Le Week-End

Weekends are interesting here. Saturday is a bustling commotion of activity, while Sunday this town is half alive. Last Saturday we were able to experience the full craziness of Paris' day-off.

Earlier in the week, I got invited to tag along with some friends to a Parisian flea market, and of course couldn't pass up the opportunity. I had recently been to a full flea market for the first time in Michigan with Kaj for the 4th of July and was very much entertained. I was also able to purchase quite a few used DVDs for a very reasonable price. Long story short, I was excited for this flea market.

We took the Metro Line 4 all the way from one end (Porte D'Orleans, where I live) to the other (Porte de Clignacourt). This metro stop is just inside the border of Zone 1, which includes the most part of Paris. Just a few blocks walk and we were in a "suburb" known as Saint Ouen. After following the directions that we had prepared before we left, we ended up at an entrance to what looked like a small American strip mall. What it turned out to be was rows and rows of antique shops and small single room furniture displays. It's hard to describe, but if you can imagine rows and rows of storage units in America, all about 10 feet tall and about 15 feet wide. And then for everyone of this storage units to be open and have what appears to be a bedroom in each one, and each bedroom has a completely different set of furniture. That's kind of what this was like. Fascinating. There was so much to look at, and some of the places had some really, really old stuff. Of course, some also had a little modern touch, like the one that looked like it had an airplane crashing trough it (sorry I don't have a picture). What I do have a picture of is a moving truck with a hilarious name.

After wandering around this little area, we decided it really wasn't for us, and started to exit. Upon trying to exit, we found another part of the 'flea market' that was more than just antiques. They were discount clothing stands, crazy little trinkets (including marijuana bongs), and small food merchants. We wondered around this shady area for a few minutes, after finally decided to exit for real this time, and got back to the street we came in on. On our way back to the metro station, we passed yet ANOTHER large 'flea market' and decided it check it out as well since it was on our way. This one reminded me very much of the one I saw in Michigan, except the vendors were hustling us more (one guy told me I looked cold and tried to sell me a winter coat). But if you were looking for something specific in Paris, this would be the place to find it, though you might suffer a little bit of quality decrease and would have to look among the rows of stands for a while to find what you were looking for.

After FINALLY making our way out of the flea market area, we hopped back on the metro, which was as crowded as I had ever seen it. It was about 3PM Saturday afternoon, and everyone on the train was in severe violation of the personal space of the 3 or 4 people around them. I'm not sure where everyone was going, but the trained no one seemed to be getting off the train as more people were coming on. Fortunately, I don't believe there are weight limits on trains. We exited at Chateau Rouge in Montmartre, because we decided that we wanted to go to Sacre Coeur for a visit. I had not yet seen Sacre Coeur in the daylight, though I'd been there twice at night.

A brief explanation about getting to Sacre Coeur, you know you're going the right way if you are going uphill. Sometimes you'll encounter hills and sometimes you will encounter steps, but if you're going up, you'll get there. We walked through the small park at the foot of the mount where Sacre Coeur is situated and found some enchanting stairs to climb (see left). They were like out of a story book. Alas, the place was filled with tourists. A lot of them were just sitting on the steps in front of Sacre Coeur watching a musician play the guitar or looking out along the Paris skyline. It's truly one of my favorite spots in Paris, but I'm not alone in feeling this way.

We actually got to go inside of Sacre Coeur since we were there in the afternoon, and it is quite impressive. Massive ceilings, a huge mural of Jesus and Mary at the front of the church, candles lit in one of the corners of the church, and ornate decorations on the pulpit and the other furniture found at the front of the church. Sitting in the pews and looking behind us, a massive pipe organ loomed in the shadows. We sat down in the pews and marveled at it for a bit and then exited.

Our trip to Sacre Coeur was followed by a brief walk through the area that is Montmartre. We were hoping to stumble across the cafe that Amelie Poulin fictionally worked in (the film Amelie de Montmartre), but did not have much luck. After grabbing a sandwish from a boulangerie, we headed back home on the metro for some rest for the night's shennanigans.

Seeing as I've written a lot already, I'm going to conclude this post at this point. What I would like to mention, for those of you active readers, is what I'm planning for next week. I have most of it drawn up already, but what I am doing is a complete Parisian experience in one week. Anything that you can think of that's stereotypical of Paris, I will hopefully be experiencing it Monday-Friday. What I'd like to give you the opportunity to do is suggest to me something that you would like me to see or take extensive photographs for you to see. Or if there's some activity (that's not horribly pricey) that you'd like me to do and write about, I'd be happy to do that. Grandpa Grover has already asked for a trip to the markets with some pictures, and I will humbly oblige. So if you have something, throw it at me.

A la prochaine!

Justin