My Favorite Part of Paris: Le Marais

The most frustrating thing about traveling in Europe: everything is closed on Sundays. Fortunately, this is not true about the Jewish district of Paris, called Le Marais. I had never heard of this area, but a friend of mine is studying and working as a fashion blogger Paris, and she said it was a must. We failed to meet up on Saturday because she had a deadline, so we decided to spend the day together on Sunday. I knew she would not want to do touristy things with me such as see the Louvre and gaze at the Eiffel Tower (which is a block from her apartment). So I told her I was up for anything, and this was her first suggestion. I immediately responded (as if I knew what I was talking about), "No, Emily. All the shops will be closed--it's Sunday!" She replied by explaining to me that Le Marais is historically and aristocratically Jewish. It is close to La Seine, and is host to a famous old temple. At the end of the 19th century, it became home to a large Jewish community. Since the idea of not working on Sundays is a Catholic belief, there was an abundance of unique restaurants and boutiques that were ALL open on Sunday!

I met her at the gardens outside of The Louvre, and took the subway to Le Marais. We walked to an Italian restaurant that had been recommended to her called "Grazie."While kabobs and gyros are apparently amazing in this area, the lines were wrapping around block and we were more in the mood to sit down and catch up. After a fabulous lunch and drinks, we walked down a few blocks to do some window-shopping. I felt like I was in a completely different city than what I had seen of Paris the past 2 days I had been there. All of the clothing stores were high-end boutiques, which we could only hope to one day be able to shop at. There were also stores that sold amazing chocolate, fancy soaps, homemade jam of exotic flavors, beautiful flowers and so much more.

What I loved about this district was how quaint it was. Paris is a pretty overwhelming city, and to be able to spend my last day of the trip in a small area, filled with my two favorite things (shopping and food) was extremely refreshing. Not to mention I was with my childhood friend whom I had not seen in over a year. 
I made a few purchases, but my favorite one was the jam that I bought for my mother. In this tiny jam store, customers could sample all the different kinds of jam with a little plastic spoon. There had to have been at least 50 flavors to choose from. After sampling a few, I was having a hard time deciding which one to get. The woman working came up to tell me that there was a new flavor that had just been made a week ago: vanilla and pear. I loved the sound of that. After tasting it, I knew it was the one and that my mom was going to love it.

            I bought it and later realized that it was too many ounces to take on the plane. Fortunately, Emily was kind enough to ship it home with some things she was sending to her mother. After my fancy purchase, we walked around some more and bought some chocolate that was to-die-for. We took a nice walk along La Seine, and finished with a wonderful dinner at a restaurant called "La Favorite." Obviously there are many attractions in a city so huge and filled with tourists such as Paris. But as amazing as it was to see L'Arc de Triumph and The Eiffel Tower, nothing brought me more joy than the day I spent in Le Marais. Whether you are a jam-lover and window-shopper like me or not, Le Marais is hands-down the place to go on Sunday in Paris. And I can assure you will find something there that sparks your interest.