I put a long-sleeved top on today for the first time in four
months! Just as well I bought one yesterday. It’s been a bit showery here in
Paris but we haven’t got caught in any rain. It’s definitely cooler than we are
used to.
It’s our last day here today and we are off to the local
market – supposedly the largest covered market in Paris. It turned out to be
remarkably small and ordinary, not a patch on others we have seen in other
parts of the world. Quite odd really, and we can’t explain it. Nothing wrong
with its coffee though!
We spent hours wandering around and about, finding a lovely
busy area on Rue des Archives in the St Gervais, 3rd Arrondissement. Absolutely full of little shops and Parisians enjoying a sunny morning at
the many corner cafés. We thoroughly enjoyed just cruising about. There are so
many “big” sights to see, but there really isn’t much to beat just being here
looking about. Back home footsore about 3pm.
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| A typical Paris corner cafe |
I’d been keeping my French mobile data plan alive until we left, as
the phone has been invaluable for looking up metro lines, finding directions, seeing
where we are and so on, but it was time to kill it off. Possible online, no.
By email, no. Visit to a store, no. Ring them up, no. I have to send in a registered
letter! Some things the French do really well, like cheese, metros and
motorways. Some they just don’t get, like walking track signage, setting up
simple usable websites and the use of email. Odd really as they were among the
first in the world with many technologies. New Zealand is streets ahead in many
ways, and it will be nice to be able to do business by phone and email without
fuss (or translation!).
