President Wilson's market

Paris has about 70 open air markets, scattered throughout the city.  Each one is typically open just two or three mornings per week.  A couple are open in the afternoons only.  I've been to barely 10 percent of these markets.  Early this morning, I visited one I'd not seen yet, on the Avenue du Président Wilson in the 16th arrondissement. 

Crossing the Seine on the Pont d'Iéna, early in the morning.

At 7 to 8AM on a Saturday morning, I had the streets almost to myself.  But this was the time of day to be out; the air was a cool 68 degrees F.  This afternoon the temperature will rise to 89, and the heat index will be 92.  But then tomorrow the high temp will be only in the 70s.

The Seine was particularly beautiful this morning.  The water was a deep turquoisey-blue, and calm.  There is no breeze today.

I walked up the Avenue de Suffren and alongside the Eiffel Tower to cross the Seine on the Pont D'Iéna.  Ask I hiked up the hill of the Trocadero, I passed the entrance to the Paris aquarium, and some pretty funky music was coming from within.  Maybe the fish like that groove.

Entrance to the Shangri La Hotel on the Avenue d'Iéna.  The building is
the former home of Napoleon Bonaparte’s grandnephew,
Prince Roland Bonaparte

The Avenue Nations Unies led me through the garden, past the luxurious Shangri La hotel,  to the Place D'Iéna.  On the far side of that Place, on the Avenue du Président Wilson, the market began.  Two men were unloading interesting Persian rugs to sell in a stall at that end of the market.  Then came a double row of stalls with produce, fish, cheeses, fresh flowers, meats, and much more.

The walk through this market was a delightful torture, as I was coming to the end of my daily 12-hour fast.  But I would eat nothing until I arrived home at 9AM, despite all this temptation.  I must say that the quality of the goods at this market in the 16th is the best I've seen yet.  Being in the 16th, I'm sure this isn't the cheapest market; but it may be among the very best.

The market stretched all the way to the Avenue Debrousse, near the Place de l'Alma.  So I took
the Pont de l'Alma back to the Left Bank at the Avenue Rapp, where the shiny domes of the Russian Orthodox church reside. 

As I crossed the Champ de Mars, I began to see many more people.  The city was waking up.

I bought tomato juice at the fresh produce shop near the apartment, and then, home at last, I broke that fast.