May 15th 2011: Le Marais, Jewish Quarter, Latin Quarter, and more

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More Le Marais
A random church, Eglise Reformee du Marais, on Rue Saint Antoine near the former location of the Bastille.	Hotel de Sully has many flamboyant flourishes, not to mention nudes in relief.	The bakery, Boulangerie Malineau, from which we bought mini caneles for dessert after dinner. It turned out they weren't very good.
The Jewish Quarter
The first sign we're in the Jewish Quarter: bagels.	The second sign: languages.	The third sign: hallah and a menorah. This is a different shop than the one in the previous two pictures.	A Jewish deli: gefilte fish, pickles, and all. Omitted from the bottom-left of this photograph is a wooden barrel of house-made pickles. When we entered, my first thoughts was, "the shop smells right."
Korcarz, a kosher Jewish pastry shop, has many strudels and rolls.	Other pastries in the shop.	A temple's bookstore. (A, not the, because I think there are three synagogues in this area.)	Rue des Rosiers, the main street through the Jewish quarter, has several falafel shops, all with unbelievably long lines.
Lunch
Chez Hanna, the falafel joint we bought food from for lunch.	Hummus and various falafel sandwich ingredients.	My falafel sandwich: fresh, tasty falafel, hummus, tzatziki, carrots, and cucumbers, and topped with eggplant. While I appreciate the burst of hotness the eggplant provided, it provided it because the eggplant was soaked through with hot oil and that was a bit too much for me.	Sacha Finkelsztajn, yet another Jewish deli.
The eggplant piroshki I bought from this deli. Not bad. (Yes, that's mashed eggplant. I know it looks like ground beef.) I liked the fluffiness of the dough.
Latin Quarter
In the Latin Quarter, Place Saint Michel's extensive fountain / monument.	Chez Clement and its copper-pan decorations. Note especially the mobile in the upper-right. I wonder if this is how they dispose of their old pots.	Yet another example of Parisian people-watching.	This is the apropos entrance to the Musee National du Moyen Age, the medieval museum. (It's a medieval building.) The back side walls used to be part of Roman baths. We saw the walls, but I decided they didn't look visually interesting enough to photograph. I nevertheless thought them worthy of a mention.
This hulk of a building is the Sorbonne, established about the same time as Oxford and Cambridge.	The College de France sprung up in the sixteenth century as a more open-minded school to counteract the Sorbonne. It's across the street.	The Seine, looking east.	Yet more lovely railings.
I like how some of the stones in this building aren't covered with plaster, thus revealing its structure.	Saint Severin church and its flamboyant gothic architecture.	I thought I'd photographed Saint Severin's long, narrow gargoyles the previous night when I was in the vicinity, but I apparently deleted the unsatisfactory photograph and now am left with nothing. (I didn't photograph them this visit.) I now believe, however, that the long, narrow gargoyles aren't distinctive; they're a relatively common Parisian gothic church feature.	Its beautiful vaulted ceiling. Note that yet again we visited a church during mass. However, this church was designed in such a way that I felt comfortable taking pictures inside.
This picture tries to capture the double ambulatory--a neat design I don't recall seeing before--around the nave as well as the second level arches. The church is filled with arches.	Another attempt to visually capture the two paths around the nave.	Non-religious stained glass. Di Yin calls it non-pretentious. Regardless, we prefer it to the religious scenes (which the church also has).	The outer ambulatory.
		Shakespeare and Company, an adorable bookstore with a haphazard design. Imagine the twisted streets of a European city's old town, then compress the mess into a bookstore.	The entrance to its antiquarian section. Also, the history of the bookstore / building written on the chalkboard is worth reading.