Day 20, Bastille, Place des Vosges, Carnavalet Museum

I was up and out early this morning to get to the Bastille Sunday market.  This was the hugest one so far.  I am fascinated with the complexity of the "booths".  Each one looks like a shop in itself.  I cannot imagine the work it takes to set up and tear down at the beginning and end of the day.   The locals head for the Bastille on Thursday or Sunday to do their shopping, many knowing the vendors and shopping at their favorites.

There were several of each kinds of food booths... meats,  fruits and vegetables, bakeries, spices, flowers, fish, cheese, and then there were scarves, shoes, trinkets, purses, toys, second hand clothes... it went on and on down three aisles.

After leaving the market, I headed a ways west of there to the Place des Vosges.  This is a park surrounding on all four sides with handsome apartments, one of which was Victor Hugo's.  Currently, it is open to the public, so I had a look.  He had quite wild taste!

My next stop was the Carnavelet Museum, which was a huge many floored mansion(?) that took you chronologically through the history of  France.  The paintings told the story, but in addition there were rooms set up in period to replicate Henry XV's palace.   Quite interesting.  I can tell how proud the French are of their history!

After leaving this museum I headed south to find the St. Paul Village, having read that it was a quaint and quiet little area of town.  It was, but not much was alive on a Sunday so I continued on to the Seine and walked west until I reached the Metro.  It was enough for the day.

A little courtyard in the St. Paul village