My Monday
I had to work all weekend, which was dull. I even tried to take Pablo out to the cinema, but one of his friends came round so I was just stuck in the house all day. Anyway, I got Monday off and made up for it.

First I visited the Marché aux Puces. It was a really great place to wander around, but I'm not in the market for antique furniture, doll parts or stuffed animals at the moment, so I didn't stay all that long. I took the metro to Belleville. I read in my guidebook that Belleville and Ménilmontant are 'the centre of alternative Paris' but besides a small Chinatown, all I found was cheap and tacky shops. I had lunch in Quick, I had an Anelka burger...

I really needed a winter coat, I'd seen one in good old C&A for €100 but ended up with one from H&M for €80. Had to lug it around with me all day though. I stopped at the Cafe Deux Moulins, where Amelie was filmed and had a Tango 1664, which is lager with cordial in it. It was great. I also stumbled upon the bit of the canal where she skims stones...

Ok, things you see in France that you'd never see in England: an advert for an exhibition on love and sexuality for 9-13 year olds, themed on the popular cartoon character Titeuf.

I finally managed to find La Droguerie, an amazing yarn shop/haberdashery near Chatelet des Halles. All the yarn is hung up on the walls and you buy it by weight and they wind it into balls for you. I bought some gorgeous mohair for €6.20 (I also bought a couple of balls of multicoloured 100% wool from Monoprix, I love that place).
By the evening, I decided to head to Shakespeare & Co, the English language bookshop. It was good timing. I'd just managed to find 'Ignorance' by Milan Kundera and a street map of Paris when an author's reading started. The guy was called Leonard Pitt, he'd written a couple of books, one called 'Disappearing Paris', and he showed us lots of photos of Paris now and at the turn of the century. The other was the history of this guy from Ireland who was some sort of faith healer. I don't believe in faith healing or the supernatural, but he had some great anecdotes about searching the planet for rare 17th century books and them turning up in his local bookstore in California.

I was supposed to have tonight free as well and I was going to meet some other au pairs for hot chocolate, but now I'm looking after the Brat (I could really do with a break from him after the weekend...) although it looks like we'll all be meeting tomorrow instead.