LETTER FROM PARIS #15 - endless discovery

I never thought I would “enjoy” a head-on meeting with a drunk at noon on a sunny Tuesday. A big man, red hair in a mop, unruly red beard, swinging a bottle of beer and making a threatening move directly at us.. He laughed, waved the bottle, and walked around us. A Senegalese man walking with his little daughter laughed – said he was alright and it was a little early to be drinking. That is Paris at its best, a drunk with a sense of humour and an African Francophone laughing along with him. I know – I’m idealizing.

We were walking back from another “discovery” – the markets on Rue Bayen. Meaning no disrespect for tourists and guide books, this two block long cornucopia of good things to eat, simply doesn’t find itself awash in gawkers – except the two of us.

My favourite, I am still after all - a tourist, has always been Rue Mouffetarde. The guide books place it very high on the list, right up there with Rue Clair. Well my friends, I think Rue Bayen has as much going for it as Rue Clair – except – except that it is not on the Left Bank.

As we walked I commented to Shirley: “If I really wanted to experience Paris; if I was really tired of the “uber-chic” of the Left Bank and the Marais – nothing would suit me better than our area in the 17th Arrondissment." Rue Bayen clinched it with its array of boulangeries, fromageries, poissoneries, and epiceries, plus restaurants of every kind.

I think things got a bit out of hand when I bought six peaches, six plums, a container of fresh strawberries and one of raspberries for the startling price of 29 euros! Maybe I was scammed. But if I was they did it with charm. Recalling the woman writing in the Globe and Mail about a barbecued chicken she bought at Bon Marche for around 25 Euro, I bought a chicken and a half kilo of potatoes Dauphine for just over 13 Euro. Everyone was helpful. Everyone coped with my French.

I’m sure I’m not the first visitor who has stumbled upon places the guide books fail to mention. Several years ago it was serendipity, not Frommer’s that led us to the Church of Ste. Clothilde where Cesar Franck had been the organist, and across the road to UNESCO where there was a stunning if modest sculpture garden with Giacometti and Calder and on the inside murals by Miro. We haven’t been back, but when we were there we were virtually the only ones.

Perhaps what I am trying to explain is that we do not “plan” our itinerary. We do not agonize over travel guides and internet sites trying to be sure we have not missed anything. We are and will continue to be “flanneurs.” We wander. We see what just happens to be there. Like the market on Rue Bayen. Please don’t miss it. In fact, there are enough hotels in the 17uth that you would have no trouble finding a good place to stay. Try it – you’ll like it.