Sunny Sunday 11-22-15

No clouds today, it was cold and sunny.  Cold being around 34 degrees, not really cold by Colorado standards but cold here with the humidity.  I decided to go to a couple of brocante markets, one down in the 14th arr. near Denfert-Rochereau and the other in the 4th arr along one of the bus routes that we take when we want to go downtown between the Hotel de Ville and Place Bastille.  It goes through the heart of the Marais, a block from Place des Vosges.
But to the first, I wanted to see how the brocantes were set up, were there very many security changes, etc. and it turns out that it's pretty much the same as before the attacks.  The vendors set up their booths along the sidwalks, with their backs to the traffic and the shoppers all stream by between them and the storefronts.
I also got confirmation of my beliefs on where the brocantes are getting their merchandise.  At least in part they are getting stuff from the satellite auctions of Drouout.  I know this for certain because when I was there on Thursday there were about 20 paintings, all very large, that were offered in about 5 lots and all bought for less that 100 euros each.  They were being offered this morning at the sale, but I didn't ask the price as I didn't want to get the vendor's hopes up.  But an insight on the way this sort of small business works in Paris.
After going through this market in the 14th, I headed up to the one in the 4th.  It was located within a catholic church, interesting in that it's Sunday today and there were services going on concurrently with the sale.  They had strung sheets between the pillars to segregate one side aisle from the rest of the church and things were setup in there.  In some ways this was really a church rummage sale, it had the same feeling.  But to be fair there were some interesting things on sale for brocante type prices not garage sale prices.
After this sale I got on the bus to come home and as we came to a stop called "Richard Lenoir" I realized that the BaTa Clan theatre was only a very short block off the bus route.  There was a small sea of flowers along the fencing next to the bus stop.   I wasn't going to visit these sites but, I impulsively got off to get a feel for how people were reacting after a week's time.  Many people were still in a state of shock, as might be imagined, were visiting the small shrines that had been created with pictures of fallen friends surrounded by candles and flowers.
There were also flags from the countries of the victims, a revealing commentary on the international flavor of Paris.  The ground floor of the venue is still draped in white tarps to shield the scene of the carnage inside.  People just stood in front looking at the white tarps and were wrapped in their own thoughts of what the events meant to them.  A few tears, a few smiles, and an occasional bit of nervous laughter, a city in shock and mourning.  Many signs said, "Pray for Paris", if you do pray then this is worthy of your thoughts.