Our destination today is the Marais district. This was the aristocratic district of Paris and it hosts many outstanding buildings of historic and architectural importance. In the 17th century nobility built their mansions here. The district spreads across parts of the 3rd and 4th arrondissements in Paris.
After the nobility started to move out of the Marais, the district became a popular and active commercial area, hosting one of Paris’ main Jewish communities. At the end of the 19th century and during the first half of the 20th, the district welcomed many Eastern European Jews who reinforced the district’s clothing specialization. But, during World War II the Jewish community was targeted by the Nazis who were occupying France.
The Marais is still the major centre of the Paris Jewish community, which has made a comeback since the 1990s. Public notices announce Jewish events, bookshops specialize in Jewish books, and numerous restaurants and other outlets sell kosher food.
It is raining today and we actually get a 60 second downpour at one point. We decide it’s time to get out of the rain and have lunch. We find ourselves at Chez Hanna. Their fare is Middle Eastern and we are ready for falafels! We are not disappointed; it is a great meal.
Our next stop is the Picasso Museum. We read that the government received the Museum’s Picasso works in exchange for estate taxes upon Picasso’s death. After visiting the museum I can guess that the heirs gave Paris the very least valuable items of the estate. There are pieces of scrap paper with scribblings, truly awful paintings, illegible letters, and, in my mind, pretty worthless stuff. At least we can say we saw it but it was a waste of time, I think.
I guess it’s for sure… I AM OLD! Even the people of Paris give up their Metro seats to me. Today as I am sitting down on a seat given to me by a young man, the Metro lurches to a start and I nearly fall into the lap of the man seated next to me! It is pretty embarrassing. As we change Metro lines, we come upon an orchestra playing a beautiful classical music piece in the Metro. The music resonates off the tile walls and it just sounds wonderful! It is quite a change from the usual buskers that we see.
We make a stop at the department store to find a bread knife for the apartment. I can’t believe there are no useful knives here. We find just what we want. When I get home I cut myself a couple of times removing the price tag. I can’t get the glue off the handle. Then I have a flash of ingenuity. I use olive oil and it comes right off!
As we start to unwind at home, I decide to take a quick look at our cooking class details. My calendar says the class is in 2 days but I look at the detail information and the class is tomorrow!!! Thank goodness I looked; we would be bummed to miss it.