Le Week-end

I woke up early (for me) this morning and headed to the outdoor market at the Place de la Bastille. It was a beautiful day, sun shining, so I decided to walk. I wandered along the Seine and across to a huge, bustling market. I started by wandering up and down the aisles, looking at products and prices. Buying things at the market is both intimidating (there are lines, some merchants want to move through customers quickly, it's difficult to hear prices over the crowds), but it's also rewarding (I was called Bella at the end of every sentence by the plump Italian man who sold me clementines and who added a few extra into my bag). I left the market with apples, clementines, carrots, and mangos (3 for a euro!)...enough fruit to last me the week but too much to carry home, despite the fact I wanted to stay in the sun. Before heading back I bought a pastry (a mix between a baguette and a croissant, kind of an almond-flavored breadstick) and sat on the ground in the sun and listened to a jazz band play. Nice way to spend a morning.

When I got home I found Mme. Beguin outside my room (there's a terrace on two sides and there are no walls, just sliding doors) cleaning off the terrace and trimming her plants. She loves gardening and there are plants all over both sides of the terrace. At around 2:30, Laure and M. Beguin managed to get her off the terrace to have lunch. She was too busy to cook, so she sent M. Beguin to a nearby boulangerie to pick something up. I was starving by that point and excited about the meal. We started with salad, then she brought out of the oven a sandwich cut into four pieces. It was a Croque Monsieur, a very very French sandwich of ham and cheese (usually laid out on one slice of bread, this one was more American-style, like a grilled cheese with ham and tomatoes). Following that, she brought out a quiche, which I believe was filled with goat cheese, but I didn't care to know the details of what was inside since I enjoyed the taste. I know there were artichokes and I think a few onions and definitely some kind of cheese.

After lunch all I wanted to do was collapse on my bed, which I did for about 10 minutes, then realized I better take advantage of the nice weather. The sun had already begun to fade behind clouds, but it was still relatively nice so I set out in jogging clothes, intending to run or walk as I felt like for an hour. As soon as I came out of our building my feet seemed to spring to life, and I took off jogging down the street (unlike unusual, when I run in Luxembourg Gardens across the street). I headed down to the Seine, then went down on the roads that run right along the water which are closed to cars on Sunday so people can walk. I ran down to Pont Alexandre (near Les Invalides) then crossed the bridge and ran back up the other side until the Pont Neuf and ran back to my appt. Amazingly an hour had passed, and although I was exhausted by the end, I was quite excited to have finally done my first long run of Paris. It started raining halfway through and I was pretty wet when I got home, at which point the sun came out again. Overall lovely day.