Another Summer in Paris - Part 3

Inside one of the new speakeasies in Paris, Moonshiner.  

Gotta see this! Jacques Tati's Playtime

France has a whole world of sauces and tastes and foods that we don't really know about in America because, feelings aside, France had colonies in North Africa like in Algeria and Morocco so a lot of that gets thrown in the spread.

All of this from the tuesday/sunday market by my house for 18 euros.  5 kinds of cheese, merguez and chipolata sausages and bonus terrine from the lady, farm fresh eggs, 2 poignée (handfuls, new word I learned from the lady) of mesclun salad, girolle mushrooms (they don't call them chanterelles here), tomatoes and a baguette.  why leave?

Polish babababushka

every year before Bastille day (not called that here, called July 14th) the firemen have huge parties at the fire stations across paris.  Here we are waiting to get into one in the Marais.

after spending some time in one huge courtyard we tried to leave only to discover on the way out there was another even bigger courtyard going on.

I guess people just embrace this tradition if they live within one of the courtyards of the fire station and boogie down.

the firemen in Paris are known for being hot stuff, I know they are in the US too but here they definitely live up to that promise more.  They were all tending the bar.

this guy was diva'ing out

Square de la Place Dauphine is a someone hidden place.  I have only seen French people hanging out here even though its across the street from that awesome corner of Ile de La Cite.  The street you have to cross makes you not want to cross it though so maybe it is naturally protected.  It's always a lively atmosphere of different parties drinking and playing petanque or that wooden sticks game 

gargoyles of Notre Dame

it's wednesday

Notre Dame in the back

shortly after a swing dance party broke out.  There were jugglers, and various other hippie activities going on in the background.  My initial reaction is to be disparaging because it's a wednesday and its like every day is saturday here but then again they've been making it work for so many years why not let them have at it?  Granted their economy isn't doing so well but neither is ours and we work like dogs.