Meandering in the Bastille and the Marais

In our apartment there are some attractive potted flowers which I was a bit worried about because my greenthumb is more the finger of death than anything else. When Gerard showed us around the apartment he pointed out that the jonquils and succulents were fake plants - tres bon imitations I thought! Just before we left for Venice I thought I must empty the vase on the coffee table because the flowers looked like they were about to shed their petals any moment. See below...



When I went to take out the flowers and empty the vase, I realised that these too were fake flowers and the vase was filled with clear solid resin! They are the best faux fleurs I've ever seen!

Thursday we started the day with a visit to the Bastille market - our favourite - and our usual stop for Lebanese pizza. Wandered through the independent designer and alternative shops in the Bastille. Brent bought books about Banksy and a Paris-based graffiti artist, L'envahisseur (the invader), who creates tiled graffiti works of space invaders and is now in his rubik cubism period! You can see two of his works below.



Stopped for citron et chocolat gateau at a salon de the, spent a quiet half hour in the beautiful courtyard of the Hotel de Sully, and then home, via the house where Jim Morrison was living at the time of his death just around the corner from our apartment.



Friday we met Anne from my French class and her husband Peter at La Perle (our local cafe from last year) for breakfast. Anne and Peter have spent some time in Dresden and Liepzig in Germany before a couple of weeks in Paris. It was great to see familiar faces from Melbourne.

We spent the rest of the day wandering through the Marais, shopping, and visted the oldest house in Paris which belonged to Nicolas Flamel and his wife Pernelle and was constructed in 1407. The house is now a restaurent but the facade is preserved. Nicolas, as legend has it, translated the Philosopher's Stone (refer to Harry Potter and the Da Vinci Code for more info!) and used the riches from his alchemy to provide free housing, hospitals and churches for the poor.



Returned to La Perle for lunch; saucisse Frankfort et frites for Brent et salade d'artichaut pour moi. The waiter was the epitome of French style! Step outside for a cigarette, pose, take a plate inside; step outside for a cigarette, step outside for a cigarette, step outside for a cigarette; clear tables and take our coffee order. It's not how long you lunch, it's the style in which you do it!

Walked to the Georges Pompidou centre and watched the buskers and their enthusiastic crowd; back along rue Rambuteau and collected a Baobab (rhum baba) for tonight's dessert from Pain de Sucre (legendary cake shop); to the Hotel Carnavalet to relax in one of the most beautiful gardens in the Marais and then home. We love this quartier!