Afternoon Walks in Paris

Kevin here.

Paris is quite possibly the greatest walking city on the Earth.  Maybe not.  I haven't visited them all, of course.  But it's gotta be up there.  You can walk just about everywhere, and there's always interesting or beautiful things to see.  Usually both.

Kelly and I do a lot of afternoon walks, sometimes strolling around, sometimes shopping, sometimes heading to the grocery store.  Often we're together with the kids.  But we often take off by ourselves while the other one stays back at the apartment with the kids.

I know that some of you love to see what we see.  So... here are more pictures of Paris taken from numerous afternoon walks!  Don't forget that you can click on them to enlarge.

First...  not everyone actually walks.  There are plenty of cars in Paris (most of them small, of course, but not all).  But there are lots of motorcycles and scooters.

Motorcycles and scooters, usually parked on the sidewalk.

A few are even enclosed:

A covered BMW scooter.

And one particular style is very popular: ones with three wheels.

Trike!

One particular memorable day had me walking a good 10-12 miles around Paris.  I was exhausted by the end of the day, but it was worth it.  I started by walking down Rue Monge -- which cuts right through the middle of the Latin Quarter, where we're staying -- towards the Seine.  When you get close to the river, you come across the famous English-language bookstore Shakespeare & Company.  This is a spot where Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and James Joyce would often hang out, buy books, etc.  It's an awesome place, steeped in Parisian history, and just cool to go and hang out in for awhile:


Next, I headed over towards the Champs-Elysees by walking west along the Seine:


And, of course, I stopped to admire many of the beautiful old barges moored along the river:

Barges on the Seine

And I looked around at all of the great old books and things sold by the bouquinistes along the river bank:

Bouquinistes!  Bouquinistes!  They are required by French law to be open at least 3 days a week or they lose their spot.  There is an 8-year waiting period for stalls.

After checking out some of the shops on the Champs-Elysees, I decided to walk over to Boulevard Haussmann.  Along the way, I came across this urban park.  No trees, no grass.  But permanent ping-pong tables!

Uh, I mean "table tennis."

Then I came across this old building.  I don't know what it is (I think an entrance to a parking garage), but part of the front is really just a facade.   I love that this matters in Paris.  From the street, it just looks like a classic Parisian apartment building:



And then I spy this great building, a little more contemporary.  But this is an arts district, so check out the columns:

Awesome columns at the front of this building.

On Blvd Haussmann, I ran across a great chocolate shop, full of exquisite chocolate figurines:

Beautiful -- and expensive -- chocolates.

And this wine shop.  It's hard to tell from the picture, but actual sized wine bottles are at the top of the picture, behind the glass, inside the store.  The ones at the bottom are outside the store, on the ground.  And are huge.

I like the "Bad Boy" in the middle.  Indeed.

On the way back to the Left Bank, I pass the Opera Garnier, the old opera house in Paris built in 1875.

Opera Garnier

Back on the Left Bank of the Seine, I come across the great old fountain at Saint-Michel.  Very cool:

Saint-Michel Fountain.

Over to Pont-Neuf.  Awesome bridge.  Thought the name means "new bridge" it's Paris' oldest one, built in the late 1500's.  I love the stone heads (mascarons) that are a part of it's elaborate design:




Paris can be a dirty city (trash and cigarette butts everywhere, for example).  But the city works hard to clean it up.  Every morning, the city is awash (literally) with workers sweeping and hosing it down.  Like these two guys cleaning the area around Pont Neuf:

Water comes from that hose that leads to a boat on the river that sucks it up from the Seine.

I've done quite a few walks in Paris.  But I really like exploring close to home as well. There are some great things to see within 5 minutes of our apartment, including the great Rue Mouffetard -- full of awesome shops and restaurants -- right around the corner from us, about a 3-minute walk.  For example:

Interesting graffitti as you approach Mouffetard from the east:


Or coming up to Rue Mouffetard from the west, this great little square:

Saturday market at Rue Mouffetard

It can get a bit crowded on Rue Mouffetard as well:



And why wouldn't it?  Here is the place that we often buy wine:

My favorite wine shop on Rue Mouffetard

And here is the fromagerie (right next door to the wine shop) where I like to buy cheese:

Fromage!  I'm not sure I can ever call it "cheese" again.

Now, buying cheese in France is quite an experience.  There are hundreds of different kinds.  And they don't speak English in this shop.  So... when these elements come together, you get something like this:

Whoa.

What that is above is $90 worth of cheese and two bottles of wine (and some strawberries from the market).  I did not intend to get so much cheese.  Nor did I intend to have it -- and the wine -- wrapped to travel on a plane with.  But,  my French is that poor.  But... this is the kind of mistake I can live with. :-) .   And just so you know... we won't be bringing any of it home with us.  We ate it.  And the Comte Fruite I got was some of the finest cheese I've ever had.

Patisseries abound on Rue Mouffetard.  This one has a great selection:

Patisserie

But, our favorite patisserie -- by far -- is Carl Marletti down at the bottom of Rue Mouffetard.  Carl Marletti is always in the top 10 of Paris patisseries.  With good reason.  Everything there is spectacular:

Carl Marletti, our go-to patisserie!

I also love walking by this intersection at the bottom of Rue Mouffetard as well:

Love that fountain.  And look at those cafes!  And that architecture!

After walking Mouffetard, I head towards our apartment.  Not too far away is our favorite cheap crepe place:

Crepes!

And across the street from our favorite crepe place is our favorite boulangerie.  We hit this place all of the time to grab a baguette or two.

I liked the "baguette traditionale" while the kids like the plain baguette.

Oh... and here is one of the cafes we frequent often, La Comedia:

All of us at La Comedia, just down the street from our apartment.

And this is the major intersection we cross quite a bit -- to get to our apartment from the Censier-Daubenton Metro stop --  where Rue Censier meets Rue Monge:




And this strange photo is actually the front of our apartment, #13 Rue de la Clef.  It's not the nicest Parisian apartment going.  Hardly classical.  But it's in a great location for us.



OK... one more picture.  I like this one.  Late morning/early afternoon from Pont-Neuf.  The light was perfect:


Oh, and by the way.  Here's a photo blog I found a few months ago.  It's the kind of thing I wish I had written.  I love it.  It's called Paris Daily Photo.  Enjoy!  I know I will, even long after we've left this great city!