Today, Sunday, June 21 was a very special day, not only because my group and I had the day off, but also because it was Father’s Day and the first official day of summer 2015. In honor of this day, my classmate, Irina Sargisova and I decided to start our day by exploring the 6th arrondissement of Paris. This arrondissement is located in the left bank of the River Seine where many student bookshops, cafés, jazz clubs, and some of the world famous monuments are found.

Our first stop was at a bookstore called “Taschen”. This bookstore caught our attention because offers a large collection of comics, photography, architecture, and art into a broader public audience. This bookstore publishes very controversial volumes that goes from Leonardo Da Vinci to adult magazines. As you see in the images below, books are displayed beautifully and priced accordingly. There is only one bookstore in Paris and one in New York (107 Greene Street) in case you want to find out more. Books are very selective and unique.

Name of the bookstore

Some examples of books sold in the bookstore

Books of different subjects

Books displayed beautifully

After our visit in the bookstore, we met one of Irina’s friend for lunch in the same neighborhood. Since he is a local and student, he took us to a very peculiar place that I would like to describe. This café is called “Les services de la vie etudiante”. It is really a school’s cafeteria but what got our attention was the price, type of service, and food. It is self-service type and open to the public (mostly students). As you see in the pictures below you start by grabbing a food tray and select free pastries, followed by juice, yogurt, and hot items. Some the items are labeled by points. According to how much food you have in your tray (total of points accumulated) it is the amount you are going to pay for your meal. As one of the pictures shown my meal costed me only $3.45 euros!. I wished we could have cafeterias like those in New York. Affordable and tastier.

Irina about to grab her food

Only €3.45 meal

Food is labeled by number of points

After our meal, we spent the rest of the day celebrating “Le Fête de la Musique”. This is a music festival that takes place one day only around several countries worldwide. Musicians perform in the streets for free making all concerts accessible to the public at no charge. We had the opportunity to see a few events in different streets playing all kind of music. A time where music gathers people together to have a good time with friends and family.