Je suis flâneuse

I learned a great word in class last year: flâneur.  Wikipedia tells me the literal meanings of the word are "stroller,"""lounger," "saunterer," "loafer," but I learned it in the sense Baudelaire used it, someone who strolls through city streets to better understand and experience it.  A flâneur is a resident of the city but at the same time is a detached observer - he has a relationship with the city itself, and its culture, rather than individuals. In Canadian French it apparently has connotations of loitering, but we'll forget about that.

As someone who has traveled a lot around foreign cities, I understand that the best way to get to know a place is just to stroll around the streets.  I love that there is a word for this in French and I determined to be a grande flâneuse on this trip to Paris.

However, my first order of business today was to find some groceries.  I woke up and was pretty hungry - I finished all my snacks last night and subsisted on tea from then on - but I knew there are weekend markets in the immediate area so I was counting on getting some fresh produce and such in the morning.  I got up bright and early (meaning about 9), checked the days and times of the markets and set off to the closest one.  Unfortunately I must have mixed them all up because when I got to the square it was empty.  Oh well, there are two others within walking distance and I have to get to know the neighborhood better, anyway.  I've heard great things about the organic market on the Blvd Raspail so even though it's a longer walk - the way I went it's about 3 km - I thought I had read it was open today so I decided to go.  I tried to look it up on my phone just to make sure but couldn't find anything.  Again, oh well.

My walk took me past the Pantheon

[something like "To the great men recognized by the country/homeland"]

Which is next to the most well known and prestigious high school in France, Lycée Henri IV, founded around 1800 I would guess.

And the church St Etienne-du-Mont, which was started in the 13th century and an incredible mix of architectural eras.  The name is misleading as its most important shrine is actually that of Ste. Geneviève, the patroness of Paris.

More on that church at a later time - the interior deserves its own post.

And finally, the Pantheon is across the street from the Sorbonne's law school (much cooler than most American law schools, no?)

All that in one square!

Then onwards to the Luxembourg gardens.  Here are just a few of the lovely scenes from the gardens:

Finally I hit the Blvd Raspail and..there is no market.  Very hungry by this point, I go to the Metro to get home.  On the way back I stop at a supermarket to pick up some essentials and something I can eat soon.  I was counting on finding a bakery between there and home but no luck so I am still baguette-less.  :(  However I do have some food here so that's a start, I guess.

When I got home I looked at where I had cleverly noted the days of the markets on my computer rather than my phone and discovered I had everything backwards - Raspail and the closest one are on Sundays and the third is Saturdays, not the other way around.

In other news, the gay pride parade is today and my friends and I are planning to go.  I still have to shower and do some other things, though, so I don't know if I'll end up getting to the parade itself, probably only the festivities after.  I think my primary mission today is to find a boulangerie (bakery).

Edit: I belatedly realized I should give some sort of background on the Pantheon.  As you might suspect, it's nothing like the Roman monument of the same name, which was originally a temple to all the gods and was filled with statues of the major ones.  It's the same idea though - the main part of the Parisian one is essentially the same design.  It was built pre-French Revolution as a church but post-Revolution it was turned into a sort of burial place of the most illustrious men of France (at the time only men were thought great enough to be there, but Marie Curie remains the only woman who has the honor).  It's full of intellectuals and writers rather than people like politicians - those who have truly contributed to the prestige of French culture.  Rousseau, Voltaire, Hugo, Zola, Leon Gambetta, André Malraux, and [symbolically] Aimé Césaire are amongst those buried in the Pantheon.