Le shopping

Our goal was to visit the great department stores in the Opera district, Printemps and Galeries Lafayette. But we had to visit many other shoppes and arcades first.

Thus

And thus

We passed by the old Opera Garnier; I paused to point out the Cafe de la Paix,
but no one in our party, other than me, is into the coffee/cafe thing

At length, we got to Printemps

Explored it

A bit

Then opted for the more impressive Galeries Lafayette

Whose central dome would be the main attraction in any
church, opera house, or museum...besides, Galeries Lafatette
has an Amorino's

And visited the roof for some great views--despite the clouds--of the city

Opera Garnier, other side

Route of the day: Notre Dame

Pompidiou

Les Halles and St. Eustace

And other old friends

More skyline

The great dome itself

Us, there

L'église de St. Eustasius

The Church of St. Eustace is across from Les Halles, and, tall and flamboyant, it is surely one of the landmarks of the city. It is of very late Gothic style and architecture, built from 1532-1632. It is said to house a few large Rubens, but I'll have to go back to see them.

St. Eustace, facade and south side

Nave

Choir

Vaulting, interesting late Gothic, very high

North transept and rose window

Organ

A bit of the elevation; must re-visit this place

Marcher entre Belle architecture ainsi que d'autres

Our walk continued back onto the right side, along various streets and avenues and boulevards, past many beautiful and other buildings, toward the Opera district.

Hotel de Ville

Beautiful Art Nouveau almost anywhere you
look

Almost anywhere

We stopped for a quick lunch

Then continued our walk past Les Halles, where construction of the new Les
Halles continues...

Someday it will all look like this

The one older part not torn down

We stopped for a quick look into the St. Eustace church (next post)

And then carried along further

A building that would have been quite at home in Barcelona

Another interesting building on Rue Reaumur

Another beauty

La Cathédrale de Notre Dame de Paris

So Monday we set forth on a walking tour, starting at the Hotel de Ville, crossing the river, looking at the cathedral, and then walking back along the right side from the Pompidiou through Les Halles to the Opera district. It was an all-day thing, with many sights, so I'll let Paris scènes, neuf extend through a couple more posts.

The usual crowd...the Mother of them all...

Knave view

A bit of the elevation, including the huge glazed gallery

Ditto; despite being a cloudy day, the interior was still lovely

North rose window

Pretty old; not the first Gothic, nor even the first Gothic
cathedral, but pretty old

Screen around the choir

One of several models

Traditional view...well, better from the Left Bank

Bow view

Still on the Ile de la Cite, we found the "traditional" site of the residence of
Heloise and Abelard (identified in 1849, at the height of the 19th century's
Medieval craze); Sic et Non

Le marché Bastille

We always seem to be going to the Bastille: not that we're Revolutionaries, it's just the largest nearby center and a pleasant short walk, too. Today, Sunday, was market day, le marché Bastille is one of the best known, and I have some new recipes requiring the freshest of ingredients.

The beginning of the market, Blvd. Richard Lenoir, off the
Place de la Bastille

Quail eggs

Nice display of shrimp

Impressive seafood stalls; we're not all that far from the
Channel, and lotte, aka monkfish, aka poor man's lobster,
was plentiful (I used to use it, when I could get it, in my
bouillabaise)

All manner of asparagus, including wild; note the black
tomatoes to the right

Niece Stacey has joined us and is enjoying the quotidien as
well as the the sights

Market scene

All manner of prepared food as well as the ingredients

On my walk back home (the others went to the Eiffel Tower,
etc.), an emerging favorite place, Le Bistrot du Peintre

At another Rue de Charonne restaurant, delivery of the
afternoon pre-frites...

Still walking home...along the Boulevard Voltaire (!), several
blocks either side of Rue de Charonne  (our street), a weekend
market springs up...the professional flea market types are well
represented, but mostly it seems to be the family garage/attic/
basement spring cleaning...so it has occurred to me now that
maybe our best strategy is to take all our crap from the
storage unit in Missoula, pack it into a container, ship it here,
and, next spring, open L'American merde Store on the Blvd.
Voltaire

He'll always have Paris