Dances on the Seine and Walking in the Rain

Saturday morning I headed out nice and early with Sophie and Joanna to go to the enormous flea markets Marché aux Puces and Le Marché Dauphine in the north of town. I didn't know exactly what I was expecting, but what we got was essentially miles upon miles of maze entangled streets filled with vintage clothing, furniture and knick-knack stalls and stores. Not the typical left over, resented merchandise people usually try to sell at flea markets. These were pretty high end, expensive things, probably targeted more to collectors and professional decorators rather than broke college tourists like myself.

   

Though bartering was somewhat of an element, the vintage Prada and Chanel dresses and the antique cigarette cases unfortunately weren't going down quite as much as I needed them to, so I settled with just looking at the beauties.

This is the dress that I instinctively rushed to and scared the store clerk with my excitement in a store that looked like a European princess' dress up closet. Luckily the clerk found me entertaining rather than annoying and humored me by agreeing that yes, it was beautiful, but also, please don't touch.
Right next this shop was an even more torturous one filled with lovely, beautiful, amazingly pretty cookware.

It was full of old heavy wood tables and cutting boards, glossy copper pots, heavy cooking knives, heavy ceramic plates and casserole dishes and the occasional little souris sitting on top of a pot:

After hours of looking at sixteenth century style armchairs, silver cutlery and a hodgepodge of many other things, we made our way back towards Montmartre and stumbled upon a cute little restaurant called Le Cave Cafe run by three delightful french girls who danced around to the restaurant's mixed playlist of The Beach Boys and Johnny Cash in between serving and taking orders.
The food was great and the ambiance was very laid back and casual.

 

 They also had a wall of organic wines on tap, which I thought was pretty awesome. I was also caught off guard to see the cheapness of the drinks, where a glass of wine was about 3 euros max, compared to the at least $10 glasses of wine that I'm used to seeing in New York.

After saying goodbye to Sophie and Joanna as they were going to head back to London, I decided on my way back to the apartment to stop by the Palais Garnier- the Paris Opera house.

Probably my favorite building in Paris, I couldn't get enough of the staircases, balconies and carved molding. I also used to be obsessed with the book, musical and movie of Phantom of the Opera, making the visit even more nostalgic and interesting.

 A cute little tid bit that I learned at the Senate, and then noticed again at the Opera are the old coat hangers.

The top part is much longer than the bottom (it was even more pronounced on the ones in the Senate building). Why is this? For holding top hats of course! So practical. I wish they were still used for that purpose. Maybe they'll make a comeback some day....

In the evening, I went back to the apartment and met Isabelle, her friend Simone and three of her friends. The four of them had gotten into Paris the day before with a travel tour group. We cooked up dinner for the six of us and picnicked in the living room, then headed out to find an area by the Seine where we had heard had dance parties every night. 

Sure enough, we found a big group of people gathered on the other side of the river, playing music and dancing salsa. After wandering around trying to find the best way to cross, we made it over and took a seat by the dancing. It was a lot of fun. Isabelle and I both got asked to dance by Olivier, a suave Frenchman who was, in fact a very good dance partner.

Unfortunately we had gotten there fifteen minutes before it ended, but at least Isabelle and I got the last two dances!

Early Sunday morning I got up and joined K-Rae and her husband Victor to have a coffee and do the week's shopping at their local market.

We had a petite dejeuner menu which came with a choice of hot drink, orange juice and a choice of tartain, croissant or pain au chocolate at a lovely corner cafe called Rocher de Cancale on rue Greneta.

The shopping itself was very nostalgic, reminding me of the days I would go with my grandma to the markets in Madrid when I was little, and when I would go with my mom when we lived in Valencia.

 

 It was so nice to be around fresh produce, meat, fish and bread. Also! I was very excited to see something that I had read about in several cooking magazines and cookbooks:

Yes, those are beets, but not just the usual beets like you find at farmers' markets in the States. These are already boiled beets that you can take home all ready to be peeled and put into any dish. Call me a food geek, but this was a very exciting moment for me.
To continue with my food geekness, after we got back, Isabelle and I went back to the crêpes place we went to the first day (where they make the batter with orange blossom water!). This time I got a crêpes avec un euf to go for something a little more savory. Then, on our walk back, we did a macaron testing tour, where we stopped by Pierre Hermé, Ladurée and Richard. I've established that I prefer Ladurée over Pierre Hermé, but Pierre Hermé over Richard.
To end my last day in Paris, the Viannu family and I went back to the Siene dances, where there was, once again a multitude of salsa dancers. We stayed long enough for me to dance three times and then made it home just before it started to rain. To end the evening we sat down to another great home cooked meal by K-Rae of baked fish with vegetables, bean salad, eggplant spread, and of course, baguettes.
Tomorrow I am leaving for Spain where I'll be for about six weeks between Madrid, Cartagena/Cabo de Palos and possibly Valencia. Internet gets spotty there, so I can't promise when the next time I'll blog will be. 
However, this first episode of this year's summer travels has been lovely. Amazing food, amazing city and by far amazing people. I've gotten a chance to practice my French, and fall in love with the famous city of lights. Quelle chance!