Sunday 19-10 - Rabbit

The next morning I was excited. My school friend Caryn was set to arrive that afternoon. I hadn´t seen her for a while and was looking forward to catching up with her. She had booked a place to stay from Monday, but had no place for the first night. On quick glance at the net, it looked like there might be some beds free at St Chris Inn, where I stayed on my last visit.

I had heard about a market in the North of Paris worth checking out. Marche Aux Puces is one of the biggest antique and flea markets. It was a trek to get all the way up North. Getting there from the station took a bit of time as well.

But wow!

I started at Paul Bert market for vintage furniture. Every style, every era, it was all there. 1960s spheroid lime green chairs and 1920s art deco wardrobes in perfect condition. Searchlights that would put Hollywood to shame. I´m not usually a furniture person, but walking through the maze of stalls I couldn´t stop smiling. I felt like I was in a wonderland.

There was a dark stall of scientific curiosities. Lots of taxidermied monkeys and bird skeletons. He also had monkey skulls, anatomical engravings a full human skeleton. It was a place to just stare at everything in wonder.

Another store had a full grown, stuffed zebra and half of a giraffe.

The next market of antique furniture was more upscale. I walked through to the exit to find myself back in London, at Camden. A massive modern market attached itself to the flea market, filling in street left unattended. I walked briefly down the street and got a crepe to snack on.

Back into the old stuff I dove. This market was full of smaller its, but no less interesting. A store of fountain pens first caught my eye. I bought some old French pins.

It was time to meet Caryn at the station. We hugged hello at the Eurostar exit then hit the metro. We had a lot to catch up on, we were talking through the entire trip. I took her to St Christophers Inn and hoped there would be a free bed for the night. To our luck, there was.



We dumped her things then set out to meet Janelle and Yoann. We walked along the Saine, the same route my siblings and I took when we first arrived. It was great to see someone so excited about the city. As this was my second time, I had been less than touristy, but was inspired by Caryn´s enthusiasm. She made me feel like I had never been to Paris before.

We met up with the couple and found an authentic French place. It was crowded with people so we had drinks by the bar until our table was ready. It was quite a posh little place, with hand written menus. I started with a veggie soup and then rabbit with veggies. It was really good though.







The four of us chatted away through out dinner, catching up on all the Perth gossip. It had been a long while since I had been with so many Perth people. It felt good.