La Grande Epicerie

It is very very early in the morning by Paris standards - 6am.  This is like the middle of the night here.  I couldn't sleep so I gave up and decided to start my day US style - with coffee & computer.

Yesterday I explored a whole new part of the city - the 2nd arrondissement.  My cooking instructor told me about an amazing gourmet shop located in Le Bon Marche which does not have any affiliation with Macy's - thank goodness.  She told me that it was grander that Galerie Lafayette which I could not believe so I had to see it myself.  I got there with no problem by train and even found a whole new shopping area.  I wandered a bit and even purchased a gorgeous new purse which was actually on sale!  Sales are not that common here so I just HAD to purchase it.  I didn't spend too much time in this area b/c I was excited to see this gourmet mega store.

The Bon Marche is très chic.  It consists of two buildings - one for clothes and regular dept. store stuff and a whole separate building just for the epicerie.  Well, I walked into this place and could not believe my eyes.  It is 30,000 square feet of all things culinary.  Most everything else in Paris is on a relatively small scale so it was a bit of a shock to see this grand mega-store.  Food, books, some gear, produce - everything you can imagine and it's from all over the world.  It's like the Costco of my dreams where every aisle is curated and all the products are made with care.  Except it was very, very expensive.

I went to get a mini shopping cart b/c I knew that I would want to spend some time wandering without carrying a bunch of stuff - and I had that giant new purse to lug around as well.  The shopping carts were all chained together and connected with these red rubber keys.  I could not for the life of me figure out how to free them and of course nobody was going to help me out.  I am sure I was entertaining to look at pulling and pushing carts together over and over....  Finally another guy came up to get one and I watched so I could mimic his actions - I find myself doing that a lot here.  Find a local, watch and then repeat.  It works.  Turns out it costs 1 EU to use a shopping cart.  You have to slip in a coin and voila, the chains release.

It looks like this is where locals come to get fancy dinner party fixins.  Seemed to be a lot of folks shopping for special dinner items like beef tenderloin etc.  I can't imagine doing regular day to day shopping here b/c you would go broke.  Yet, I still managed to fill my cart with a mix of food for the apt. and gifts for back home.  In fact, my bags were so heavy from this shopping excursion that I could not take the train back home as planned.  I had to take a taxi back to the apt. to unload - the first time taking a taxi within the city since I've been here!  I will return to this neighborhood soon because there is plenty more to see without the baggage of baggage.

The rest of the afternoon was spent walking and walking and walking.  I wandered around streets near the apt. that I had not been through before.  There are so many little nooks and alleyways to explore it's easy to spend hours going through the maze.  I still haven't run into Rue Rosiers which is the Jewish neighborhood.  I know it is around here in this spider web of a neighborhood - I'll find it soon.

My plan for the evening was to visit Centre Pompidou as it stays open till 10pm every night.  Isn't that great that a museum that stays open late so locals can actually visit it when they are not working?  I know there is a cost for this but it is clear that the people support the arts as they are so integrated with the city.  Another reason why I love it here.   Alas, my plans of evening museum visits were thwarted by tired feet and the call of the tub.  I am in love with the big tub here and have enjoyed soaking every night.  I fell asleep early and ping - was up at 4 am for no earthly reason.  Oh well, the truth of the matter is that I have nowhere to be and can let the day take me where it will.  I am looking forward to the next adventure - tired or not.