Marais Gardens

The Marais is full of little restaurants and shops and it's a half Jewish, half gay neighborhood. We looked around a few shops, since all the stores have sales in July. But since I'm trying to be good and I am, as they say, between jobs, I only bought some Mariage Freres Marco Polo tea, and that was purely because I ordered some online two months ago for chunk before I knew I was coming to Paris and it's so much less expensive here. Stupid shipping and handling.

From there, Patrice showed me a couple of hidden gardens in the area. One being in the back of the Swedish Museum and the other behind a toilet showroom that's housed in an old mansion (but don't tell anyone). They were really pretty and surprisingly quiet considering we were in the middle of a very busy neighborhood. And from there...
first is the Swedish Museum Gardenand second is the toilet mansion garden. But it smells like roses.

Cheese Sandwich in the Garden

The cafeteria at the Institute Catholique has really good, affordable sandwiches for the students. They're about 1.80E to 3.00E, which is great considering. They've kinda become the lunchtime staple this week. Going back to the dorm to eat, Mother Superior saw the sandwiches and said, "Monsieur Carrrmona, you should eet in the gahrrden". So we did (because she's a nun and all). Luckily, the dorm has a really beautiful garden with blooming flowers, religious statues, and little metal benches and tables. And ashtrays. The rain had stopped, the sun was out, and the sandwich was delicious.