walk 9: follow the money, palais royal, bourse, covered passages

Wednesday May 2.
This was the second walk we did today. We got off the Metro at the Louvre and the first thing we saw was this man painting on the sidewalk. It was pretty cool but I wish we could have seen the finished product because at that point it was just a pair of eyes.

Next we took a little walk through the Louvre des antiquaires, the most expensive antique shops in Paris. If you are interested in checking them out, make sure to treat it like a museum. The shop owners are snobby and yelled at me for taking pictures. I should keep a tally for how many times that happens here. Quite often. (If someone tells you, "pas de photographie", "c'est interdite madame", or my personal favorite, "non non non non non" with waving arm gestures, that means they probably don't want you to take pictures. same goes if a woman holding a machine gun in front of the american embassy blows a whistle and shakes her finger at you. Just fyi.) Luckily I wasn't arrested and was able to get a few shots in.

 love this flapper style statuette.

never realized how mesmerized i could get by extremely sparkly objects. well you know what they say, diamonds are a girl's best friend. i just never believed it until now.

After walking out of there feeling like a complete peasant, we next went to a little shop full of these tiny figurines. so cute. i took one picture and ran away before they could say anything.

 along the way we passed this very unique metro entrance.

Next we passed through the Jardin du Palais Royal. I think I would enjoy gardens like this much more if the weather was nicer. (You can tell how cold I am in this picture by the clenching of my fists. Unfortunately that sweater is the warmest thing I have.)

Along the sides of the Jardin du Palais Royal are lots of ritzy little shops. They are so elitist, in fact, that many of them have signs on the front door that say things like "we are open, if you would like to come in please knock on the door and we will open it for you." They don't want just anyone dragging their muddy feet inside. 

 Here is a cute dress I saw in one of those shops. I did not dare to venture inside the store.

In case you are interested in the history behind these shops, they were added to the Palais Royal around the time of the French revolution in order to collect rent to support the declining noble class.
 So after the Palais Royale, we crossed the street into a less snobby area and ran into this adorable store window. I love it and now I want to find that font somewhere.

 Next in our book was to go inside the Biblioteque nationale, which is under renovation right now. So we had to walk in circles to find the new entrance during the construction. Once we got inside we were looking around for the 'salle de travail,' which in our book says it was built during the Second French empire. Well we didn't see any signs for it so we asked a man working at one of the desks and he said we weren't allowed to see it. So we said thanks and then wandered around until we found a huge reading room full of students, and there was nothing that said we couldn't go in so we had a look around and it was incredible. It reminded me of the library of congress. I didn't take any pictures since we were probably not really allowed in there anyway, but I found one online (and its probably better than anything I could have taken anyways):

Amazing, right? And it was completely silent..

Once we got back out on the street I saw a few things that made me smile. First, this sign.

I love my neighborhood. I pick up.

 This sign would have been funny anyways, because I have never seen a French person clean up after their dog. Some neighborhoods are better than others, but every morning on my way to the subway I have to be on the lookout. Apart from the irony, what I really liked about the sign was the sticker of the face. I see things like this everywhere and I don't know why but I just think its so funny. The other thing I saw and loved was this shop window full of books. There's just something so beautiful about a collection of old books. I love how the stack is so high that it starts leaning over.

 Next we passed by the Bourse, which is the French Stock exchange.

Last stop on the walk was the covered passages, also called arcades, around Les Grands Boulevards. I could spend lots of time in there.

 I was on the lookout for something sweet and ended up eying the window display of a little gourmet pastry shop, went inside and looked around. It was here that I discovered 'la guimauve'. I asked the lady, 'qu'est-ce que c'est?' (what is this?) "la guimauve' she responded. I had no idea what that was, but it was pink and swirly and powdered, and it looked pretty, so I bought one. As I walked out the door,  guimauve in hand, I noticed it was unexpectedly squishy, but I tried it and it melted in the mouth like cotton candy. I was kind of baffled as to what it was, until I got home and googled 'guimauve.' Well, turns out 'guimauve' is the french word for 'marshmallow'. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, in France the French go to gourmet pastry shops to buy the finest strawberry flavored marshmallows. I found a photo online so you can see that I wasn't lying about how pretty it is.

x's and o's
Heather