Like I said before, we love to try new things in Paris. All the time. Today, we noticed the weather was a little on the sad side, we realized that our time is really running out for this trip, and we decided that this afternoon must be stamped by something new, by the Stamp Market.

This Stamp Market was apparently the backdrop for the culminating scene in "one of Audrey Hepburn's greatest films," Charade- a film that I have, perhaps shamefully, not seen. Call me un-American, a movie amateur, whatever you want. I know. My repertoire of movies I've seen is incredibly limited and one of my only flaws. Ha.

Anyways, the Stamp Market. After a lovely lunch graced with Eliza's presence, we headed down l'Esplinade des Invalides towards Pont Alexandra. The market lies on the other side of the Champs Elises, on a quiet parallel street.

None of us had visited the market before, and I wasn't sure at all what to expect having not even seen it in the movie. My mom almost didn't see the first truck with the tent extending out over the table (maybe this was foreshadowing), but I spotted it. The market was slightly smaller than we all had visualized it. Okay, a lot smaller. Rather than a street lined with countless vendors, stamp collectors browsing the tables, the Stamp Market was comprised of 10 vendors (tops) sprinkled sparsely along the street. My dad gathered that perhaps it was a "little late" in the stamp collecting season. I.E. we missed the stamp-buying rush.

After the exhausting 7 minutes it took to get from one end of the stamp block to the other, we sat on a bench, regrouped, and decided to walk down Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honore to leche-vitrines (literally lick windows, the French way to say "window shop"). We poked into Hermes and marveled at things we couldn't buy but wished we could, walked to Place de la Concorde, hopped on the metro and headed back to rue de Grenelle.

No harm, no foul. Found a great, relaxing destination for all my stamp-collecting friends (they're out there somewhere, I know it). Took a nice stroll. Lovely afternoon in Paris!