La Seine, the only river in the world that runs between two bookshelves. How can you not love that imagery or thought?
If you walk around the Seine you'll definitely notice the large green boxes along the banks of the river locked some days and hitched tight to the sidewalk walls. I saw them while on the bus to the Catacombs. It was rainy, but our bus stopped along the Seine as it would normally and there in the cold stood a few people selling books and prints of paintings and old bits of magazines with varied visual importance. I tried hard to remember the stop, but with coincidental luck my adventure took me along the Seine anyway. For the most part, I thought the sunny and warmer day would have yielded more people to open shop, but only a handful and not the ones I had seen from the other day. After wandering a few of the book sellers stalls, I finally came to one which had a cat print. Not the normal 'Chat Noir' but a comic of a cat illustrating the 'horrible end of a Goldfish' as it stated in French below and exactly what I was looking for.
For the most part, the sellers have similar kitschy magnets of Paris and various iconic items that tourist eat up, myself included. I've bought a kitschy magnet here or there, but it's nice that their prices are on the cheaper end. The real gem here though is the plethora of books. There are some really lovely finds in there and if I wasn't strapped with a weight restriction would have nabbed a few books full of drawings of plants, mushrooms, or birds all with that old musty book smell.
The Bouquinistes along la Seine are the book sellers to not miss if you are up for a little foot traveling by a river. read more