Preparing for a week in Paris

After a very deep sleep, jet lag not even a hint, Saturday morning Sally and I ventured out to organise a few bits for my week in Paris! Primarily a transport card and coffee and lunch!

The transport card was duly purchased but needed a passport photo to complete… even Sally’s vast knowledge of services in Clichy left us wanting for a while as we strolled the busy streets. To no avail, we took a coffee break…

And caught the first of my summer rays! The final decision was to go to the photographers shop and have a professional do the job! chin up… again… and after numerous attempts he caught a shot that he was happy with. Personally I didn’t really care what it looked like….as I said to him “I am not French, anything will do”. I must admit, however, without makeup it is one of the nicer shots of my mug! We then went to an Italian cafe for lunch, me craving a salad (after all the carbo stacked plane food) and that is what I got!

The Clichy Saturday street market was in full swing and provided us with first of the delicious summer fruits…. Flatto peaches, nectarines, apricots and strawberries! All of which I savoured for my dinner after an afternoon nap!!! Back to healthy eating… again crashing as soon as my head hit the pillow…and waking to an overcast slightly cooler day…

Perfect for my Sunday plans … a 3.5 mile walk to the antiques flea market in St Ouen… a distant memory of a place I visited many years ago… google walking maps taking me on my journey…

Past parks with blooming spring roses…

And impressive retirement apartment block….

And a street market at st Ouen village centre…which warranted a side stroll!

Getting near my destination I found the first cafe and sat down (after over an hour on my feet) for a cappuccino…

More froth than coffee but it did the trick and provided a restroom stop before the miles and miles of markets ahead of me…

Street art streets

I arrived at my destination and switched google maps off as I followed my nose (and other tourists) through the alleys of antiques and collectables. That done, the adjoining streets merged into more flea markets…

Garden art…

Knock off labels (Nike, adidas, under armour, Ralph Lauren etc….) boosted by the busyness of shoppers, vendors yelling, loud club music, marijuana wafts, incense, and nasty fried food smells…every human immigrant variety….at times a little overwhelming, as I worked my way through the maze of continuous stalls, clutching my handbag to my stomach…hesitating to stop for long in fear of being accosted by an overzealous stall holder. I did wonder at times is I was still in Paris or had I been transported to the Middle East?

Another block of more established antique and retro collections…by now having decided I was not actually going to purchase a piece of very expensive junk, I decided to plug in my Paris abode address to mr google and head for home…this time I was taken through some very interesting areas…tent cities of the homeless and a street of car dwellers…cooking their food on gas cookers inside broken down old cars…but not to get lost, I continued to follow the maps (while craving for a sit down and not daring to as a stationary target is more susceptible than a moving one! )

The scenery finally became more appealing with the corner florist(and delivery truck) and I finally found my feet on the familiar Clichy streets…and back to Sally’s apartment after my five hour walking tour…collapsing on the terrace with a much needed coffee!

My walking tracker confirming the sore feet and hips were warranted, after over 15000 steps and 11kms recorded for my morning wander…by now 2pm, the worms in my tummy were telling me it was time to eat…so back out on the street, with my host, to the nearest cafe for a late lunch and cool beer…a much enjoyed treat!