Day 7 in Paris

A shady Sunday stroll through the Luxembourg Gardens.

A rather lazy Sunday here in Paris. The temperature has soared and we are in for a bit of a heatwave over the next few days. It was 30 C today and is supposed to go as high as 38 C tomorrow!

We have now been here for a week and what a luxury to have yet another full week ahead. Instead of frantically racing from attraction to attraction we have been able to stroll through our days picking and choosing what we feel like doing at any given moment and even changing our minds on a whim.

Today we got up at the crack of 9:30 am (early for us) and headed down to the Boulevard Raspail Market. I have heard about this market over the years but never actually made it down to see it for myself in person. Today was the day. On Mondays and Friday it is a traditional market and on Sundays it is an organic (or Bio) market. Tons of artisans selling beautiful organic fruits and vegetables and cheeses alongside a couple of butchers with every imaginable cut of meat and a few vendors selling Bresse chickens, lots of stalls with roasted chickens and prepared foods, breads and pastries and a guy selling honey and women selling lavender and roses and peonies.  There was a stall that had all kinds of pasta and olives and more cheeses and even a guy who was whipping up some tasty looking potato pancakes.

While I was walking through I couldn’t help but think, “If I only lived here…” In my head I always go back to family meals and dinner parties.

After we had our fill of the sights and sounds and smells of the market we ambled off to the Luxembourg Gardens.

I love this park so much. It is much more formal than our parks at home but people certainly make themselves at home. Just don’t try to sit on the grass or some uniformed park guards sporting very loud whistles will come along and force you to pack up your things and move along. Drinking champagne in public, no problem. Sitting on the grass, no way.

On such a hot day it was an oasis of cool along the tree lined allées of the gardens but we also braved the heat to watch the children sail their model boats in the large octagonal pond as well as to check out some scantily clad Parisians lounging about in the chairs near the water.

There were families and couples and tourists all jumbled together, having picnics, drinking wine, eating ice cream, talking and laughing. A perfect Paris Sunday afternoon.