Il Fait Beau

I woke up this morning from an anxiety dream in which I failed to do nothing in Paris.  Strangely what upset me the most was that I missed celebrating Canada Day at The Moose, a Canadian bar near St. Germain.  It was enough to hustle me right out of bed and onto the nearest Vélib.  

Amazing!  By 8 am I was whizzing through the streets of Paris, Longchamp bag bouncing in my basket and my helmet-free hair blowing in the wind.  The streets were quiet except for other cyclists and runners and the occasional group of tourists looking for their breakfast.  I rode to Notre Dame along the Right Bank and even took a daring tour down the lower half of the Champs, looping once around Place de la Concorde.  I pedaled the Left Bank back to rue Cler, zipping through a tunnel in front of the Eiffel Tower and finishing slowly through Champ de Mars park.  It's one of the most exhilarating things I have ever done in Paris.  Vélib ranks right up there with Tuk-Tuk rides or spending a month's rent at Louis Vuitton.  

Pretty side street in the Marais

I spent the afternoon exploring the Marais and poking down every side street I came across.  Very lively, lots of great restaurants, shopping and I can understand why it is "the place" in Paris right now.  I exercised extreme self-control by not purchasing anything despite finding several stock (outlet) stores and what I think was a liquidation sale at Pablo.  

Next stop was the used book sale at the American Library in Paris where I found some mindless chick-lit novels - my favourites! - to help me fall asleep at night.  Appreciating that it's a library, I still expected there to be a friendlier vibe but it was all very serious and boring.  I always think of Americans as being friendly and welcoming but perhaps there were no real ones in the library.  

Random and kind of wonderful...

The accordion player on the metro was wearing a Team Canada Hockey windbreaker.

What you can buy on a Sunday in Paris for 30 euros...

At the weekly bird market at Place Louis Lepine, you can purchase three Silkie Bantams.  I thought it was a fantastic deal for a set of gorgeous, white fluffy chickens.  Just imagine Chris arriving in Paris to find me sharing the apartment with chickens!  

Meet Monsieur Robert...

There was a listless, homeless man sprawled across the steps at the Bastille metro station.  Nothing unusual but my eyes were drawn to a black and white bunny hopping its way up the steps.  I guess I looked like I was gong to grab the bunny because all of the sudden the homeless man alerted and bellowed, "Mon lapin! C'est Monsieur Robert!"

Not Monsieur Robert.  Adorable "Wanted" poster in the Marais hoping for the return of this lost bunny. Look at the arrow pointing to him.