Passage du Closed
| |02-NOV-2015| Two goals for today: shopping and clocking less than 10 miles on foot. Epic fail, on both. Who knew half of Paris is closed on Mondays? |
Left the hotel around 9am with a bit of a trek ahead of us, but nothing crazy. Stopped at a cafe about half way to our first destination, had some coffee and watched people for a while. It’s foggy here today – cool and damp – and people are bundled up like a blizzard is coming! |
| Adventures detailed below. I did manage some shopping: new season of scarves at Desigual and some Parisian treats to bring home. 🙂 |
 Have you seen the movie “The Bourne Identity”? If you have, you know the scene where they drive the MINI down the stairs running from the French police. Well, these are the stairs – Passage Plantin at Rue de Couronnes, Belleville, Paris. It’s tight but I think, mirrors collapsed, a new generation MINI hardtop would fit … not that I’m volunteering mine! |
First stop, Passage de Panoramas, in the 2nd arrondissement. Originally opened in 1800, it’s one of the first covered commercial passageways in Europe. When it opened it focused on the philatelic items, which is still well represented in the shops today. Unfortunately, the shops were closed. We did, however, pick up some tasty croissants for the journey to the next passage. |
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Next up, but unfortunately also closed, was Passage du Grand Cerf. Opened in 1825, this arcade features 12m glass ceilings and wrought iron work which allows daylight to flood the narrow space. We took a wrong turn looking for this one and ended up on a sketch street of knock-off clothing vendors, kebab stalls and sex shops. Turns out, once we got back on the correct track, the entrance to the Passage was still flanked by sex shops.
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 Paris metro. This particular station, Arts et Metiers, was very steampu  nk with its copper walls and brass portals. BTW, found the graffiti in Paris – it’s in the metro. It looks like every inch of the tunnels are tagged and painted. |
Lunch at Blend Hamburger – Pleepleus is checking out the grub while Jeff considers the small wooden “fry fork” and slightly funky ketchup. Local beer: Demory “Astroblonde”. |
  Final dinner in Paris and we decided to eat in – how can you pass up French cheese, wine and bread? Oh, and tomatoes. And the best salami I’ve ever had. Um, yes please. 🙂 Jeff “sourced” everything from within sight of our hotel – good work! |
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Signing off from Paris tonight. Tomorrow we’ll be coming at you from Reykjavik on the eve of Iceland Airwaves 2015!!! |
