Beaujolais - Friday, 20 November

Today was a walking day because it is so mild for this time of year. Overnight the temperature only fell to 8 degrees and today it was 15 degrees and sunny. We love the Paris street markets and had read that there was a particularly interesting one near the site of the old market, Les Halles, in the rue Montorgueil, a short street just behind Les Halles. For those who want to come here take the Metro to Sentier and exit at the rue des Petits Carreaux. When we found it, it turned out to be not a market, but rather a street of delightful food shops. Very elegant! Although described as the nearest thing one would find to the old Les Halles, we decided that only applied geographically.

The old market (just like Covent Garden Market) had been closed and relocated to some suburb in modern and more hygienic but less interesting premises in the outer suburbs. Again like Covent Garden, the old facade has been retained and a modern shopping centre erected within its premises. For everyone reading this in Adelaide, remember what happened to the old East End Market and please don't ever let it happen to the Central Market which is unique. From what we have seen of Les Halles and Covent Garden, it has been like ripping the heart out of a major part of the city!

From rue Montorgueil we wound our way to rue de Rivoli and walked east toward the Hotel de Ville which is the Marie for the 1ere Arondissment. Built in the 1870s and 80s, it is a lovely example of neo-Renaissance architecture. Very strict security - we couldn't get past the guards and considering the rather large weapons they were carrying decided it was not a situation in which we wanted to engage in an argument. From there, after a bite of lunch, we walked back and since we needed a couple of items stopped in C&A, an English department store. What was interesting about this was that after the security at the Hotel de Ville we were probably more conscious of it. We noticed a chap standing around with a C&A bag in his hand when we arrived and saw him shortly thereafter in the men’s section and later again in the women’s clothing area. He was not making purchases and was dressed very informally. Since shoplifting in Paris (like most other places in the world) is rife, we suddenly twigged that he was a store security person! This, of course, contributes to a certain paranoia; and we now see security personnel everywhere! Or maybe it is just more obvious. Today, when we went to catch the Metro, there were guards waiting in one of the corridors to catch people who had not purchased tickets. Last week, when I was at the Louvre, there were dozens of guards herding people into specific areas and one of the Metro stations was closed.

For all of you wine lovers the following may be of more relevance to you than it is to us. Apparently the Beaujolais season is upon us and all the cafes have signs up to tell us they have received their consignment. So, tomorrow in the afternoon, we will wend our way to one of our local watering holes (why does one call a place a watering-hole when it is probably the last thing you would drink there) to taste the new vintage.



While we were on our walk this morning we stopped to have a look at the glorious Tour St Jacques. As I mentioned yesterday, it had been wrapped up while they restored it – and what a gorgeous job of restoration. This is the tower of a very old church, Eglise St-Jacques de Boucherie. As the name suggests, it was built by the powerful Butchers' Guild in 1523. The Church wass the starting point for pilgrims setting off for the shrine of St Jame at Santiago de Compostela. Somehow it seems a bit more appropriate, although not as much fun, as The Tabard Inn. The church was demolished in 1797, but the tower was retained to become a shot tower. Cleaned and lovingly restored it is now one of the magnificent monuments that dot this city.