Monday was our last day in Paris, and I really wanted to go to the huge Saint-Ouen Flea Market, supposedly the largest one in the world. Les Puces=The Fleas. Interestingly, a flight attendant called Hamish a Puce as well. We asked what that meant (not making the connection immediately) and she said, "Um... a little bug that bites. We don't like them. But it's a nice name for children."
Back to the fleas... we again chose the walk. The weather was nice and Google Maps said it was about the same time to walk there as it would have taken to walk to the Metro, ride a couple of stops, and walk again. So off we went. We found Google Maps worked well and we also used the directions and map here.
It was indeed awesome. The markets are permanent stalls, so you have your junk vendors alongside your little antique houses. We only spent a few hours there, but there was so much to see. I didn't even try to buy anything. We were chasing Hamish around and I didn't have my game face on. We didn't have room for anything in the luggage anyway. But it was still so much fun to look.
We ate lunch in Marche Dauphine, in a little cafe on the ground floor. We'd seen a vendor eating something yummy looking and asked him (in French!) where he got his lunch. Then we went there! It was like magic.
After leaving the Fleas (and losing my gloves) we took the Metro back to the center of the city. The night before I had done some research on the catacombs (closed on Mondays) and better entrances to the Louvre. We'd read that the Carrousel Mall entrance (number 99 on the rue de Rivoli) was much better. We didn't actually check the line at the pyramid to compare, but there was no line at all inside the mall. We strolled right in.
Hamish slept some while we toured the Denon wing. The Louvre is huge, we could only do a small part so we skipped right to the most popular resident: the Mona Lisa (La Jaconde). Us and everyone else.
We did get to see lots of other Italian and French paintings though as well. The scale of some is just stunning. They're huge!
Eventually Hamish woke up, and was thrilled to be free of her coat and her stroller. With vast open hallways to roam around, we let her jaunt, priss, prance and make friends.
We did one round to sculpture to see Michelangelo's slaves (dying and rebellious) before we were museum-ed out for the day. But we did make one last pass by the most famous resident for our pics-or-it-didn't-happen moment.
Then it was dinner time. We found a restaurant recommended by friends and had a wonderful and simple dinner before heading back to Montmartre to get ready for our early flight.