Paris is Always a Good Idea...: Treasures

I have two treasures to share with you!

First treausre- I was at the grocery store yesterday when I happened upon this box of what appeared to be some form of cream cheese. It is a scary thing to buy cheese in France because of the rule "the stinkier the cheese, the happier the French." I am not well tutored in the art of purchasing cheese, so this was an enormous risk that may well have turned out to be a catastrophe.

Still looked rather harmless once I got it out of the box. . . then I opened it...

and a waft of garlic and spices emerged! I'm a fan of garlic, this was a hopeful sign. I tore off a piece of my lovely baguette (see below) and cautiously dipped it in the cheese and took a nibble. TREASURE. This is lunch for the next two months.

This is the lovely baguette I picked up on the way home, which is a treasure in and of itself by the way, that I planned on testing the cheese with. This baguette is not a small stick of bread. It is over two feet long! And only 90 euro cents. Love it.

So I am happy to say my first French cheese purchasing did not end in catastrophe, and that I now have a newly found favorite!

Treasure number two!

Today I braved the crowds and went to the largest flea market in the world. Saint Ouens is an antique market that covers over seventeen acres of ground and hosts 200,000 visitors every weekend! Everything was lavish, grand, gold, and shiny! Our guide book says that some of the museums in Paris would love to get their hands on some of the treasures in this flee market. As I was wandering around my favorite area, the antique books of course, I happened upon the second treasure.

I have been planning on buying a French copy of Les Miserables even before I came to Paris. I have seen it in a few books stores, but the copies I saw were plastic and cheap. I was hoping for something a bit nicer, but I was beginning to think I wouldn't find what I was looking for at a reasonable price. I saw this set on the table and I was very afraid to look at the price, but I did, and it was surprisingly low! I even used my terrible French bargaining skills and the seller knocked a few euros off the price!