We found ourselves unexpectedly in tourist mode yesterday, just because we could piece together a number of things along the way to our final stop, dinner.
A large part of me is just not all that interested in seeing the usual tourist sites. It is not the lines and crowds (those suck too). It is worse; I just do not always grasp the significance of a lot of these sites. This is something that worries me quite a bit because I think, wow Wendy, if visiting these places/sites does not make you happy, what will? The explanation is pretty obvious though: a) I tend to be drawn to natural wonders and b) I have experienced so many beautiful/majestic/awesome places and things that I am somewhat jaded to places/things that many people would consider beautiful/majestic/awesome. And that sucks right? I will say though, there are many non-conventional experiences that I enjoy and value.
Is there a difference between being unimpressed (which I often am) and being unappreciative/not realise how lucky you are (which I am often not, but sometimes do forget)? I think so.
With that being said, we found ourselves unexpectedly in tourist mode yesterday. It just so happened we could piece a number of things between our first stop and our final stop (dinner).
We started off at the Marche aux Puces (so literally, a flea market). I realize I do not have as fine an appreciation of some antiques, furniture etc. , but even with this in mind, I was soon bored. The perimeter was just like an oversized Stanley Market, and the interior did not appear to be a place to find deals. The one exception was a shop owner showing us really cool stone implements, the oldest being 24,500 years old. And these.
A Curta: a small mechanical calculator (Photo credit: Scott McKay)
Makes total sense. (Photo credit: Scott McKay)
We found out a lot of the following sites are along the number 1 (yellow) metro line, aka the Tourist line, so why not?
Arc de Triomphe. You can probably make out all the people who are at the top of the structure
Sacre Coeur Basilica is rather unsightly. It has a somewhat interesting history.
Sacré-Cœur Basilica, located at the highest point in the city (it’s not very high). Photo credit: Scott McKay
Today was considerably more relaxed. For once, we did not get a croissant or other pastry from Blé Sucré (baguette, cannele and madeleines don’t count) and had breakfast closer to the March d’Aligre. We went to the market to shop for a light Sunday night and Monday night dinners (we have been frequenting this fromagerie) because we have the lunch tasting menu at Arpege in between! I honestly have no idea how I will fit 12+ courses in me.
Scott had to have his falafel sandwich at L’As du Fallafe, so off we went.
The fallafel shrine (Photo credit: Scott McKay)
Scott’s tolerance for lines is about as bad as mine, so the fact that he would wait in this line says something about the fallafel.
This is the takeout line in front of us. Not pictured is the takeout line behind us and the restaurant seating line. All are very long.
It was good. Very good.
Behold. The best fallafel sandwich in Paris (to some/most)
Our next stop at the Musée des Arts et Métiers isn’t really touristy at all, but it felt like it as our feet grew more tired.
It was worth it though. I mean, it’s not every day you get to see this.
Foucalt’s ACTUAL pendulum!!
Or this.
Pascal’s calculator. I mean, that’s pretty f’ing cool.
Ong Strong 