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Saturday, September 16, 2006

Back on the Left Bank

Much time must have passed since breakfast, because we were hungry again. Then loud brass music wafted over to the gardens and we were invariably drawn to the source of the noise (no doubt the intention of the noise-makers). So there was some sort of food festival happening on the bank of the Seine, promoted raucously by a brass band who were dressed equally loudly. Revellers danced and hopped with their paper plates of bread, cheese and foie du canard, toasting each other with plastic wine glasses, while others formed a line and collected free food in paper bags, from a row of stalls promoting French produce. We tried the tiny green grapes that were being handed round; they were incredibly sour. We got rid of the taste with a baguette with foie du canard, prosciutto and a cheese platter, washing it all down with some local wine. “Seating” was free on the bank, albeit there was only a foot between dry pavement and wet Seine.



After the merriment, we felt decidedly tired from all that activity and returned to the hotel to check in properly and dozed off.