Playing tourist -

Yesterday Paris reverted to gray windy weather, with heavy storm clouds piling up in the afternoon. Rain never happened, but the threat was there.

Today, by contrast, a hot sun came up. I got into full tourist mode by taking the Metro to Bastille, closest embarkation point for the boat trip up the Canal St. Martin. After last year's trip down the Danube, the locks on the canal looked pretty tame, but the long tunnel the boat goes through at the beginning of the trip was attention-getting.


The trip is worth doing, especially on a hot spring morning just before full tourist season. Because some neighborhoods along the canal figure prominently in French mysteries (Inspector Maigret lived on the Blvd. Richard Lenoir) and movies (Marcel Carne filmed "Hotel du Nord" in 1938 in a building that is still called Hotel du Nord, whether or not it actually figured in the movie) canal boats are evocatively named. The boat I was on was the Arletty - the one we passed, about halfway through the trip, was, of course, Marcel Carne.

Boats go all the way to Parc de la Villette, a huge, elaborate park that began to take shape more than 20 years ago, on the site that was formerly the stockyards/abbatoir of Paris.

In 1990, Terry and I took the Metro a long way out of the usual tourist circuit to see the park, which he had read about in Landscape Architecture magazine. We had it almost to ourselves that late October day, because crews were still at work, planting and shaping, and many of the buildings that now draw people to the site were still under construction.


He wanted to come back, to see the trees grown up and the park full of people. He felt sure it would be a hugely important place, and it is - that entire area of Paris continues to transform because of the park.

Across from the end of the boat ride I lucked into a "Brocante" market - antiques and collectibles, rather like the Fremont Market on steroids - or a giant "vide grenier." There were lovely things, but I resisted them all - a small suitcase is a powerful dis-incentive to shopping!

Although the commentator on the boat made sure to direct passengers to the nearest Metro so they could go directly back to Bastille, I just wandered, eventually ending up at a cafe on the corner of Rue de Lafayette and a couple of other streets. Excellent "salad cantalou" - a sort of enhanced potato salad, with prosciutto and a couple of kinds of cheese.


Then I walked on as far as the Gare de l'Est, where I got on a bus that I knew goes somewhere near my neighborhood. Fascinating ride, through some areas I've never visited, and a roundabout entry to this part of the 17th. Without being exactly sure where I was, I managed to get off at a stop that was a short walk to a street that leads directly to Rue de Courcelles, a block from Villa Monceau.

Although it's probably dangerous to think one actually knows a part of Paris, the thought is there!