Vente en gros

On Monday we walked from our hotel down the Rue de Temple on our way to see St. Chapelle in the daylight to admire the stained glass. We got sidetracked by a store that mainly sold scarves and hats. It was so fun wandering through and picking some out to buy. I did notice the women with huge baskets full of scarves and did think that it looked like they were buying in bulk, and then once I tried to pay I had a sneaking suspicion that it's not a retail store. So I went to the door and sure enough it had a sign on it that said "wholesale only, no retail". Saddened we put our scarves down and walked out, after I briefly confirmed with someone who worked there that we couldn't buy our scarves. Walking down the rest of the street we noticed that every single store had "vente en gros" signs - wholesale only. It was painful since so many of the stores had great things in them, for super cheap.

We then got to St. Chapelle and I noticed the sign that said that certain items would be confiscated and not returned, including my knife. I need to remember to put it in my luggage and not carry it around with me. I think it would be fine in the chapel, but it's next to the hall of justice and other important buildings, which is why there are metal detectors and security to get inside. My dad brought me back the Swiss Army knife during one of his business trips when I was in middle school, so I wasn't about to let them take it from me. So I encouraged Jenna to go in and take some photos for me to see it. I went outside and parked myself on a bench. A few minutes later she showed up, and said she didn't want to go in without me, especially since I'm the stained glass person. Cute. So we'll try to go back there another day.

We then wandered towards Notre Dame, went inside, and then paid to go up to the towers and take some panoramic photos of Paris and the gargoyles.

After an enjoyable lunch across the street from Notre Dame we went to go get some Berthillon ice cream on the Île Saint-Louis, which several people recommended. I got the flavor of the day - tiramisu. It was delicious. On the way there I also found a scarf similar to one I wanted in the wholesale store.

Once we picked up our luggage at the hotel we took the ~3 hour train to Grenoble, where the 1968 Olympics were held, and where Jenna's cousins live.