the rue des Archives)
http://www.bhv.fr

Mariage Freres
30 rue Bourg de Tibourg
Paris
http://www.mariagefreres.com/

Palais des Thes
64 rue du Vieille-du-Temple
Paris
http://www.palaisdesthes.com

Maison Europeene de la Photographie
5-7 rue Fourcy
Paris
http://www.mep-fr.org

Food
58 rue Charlot
Paris