A very full day again- just under 14km walked

We again managed to pack a lot into our day!

Looking ahead to dinner, we sought out the markets at Saxe-Bretueil about a 15 minute walk from our place. It's a fresh market and held twice a week.

We passed more spectacular buildings on our walk. It seems every corner we turn brings history into sharp focus, especially given our 'young' Aussie heritage.

The markets were full of tempting local produce- so we shopped up! Dinner pics will follow later here's what we left behind.

Baz's haircut went smoothly and he even had his hair washed and dried though with a number 2 not sure how one does that!. Apparently a step up from his hairdresser in Perth- I hope she doesn't get offended... The next cut back in Perth may be hard to book in perhaps?

I searched 'off the beaten track' Paris ideas last night and found the 'Coulee Verte' which is a city park built along a disused elevated rail line through the 12th  arr. A visit to our local boulangerie was what we needed for a picnic lunch then we were on our way to explore.

The Metro ride was quite colourful to say the least. Last night in Paris there was a zombie parade where locals dressed up as living dead to hit the streets. Today we spotted a fully costumed zombie girl on our train- could this have been a ghoulish 'walk of shame'? No pics unfortunately she was too scary to push a camera at. The kids couldn't stop staring. Next a guy busking with a saxophone worked his way up the carriages so they were ready to escape when our stop at Bastille arrived.

You may have heard of the High Line park in New York- well this was built in the 90's so precedes that. It's interesting to see how it fits with this city and the residents around it. I noticed more new construction in NY integrating the high line, whereas the Coulee Verte has centuries old neighbours.

Anyone seen the movie 'Ratatouille'? We had a little Ratatouille moment when this little fella and a few mates popped out of the bushes next to our picnic seat to join in the feast.

The kids thought he was very cute, but judging by this shop display we saw later in the day the Parisians don't agree!!

I dragged the family into E. Dehillerin- a Paris cooking landmark and filled with foodie tourists and some local accents too. I may have something bright and heavy to pack in my bag!

I was overwhelmed by the place, but thankfully Baz was able to decipher their pricing system for me.

The river walk home along the Seine included a stop for refreshments at a floating restaurant. The banks were packed with people enjoying the sunshine.

The de-love locked bridge. A few panels are left along the entrance ramps but our 2013 lock has been removed with many thousands to stop the historic bridge being damaged by the weight of the locks.

As we headed down our street I spotted the Petrosian, a shop and restaurant Baz and I visited in New York last year and we took the kids in to look around.

We were in the 'deli' side rather than the restaurant. They display food and some decorator items including these jewelled eggs- this reminded us of something you would like Norma.

Their specialty is caviar and we got chatting with the bloke behind the counter as he finished with a client.

He kindly shared lots of information with us about the fish caviar is harvested from, and the reason that prices are so steep given the sturgeon is now a protected species so all caviar is now farmed rather than wild.

He also explained that caviar is 'aged' and eaten perhaps 6-8 months after harvest and that once it's exposed to air the texture deteriorates so he was carefully re-sealing one of the big cans, and dividing the other into small portions. 

The Petrosian was established in Paris in the 1920's with the 'salon' for retail clients and are the wholesaler suppliers for all of Paris restaurants and shops too.

Imagine our surprise when he then announced that he was offering us all a taste- even Jack had a go! Even more astounding was the fact that after we tasted it, he revealed we had tried one of their most expensive products at €3,000 per 500g. Thank goodness Jack didn't gag on it!

It was real experience and one I won't forget in many years.

Amy then helped me to assemble our market goodies into dinner, mussels with cider, leek and cream to start and a rotisserie chook, dauphin potatoes and salad for main. It's hard to justify restaurant prices for dinner out when the market food is this great!

Mmmm I was a little slow on the main pics- it's mostly eaten!

I can safely say we are enjoying our Paris stay, Baz said he could just people watch from our window all day.

I must go to bed now... It's just so good to record the day's events along the way as we are doing so much I am already forgetting some things! Getting old perhaps? Nigh nighs