It seems that the time of year is upon us where people are scattering to beaches everywhere. For most in the southeastern United States the top picks are the sandy white beaches of Florida, Gulf Shores, Myrtle Beach, or St. Simons Island. In Europe people flee to the pebble beaches of southern France, the always sunny coast of Italy, Spain, or even Morocco. But in Paris, even those over worked, landlocked, poorest of the poor can go to the beach in summer. That's right. The city of Paris creates "Paris Plage" each summer lasting for 4 weeks. Normally the last week or so of July to the 3rd week of August. The roadways on the quai's of the Seine are shut down completely to traffic which makes for a good kilometer of beach. Also adding to the plage is a section in the 19th at La Villette basin where you can also do many water sports such as paddle boating, canoeing, and kayaking. The city brings in 5,000 tons of sand and builds nice little brick barrier walls such as the ones below.
They put out lounge chairs, huge outdoor bean bags, tables and umbrellas, and even a potable water drinking fountain every 100 meters or so. There are foosball tables and pétanque, you can rent rollerblades or bicycles, play in the sand or even go swimming. Yes, they have even built a swimming pool on one of the quai's of the Seine. Its not an olympic size pool but still pretty sufficiently sized. You weren't allowed to take photos of it (gosh darn their photo rule) so I snuck this one through the fence.
Everything is free except for food, drinks, and ice cream. There are strict permits for being a vendor along the Paris plage so there really aren't that many to choose from. There are 3 or 4 ice cream "shops" if you will, one shack selling beer by the glass, and a couple of pop up restaurants including this one with a most romantic place to sit and enjoy an afternoon glass of vin blanc.
Disneyland Paris comes in a couple of times a week with Mickey and his friends and they have a little show for the kiddos and whatnot. This is the sand sculpture that was sponsored by Disney this year. It is a recreation of Sleeping Beauties Castle featured at Disneyland Paris. 7 sculptors from 5 countries were brought in and spent more than 300 hours and 40 tons of sand to build this baby.
I sat down to enjoy the sunshine and the movement of people playing in the sand behind me. It was warm but not hot and not too overcrowded. I pulled out my book and before I knew it 2 hours had passed. That happens to me a lot in this city. I wander and wander and sit and reflect and the time passes so quickly!
I don't know whose genius idea it was to create the Paris Plage in 2002, but I sure am glad they are still celebrating the tradition today. Sarkozy and leaders past have done some pretty amazing things to and for this city and I think that a lot of it goes unnoticed by citizens. A lot of Parisians pass the entire month of August in Paris and never swing by the Paris Plage and I can't imagine why. Its not touristy, most everyone I passed today spoke French, and the people are friendly. I get disappointed when I visit other cities because heaven forbid I actually pay to get into a museum. I even get angry when I don't get a discount! Its just because Paris has spoiled its youngsters so much with discounted cultural activities that we don't even realize how lucky we are!
I also discovered Mirabelle plums today which the majority come from the Northeastern part of France. I have had mirabelle jam that Padi made, Berthillon mirabelle ice cream, and wine made from mirabelle plums but never just the actual mirabelle plum. They are scattered about in every marketplace for now is the season to buy them! You just pick up handfuls and handfuls and handfuls because they are so tiny and go so quickly! I put one in my mouth and the skin burst giving way to a sugary sweet flesh...much like a cherry tomato. I instantly thought of my Papaw and how much he would love them. I then imagined all the jam my Granny could whip up with these delicious yellow plums.
Must make it by the market again tomorrow to fill up another sack! That's the thing about seasonal fruit here...you never know when its going to hit the shelves...or be taken off!!
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