Sunday May 6 (part 1)

I took myself off to another antique market - organised by the same people who ran the one I went to on April 21 - my first full day in Paris!  It seems so long ago, but I've been here only two weeks.  The one today was in the 14th arrondissement, right on the outskirts of the centre of Paris slightly to the west of south.  I could see signs to the peripherique, so I knew I was on the boundary of "real" Paris and greater Paris.  Not as many stalls stalls this time.  I recognised some of the ones I'd seen earlier, like the one with the scarves for 1 euro.  I had no need for more, so I moved on.  At the end of the market was a stall selling beignets.  I'm not sure how it happened, but I got 3 for 2 euro.  It seemed like a good deal to me.  I had one of each flavour - stawberry, apple and chocolate. 

I kept the chocolate until last and it was the best. The fruit ones definitely had more sugar and something else - vanilla?  The chocolate was like real molten chocolate, although the beignets were not hot when I bought them.  I don't like to eat while I walk, so it was lucky a park was right there and I went it.  It was big (5 hectares) and I'd hit jogging central.  Funnily enough, none of the joggers were carrying any candy-striped bags of beignets.  The park, Parc de Montsouris, is opposite a university, so I guess the students like to jog.  There were a number of statues, including a gold one of Thomas Paine and this one with a lovely bed of wildflowers at its base.

I like how lawns in a number of parks are left a bit wild and overgrown.  I'd just been reading about Brenda Gael Smith's reveal of Desire Lines #8 and what desire lines actually are and I found the perfect example here.

This guy made the ponies run

then groomed them, probably getting them ready for riding.  There were lots of things for kids here, including a puppet theatre.

And so I started my walk back into the city.  One part I walked through had a village feel - the buildings being quite different from other parts of town.

At one point I ducked down a one lane wide cobblestone street to find more townhouses facing a gorgeous courtyard.  It's another world from the part of Paris where I live.  At Place d'Italie this modern sculpture was on top of a building - my camera isn't good enough to capture the colours on the metal beams.

I'd seen these inscriptions on other buildings, but the name of this architect caught my eye.

I came across the factory where the Gobelins manufactured tapestries for the royal court.  The nearby cafe's sign has an apt sewing design.

A trap for new players - this double carriage way has two way traffic on EACH SIDE - hence the sign.