Saturday, July 26th: Yesterday, we went exploring north and east of the Marais area, visiting a couple of parks and markets, then returned to our apartment via the river where the Olympic athletes' barges will emerge onto the Seine. There appears to be a place just at the Arsenal Basin exit that the public can stand, potentially to see some of the Opening Celebration. As we passed by at 2:00 pm the space for people on the sidewalk was nearly completely taken. The ceremony commences at 7:30 pm.
Invader strikes again, but not with little squares.
Our stroll took us first to Temple Square, a park in tribute to Elie Wiesel.
Statue to Elie Wiesel
Across the street from the park, at La Sancerre, we sat on the traditional round table facing the street and enjoyed the standard breakfast - orange juice, coffee and a croissant. We then retraced our steps a few blocks to find the oldest market in Paris -- Marche des Enfants Rouges (named for red clad children from an orphanage next door). It opened in the year 1615 and now features stalls selling delicious-smelling prepared foods.
One of the entrances.
About four aisles of glorious foods.
The dates were large.
We then headed past the Place Bastille toward another notable market, first passing through Square Trousseau.
An art-deco building overlooking the park.
In the market, and the official Olympic banner.
The Marche d'Aligre, which has outdoor produce vendors as well as a covered section with fresh meat, fish and cheese.
Olive sellers.
One of the covered aisles.
We next wanted to walk over to the river, passing by the Gare de Lyon.
Front of the train station.
Ditto.
We made it to the Seine and walked downstream, passing under the Austerlitz Bridge, and the start of the river float for the athletes.
On the way back, this is what the intersections look like -- police are out in numbers.
This street curved on me, so I was unable to capture the very long line of police vehicles.'
We chilled in the afternoon until 6:30 pm, then went out to see what we could see. There was little action so we walked north into the neighborhood and found a very nice Italian restaurant. We were the only patrons and the chef/owner explained the offerings on the board with descriptions and photos. We both ordered insalade mista, two different types of ravioli (mushroom in butter sauce and crab with seafood sauce) and wine.
After dinner, we walked back to the main street and stood just outside sidewalk cafes to watch opening ceremonies on their TV's. The water parade, using the regular Seine tourist boats, began the Greek athletes, followed by other countries in alphabetical order according to the French names. The river boats frequently contained teams from several countries, especially if the delegations were small. The festivities included other entertainments visible only by TV. It started to rain so we got rain gear and continued watching. We bagged it after Great Britain went by and retired to our room.
