~Place de la Bastille & Port de l'Arsenal~

It's Saturday and our destination is the Richard Lenoir Art Market near the Place de la Bastille. The Bastille Creative Art Market (Marche de la Creation) takes place every Saturday on Boulevard Richard Lenoir; it is the largest art market in Paris with over 200 artisans participating.

So we hop on the #1 Metro and head out to start our day of exploring the area around the Bastille.

The Bastille Metro stop.  The walls are a tiled mural telling the story of the French Revolution and the "storming of the Bastille".

Place de la Bastille.

This huge roundabout is the site of the Bastille, the prison which was torn down during the French Revolution in 1789. In it's place is this monument, the July Column, which commemorates the July Revolution of 1830 (the overthrow of Charles X and the end to constitutional monarchy).

The new Opera Bastille.

The beginning of the art market on the north side of the Place~lots of food in addition to the art.

This is truly an 'art' market ~no crafts here.  All of the artisans are accomplished professionals.

Hats~the Parisians do love their hats!

In hindsight I should have bought one of these~the little fat blue one caught my eye immediately.

Boulevard Richard Lenoir

We walked down one side and up the other.  It's a beautiful and lively place. I did buy a pair of earrings and a little leaded glass box to put them in.  The stained glass was beautiful! 

(Unfortunately for us, all the wonderful things we coveted would cost one arm to buy and two legs to ship home.)

We stopped for a bite to eat, then headed passed the Opera toward the Promenade Plantee.

The Opera Bastille (French President Mitterand is responsible for the new opera).

The building was inaugurated on July 13, 1989~the 200th anniversary of the storming of the Bastille.

Both the Viaduc des Arts and Promenade Plantee are located along Ave Daumesnil.

Entry to the walking path (Promenade Plantee)
This walkway is the first elevated park; built on an abandoned railroad viaduct.

Plantings were wild and varied~a very natural setting.

"The last roses of summer"

View of  St. Antoine des Quinze-Vingte from the walkway.

I was curious about the name; quinze-vingte translates to 1520. Could that be?  It turns out that it really relates to the number of beds (300) in the original facility which cared for the blind. 
(quinze-vingte= 15 x 20=300)

Joggers stretching.

An enormous (!) clump of lavender and quite aromatic.

Ah yes, you are in Paris.

A public water fountain~ we saw these in other parks also.

A view from the Promenade.....(note the graffiti)...I like the rooftops.

From the Promenade, we walked back towards the Bastille along the Viaduc des Arts, artisan shops built under the walkway, (click on the link to see web photos) to the new marina, Port de l'Arsenal.

The marina is actually a man-made lake created to connect the Canal St. Martin (beyond the Place Bastille) to the Seine River.

This was fabulous.  Another one of the places that I can't believe we've missed all these years.
Some of these boats are pleasure boats and some people actually live on full-time.

On the walkway beside the marina we saw this open-air photography exhibit.

Can you detect the 'theme' of this exhibit?
It was great! These photos were both provocative and funny.

Remember this? Jack Nicholson in "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest".

The lovely park and cobbled walkway along the water.

Sculpture and rose garden.

Pedestrian bridge over the marina.  In the foreground is a kid's play area filled with things to climb on and play in...the pirate ship was popular that day.

Here you can see the variety of boats; many houseboats.

We crossed over the pedestrian bridge and walked back to our apartment through the Marais and passed the Pompidou center.  I wish I had had my pedometer, it was a long walk and my feet told me all about it.

The area around the Bastille has so much to see.  

We loved our excursion and  the art market and would definitely do it again; maybe in springtime when the flowers along the Promenade are in bloom.

~Potpourri~

There are some things that can't be categorized or, are the subject of just one photo.
In this post, I've included some of these special places....

Each hour after sunset until midnight, the Eiffel Tower puts on it's "Millenium Light Show".

I never get tired of seeing this.  It's a wonderful way to end the day~view from the Pont Neuf.

(This is the main reason we choose to stay near the river.)

The view from our apartment. Nothing spectacular but very Parisian.

This is a "so French" photo: the newsstand, the grate around the tree, the yellow mailbox, the Velib pay station (no velibs~rental bikes) and the green trash bag.  

(This is half a block from our apartment.)

You don't see many gas stations in Paris.  This one is at the entrance of a parking garage/car wash/gas station located on a small side street across from the Louvre.

In Central Paris most of the streets are quite narrow and parking is limited.

Parking garages are quite plentiful if you know where to look for them~most are underground.

What does an apartment cost in Paris?  This nice-sized apartment with 4 rooms, a kitchen with appliances, parquet floors,crown moldings and fireplace on the 5th floor (they do not say if there is an elevator~which usually means there isn't one) of a building in the 4th arr. (Marais)

  ONLY: 1,700,000 euros ( over $2 million)  ~yikes!

St. Etienne du Mont, the site of the midnight scene in Woody Allen's "Midnight in Paris". I loved the movie and was talking with a friend trying to figure out where this scene was filmed.  I thought Montmartre, but after some on-line research found out it was in the 5th arr.  I watched the movie on the plane coming home.  Since the scene was filmed in the dark, all the graffitti on the wall was unnoticeable.

Lots of couples choose to be married in Paris.  And, they get their photos taken all over the city. This photo will have the Eiffel Tower in the background.

The Pont des Arts with "love locks" covering the whole length of the fenced railings.

Our lock. (It was one of my little luggage locks.)

It's now on the Pont des Arts.

"I love my dog, I take care of him."

  Many French dog owners do not pay much attention to the last two pictures.

My chocolat macarons from Pierre Herme (one of the best chocolatiers in Paris).  These were so good...like little mini brownies but not as sweet.  Unfortunately, the chocolate was so strong that 2 bites gave me an instant headache.

Woody had to finish them off.....poor Woody. 

 The ubiquitous "green cross" Pharmacy sign.

On this visit I used the pharmacy several times.  First, to replace the MoleSkin that I used on my sore feet.  They had something better.  Then I asked for Arnica which I use for my bruising.  The pharmacist said there was something better....it IS.  Then Woody caught a cold and had a really sore throat, the pharmacist asked about symptoms and gave me lozenges that had antibacterial properties. The pharmacist is a good person to know!

This is the Tuileries gardens.  I thought it rather clever the way the statues looked like

people walking among the hedges.  I could have had a nice shot if this lady didn't have to have a 10 minute phone conversation.

This is one photograph of a sidewalk photography exhibit displayed along the Port de l'Arsenal near the Place Bastille.  The entire collection had the theme of "The Shower".

(This photo cracks me up.)

 Fountain of the Innocents

This is the last remaining Renaissance fountain in Paris; built  in 1547 on the site on the old Cemetery of the Innocents in Les Halles district in the 1st arr. (I must have taken this photo early on a Sunday morning, usually there are wall to wall people around the fountain in this square.)

Place de la Concorde

Last year I took 2 dozen photos, at least, of the Place de la Concorde because we passed it once or twice everyday.  This year I have this one lone photo~it's almost in silhouette.  The space is enormous and there is something to see in every direction.  I think you could spend a day just walking around the Place and taking notice of the spectacular views in every direction; fountains, monuments, museums, parks, gardens, Champs Elysees, American Embassy, etc, etc, etc.

There's still a lot to see......