Paris Encore 2022 - Market Encore, Fountains and Giraffes

Wednesday, May 4, market day in the neighborhood, encore! Our days start slowly, as they always include Rick’s trip to the boulangerie for breakfast items. We will miss the wonderful, fresh, and sometimes still warm, baguettes that we have each morning. Not to mention the pastries!

The market was happening again today, and we wanted to check it out. Well, it was a shadow of its Saturday self. Like Saturday Market on a strict diet. Lots of empty spots, and not the crowds we’d seen on Saturday. Still plenty to look at though. 

There were plenty of food stalls, but on this day, it seemed like more books, housewares, clothes, knitting and sewing supplies were there compared to Saturday. If you lived here, I guess you’d know which day to look for which vendor.

I took a photo of a decorative fountain at the end of the market street. When I was reading up on Shakespeare and Company in Rick Steves’ Paris guide, I saw a photo of a fountain just like the one in our neighborhood. His book explained the origin of this fountain and many others around town. They were donated to the city by English philanthropist Sir Richard Wallace, who spent most of his life here. Wallace donated 60 fountains beginning in 1862, after the Franco-Prussian war. The aqueducts had been destroyed, and this would give the residents access to water.  There are hooks around them that held metal drinking cups up until the 1950s. The four nymphs represent sobriety, simplicity, kindness and charity. Based on Wallace’s design, another 44 fountains were installed around town, making a total of 104. You can buy a guide to help find them all. Ours is 2 miles away from the one near Shakespeare and Company, so I was quite surprised to see a similar fountain there.

The young woman standing next to the fountain had just finished filling her water bottle when I walked up. You can barely see the water trickling in the center of the statues.

We Metro’d over to Rue Mouffetard, a charming market street in the 5th Arrondissement, to find lunch. The street is narrow, and chock full of shops and restaurants, so it was bustling on this nice day.

Our restaurant was facing the square at the top of the street. La Contrescarpe served a tasty lunch. Rick had a Croque Monsieur, which is an open-faced melted cheese sandwich, with ham in this case. I’ve been ordering Salade Niçoise for lunch often, and it’s funny that every restaurant so far has had canned tuna in the salad. At home we make it with seared tuna. Almost always, a little basket of baguette slices is served with lunch and dinner. No butter, no olive oil and balsamic vinegar, just dry. But it’s always very fresh, with a crunchy crust, tender inside. It doesn’t take much getting used to.  Rick’s glass of Chardonnay was 4,50 euros, while my glass of plain tonic was 4,90. Go figure.

Next stop, the Grande Galerie de l’Évolution. We walked over to the Jardin des Plantes where the museum is located. There wasn’t much of a line to get in. The museum had a great display of the animals of the savannah in the center of a 3-story atrium. The lighting changed periodically during our visit - sometimes seeming dark and mysterious, and sometimes sunny. At one point, there were claps of thunder and flashing bolts of lightning outside of the glass ceiling. A whale skeleton was suspended in the atrium too.

There were lots of families visiting the museum, and kids of all ages were agape at the wonder of it all. Even old kids, like us.

We walked through the Jardin des Plantes on our way to the Metro. So many flowers, so little time.

Next time, we visit Vaux-le-Vicomte Château, out in the country.