Evening Walk: Le Marais and Rugby

I left the apartment some time this evening, not really sure when, for a walk around the neighborhood. First stop, La Pharmacie du Village (coin de rue de Merri et rue du Temple), where I asked for "une petite guillotine pour couper les pillules." Apparently, the nice young man understood what I was asking for because he came back with just what I needed, having forgotten to bring mine.

Walked past a shop that sells nothing but buttons. I'll have to go back to photograph the window display. Sign in the window says "Aucune vente au detail" which basically means don't bother coming in here if you're looking for just a few buttons. Found the neighborhood cinema, currently showing "Vivaldi" at 14h, 16h, 18h, 20h and 22h. Why do we make film schedules so complicated at home?

Return to BHV. Popped in again to what is quickly becoming my favorite Paris department store for all things practical. Although it doesn't have La Grande Epicerie like Au Bon Marche, another wonderful spot, it seems to have just about everything else. I was looking for a little stapler (une agraffeuse), another little notebook and a folder for my Alliance Francaise stuff and, because these fall under the broad category of "school supplies," I fell right into the frenzy of la rentree: lots of moms and dads (lots of dads) with their offspring looking for just the right notebooks, paper and pens. I was standing next to one dad whose daughter was going on and on about the pen display when he caught my eye and said "les enfants connaissent tous" so I guess things are about the same all over!

Walking through a place like BHV is an education in itself. For example, I learned that padded envelopes are called "pochettes matelassees." I can get all the vocabulary I need right here. Also, part of it seems like a throwback to an earlier time. There is a HUGE needlework department with display after display of colorful buttons, beads, zippers, spools of thread, yarn and anything else one might need for sewing. I think you'd be hard pressed to find anything like that in any American department store anymore. So after surveying all of the sewing department, the "loisirs creatif" (crafts) section, the acres of painting supplies, I fell into (omigod) the book department! Immediately saw Harry Potter (ugh!) display next to rack of best-selling paperbacks including "L'accro du shopping a Manhattan" which I figured out meant "Shopaholic takes Manhattan." More vocab! There is a whole section of Taschen books alone, the gorgeous books on Art, Architecture, Style etc., and right next to that is a huge display of maps and other travel stuff. I could spend an entire day just in there. Picked up a book of "mots croises" (crossword puzzles), took one look, and immediately put it down. No way could I do any of those. The puzzles aren't symmetrical like ours, and they have only about 6 black squares in the entire puzzle. Looked impossible. Finally got in line to pay for my few little items (sign: sens de la file, meaning "the line goes this way", but I need to figure out when to use "file" and when to use "queue"). Frankly, the only reason I was able to tear myself away was that the store was closing (7:45 p.m.)

Continuing down rue de la Verrerie, I noticed a large driveway with a sign "BHV Retraits de Collis" meaning "package pick up." I remark on this only because, un peu plus loin, I saw another sign which said "BHV Retraits de Collis 15." Hadn't noticed a number on the first. I wonder how many they actually have.

Noted on walk:
-"Pressing de Quatre Filles" (sounds like a nice feminist establishment), coin rue de Rivoli et rue Veille du Temple;
-"Dollhouse: Jeux de Filles." Ok, so I'm thinking this is a place to buy dolls for little girls, but as I walk by, it appears to be a shop for men's underwear. I didn't linger long enough to see what else might have been on offer!
-Dragon Tattoo and Piercings
-Thai restaurant, au Petit Thai, at 6 rue du roi de Sicile. want to go back to that.
-Many hair salons still open (at 8 p.m. and after). so sensible.
- Bel Air, a clothing shop on the corner of Rue de Malher and rue des Rosier, is in the former space of a boulangerie, and they have kept all of the old signage and lettering in the windows. Fabulous!

Quartier des Juifs. I was wondering when I would see signs that this is the Jewish quarter when suddenly appeared a sign for "Kosher pizza". You'd think that people who are smart enough to keep kosher would be smart enough not to eat pizza but, hey, that's just my bias. I'm not a big pizza fan. Passed by L'As du Falafel, home of the world's best falafel (in my admittedly limited view) but it was closed, Friday being the Sabbath, of course. Many Orthodox Jews (men) afoot on their way to services.

Also noted:
- Galerie Fiesta on rue Veille du Temple, with amazing "maquettes" of the Eiffel Tower, the Empire State Building and the Chrysler Building in the window.
-A branch of the chain store, Oliviers & Co, with actual olive trees for sale.
-On the corner of rue V. du T. and rue des Petits Bourgeois is one of my very favorite buildings in all of Paris, with a little turret on the second/third stories jutting out from the corner of the building. A Zadig & Voltaire clothing store at street level.
-Shop: Fragonard. Go back here!

Rugby World Cup 2007. Later this evening, a huge commotion outside. I leaned out my window to see beaucoup de monde milling around in the big square in front of the Hotel de Ville. Occasional raucous cheering. I realized they must be showing the rugby match (France v. Argentina) on the big screen I had seen there last night. After my talk with Jean Aranha, I decided to go out and have a look for myself (Eleanor, don't worry: I put my keys in the pocket of my pants, didn't carry a handbag and wore no jewelry!) The entire square was filled with people. After seeing NINE trucks labelled "gendarmerie," I decided not to join them but to stay on the corner across the street where we could see the screen just fine. I asked a young man about the score, and it was 7 to 6, Argentina, with 5 minutes left to go in the first half. I was able to figure out that France was in the "bleu fonce" and Argentina in the "bleu clair" uniforms. Before the end of the first half, France scored what looked to me for all the world like an American football field goal. I don't know any more about rugby than I do about cricket, but it looks to me like they might have given birth to football and baseball respectively. It was the usual rowdy sports crowd but everyone seemed under control. However, I did see a couple of idiots roller-blading right in with the traffic down rue de Rivoli, going quite fast, weaving in and out among the cars. And it was dark outside. (NB: France lost to Argentina.)

Fresh strawberries from Belgium for dinner tonight! Bought on my walk. Very sweet.

Pedometer reading today: 5,590, not counting the two trips up and down those 63 stairs in the morning and evening. I'm getting hooked on this thing!

PS: All together the cost of the cafetiere, the cup, the coffee, the milk and the sugar was about 31 euros, so I figure I will have recouped that in 8 days! And my coffee tastes better!