Sunday in the park with Emma

This morning, right outside our apartment building was a fabulous, outdoor farmer's market. There were fresh veges, fruits, fish, cheese, bread and pastries. It was fabulous. Now we are excited about next Sunday because we plan on cooking ourselves a feast using fresh ingredients from the market.

There were wonderful outdoor markets everywhere today, despite it raining nearly all day. One market was filled with hundreds of birds! No, not for eating... they were song birds mostly. The also had cages and birdseed by the tons.

We planned on viewing the city from the top of some monuments today, starting with Notre Dame. Unfortunately, it was mobbed! The line to get in was over an hour wait. They also had mass schedued every two to three hours, so there were tons of people crowded in to attend. We decided to come back during the week and hope for less of a crowd.

So, we went searching for the ice cream shop recommended by Susan. Alas, I guess a rainy, cold Sunday morning is not a popular time for ice cream sales. No worries, we shall try again when we return.

Next we walked to the Musee De L'Orangerie in hopes of finding somewhere to escape the rain. Along the way we crisscrossed all the fabulous bridges. One bridge had thousands of padlocks covering the iron sides. Every lock had the names of two people in love. Some had dates, or special love notes, too. Thousands of locks representing people's love and devotion. Sigh. Yet another romantic aspect to Paris.

The Musee De L'Organgerie had it's own daunting line to get in, so we finally came to terms with the fact that the weekends were not the days to visit museums and monuments, especially since we could wait until a less crowded week day.

We decided to just wander in the rain. We ate sandwiches and pastries for lunch and followed them up with hot chocolate and Crepes. We explored the Jardiniere des Tuileries. It was gorgeous even with the rain and huge puddles. Next we explored the Place De La Concorde with the National Assemble and it's Egyptian Obelisque. Both the Grand Palais and Petit Palias also had more then two hour wait times just to get in!

Finally, a long walk home in the rain that ended in a hot bubble bath. Now we are preparing to cook dinner and try and head to bed early.

What does tomorrow hold? Sacre-Coeur and Montmartre? The Catacombs? Musee Rodin? Musee Picasso? Louvre? Musee de D'Orsay? Arc de Triumph? Finally getting into Notre Dame or the Eiffel Tower? What do you think?