Paris has finally realized that it is now spring, so in honor of the sunshine and my dwindling list of academic responsibilities, I took the opportunity to check out a part of Paris I hadn't been to before, along the Canal St. Martin. The canal was created at the beginning of the 19th century because the city had a shortage of water, and took 20 years to construct. It's 4.5 km long, and empties into the Seine. The area around the canal at this time was industrial, with a lot of factories lining the banks. One of them is still up and running! But now they have been converted to shops, cafes, artists' studios and modern apartment buildings. On Sundays the streets bordering the canal are closed to traffic and opened to pedestrians, which makes the area a lot calmer. But they were still tons of people out and about today, lounging in the sun or enjoying their lunches near the water.
Apparently they shot a scene from "Amelie" on this bridge.
My lunch. An eclair from a place near St. Paul (the metro stop, not the capital of Minnesota), called Eclair de genie, which translates to Eclairs of genius. This is by no means an exaggeration. This one was filled with salty caramel goodness. The chunks you see are peanuts covered by chocolate glaze, and it's hard to tell from the picture but the whole thing was dusted with sparkly silver powder. Whatever category this food falls into, it should have its own spot on the Food Pyramid.
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