After spending time along the northern French coast, we headed south to Paris – turned in the rental car and got a taxi to our AirBNB. It is in the Montparnasse district, which has been part of Paris since 1669 and is split between the 6th, 14th and 15th arrondissements of the city.
Our AirBNB was located on the fifth floor………and had an elevator, thank goodness. It had a teeny tiny balcony, just deep enough for a chair and a few plants.
A bedroom for each of us, two bathrooms, a sitting area, dining area and kitchen. Check, check and check.
Walking through neighborhoods we discovered more of the green cast-iron water fountains donated by Englishman Sir Richard Wallace. He loved Paris and in 1872 used his own money to provide the people of Paris with drinking water. Hard to capture the water dripping from my photo – but it is there.
Walking the streets, you never know when youre going to come across a street market like this one. LOVE the fresh produce, fresh seafood and fresh flowers.
Imagine………one stall dedicated to cheese (1st row, middle photo), a stall dedicated to potatoes (second row 1st photo), a stall dedicated to mushrooms (second row, middle photo), stalls dedicated to seafood (bottom row, BTW super fresh!) and of course my favorite, stalls dedicated to flowers.
During our visit, my favorite flower was in bloom – peonies – and available for purchase in the markets.
Getting our metro pass gave us a wider range of neighborhoods. Sometimes it takes more than one set of eyes to figure out the purchase………………….
Walking along the Seine is a favorite pastime, while also giving me a chance for a bit of shopping in the bouquinistes – which you can just barely see the green boxes ahead of them. Yep, they have no idea a photo was taken.
The bouquinistes, or used booksellers was a part of the second-hand book tradition begun around the 16th century. Now declared a UNESCO World Heritage site, over 240 bouquinistes make use of 900 of these green boxes to house some 300,000 old books and a number of other paper items. Rules and a waiting list (as long as 8 years) dictates minimums days of operation (4) and upkeep. Couldn’t resist this snapshot. And yes, the items are kept inside the boxes and secured overnight. Hence, most items are wrapped individually in plastic.
Artwork abounds along most of our walks, usually unnoticed by most. Captured a few things that caught my eye.
Always loved fountains and found this park during one of our walks.
I got the group to walk through the nearby park and guess what? Found another fountain 🙂
Cute sign………………..unfortunately always needed as a reminder.
While my ‘insect house’ is much, much smaller………….one day I’m going to have something similar to this. Eric?
More to come. Up next, our visits to the traditional Paris ‘tourist’ sites.
Ginny
P.S. – got to throw in a few flowers I found in this park.
Darden Travels 