Then off to Notre-Dame to meet Linda and Mir. I am quite awful at finding my way around places, but they managed to rescue me before I set off towards the Louvre by mistake. We took the Metro 4 line all the way to its northern terminus at the Porte de Clignancourt on our journey to the largest market in Paris (well, largest flea market, but that sounds so unpleasant). I hoped to find some interesting souvenirs that were a bit off the beaten path and didn't have "I <heart> Paris" plastered all over them. Pushing our way through an rather less pleasant neighborhood thick with hawkers, we found some old twisting alleyways with shops and stalls selling everything from clothing to furniture to silver to suits of armor; I enjoyed browsing through the more eclectic shops, though nothing both caught my eye and fell into my budget range. Then we stumbled upon an airy, clean, modern-artsy arcade lined with similar shops, including - very importantly - book stalls!
Immediately upon entering, we spied a box full of old coins from all over the world, selling for two coins per euro. I had a lot of fun rummaging for several minutes, looking for the very best coins, and was rewarded with a few one-franc coins (mostly to give as souvenirs to others), a strangely-shaped Paris telephone coin, some franc-cent pieces (one with an intentional hole in the middle), a wheat-back penny (I know, I know - it's a just a penny - but it's from 1916. That is the oldest penny I've ever seen.), and! some sort of Italian coin and a French coin, both from the 1860's. The coins are worn almost smooth, they are so old. There were so many more cool coins, from Russia, and the Netherlands, Germany, Asia, Britain, Italy, Israel, Turkey...but I held myself to 5 euros worth and am very happy indeed with my purchase.
My other triumph put me in a good enough mood that I enjoyed looking through the market for a few more hours. I found a shop selling French comic books and really wanted to buy a Tintin book in French. After striking up a mixed French/English conversation with the shopkeeper, a friendly and patient old man, I had to run to catch up with the others. But I returned a few minutes later, and asked the price of a particular book, which he gave as 15 euros. Deciding it wasn't worth that, I set the book down...only to have him bring the price down to 5 euros for me. He was so nice, and I was so pleasantly surprised to have haggled entirely unintentionally. I think the comic is a first edition, too; the date in the front is 1955. I think it is a lovely souvenir of France, and I can't wait until I have time to actually read it! Really, it was quite nice to shop for and buy things that I was actually excited to own, unlike most shopping that I do.
Kierstin had joined us midway through the afternoon, and we had met a friendly American student named Nick at the metro station who joined us for our market adventure. Towards 3:30 or so, it started to rain, and we were tired and tired of shopping, so it was time to go home. Bidding farewell to Nick halfway down the line, we rode the entire length of the Metro 4 to get back to a supermarket a few blocks from the dorms. Following a tasty meal that we cooked in the kitchen of Linda's house, Kierstin and I had a quiet and restful evening. Back to work tomorrow morning! I can't believe we've been here for only a week and a day.
It was great seing you. I like your writing !
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