A rainy day in Paris today. Make the fatal mistake of thinking that it would be a good day to wander around Galeries Lafayette. The homeware store is fine and nicely uncrowded. The main store across the road is horrendous – packed wall to wall with tourists and I last only 10 minutes trying to walk through the ground floor area before running away.
Instead I wander in the rain to find a nice lunch at Razowski’s on Place du Marche Saint Honore in the 1st arondissement, where the waiter resolutely refuses to speak English to me, even when confronted with my appalling, rain-affected French.
Later in the day, it has stopped raining, and I wander along the Bassin de l’Arsenal, near Bastille. This is an interesting place to walk around – the variety of boats moored is fascinating. The occasional riverboat or longboat, and vessels of every shape and size can be found here.
Today’s sight to behold – a convoy of police cars escorting two armoured cash transit vans, complete with motorcycle cop with whistle leading the charge, with what sounds like “GTF out of the way”, followed by a machine-gun toting gendarme hanging out the car window in the rain. Only in Paris, and Parisian drivers pay absolutely no attention, even with a gendarme banging on the side of their car as they speed past.
