Paris 2016 - Day 4

Steps today: 20 431. We took the metro a lot more today than on previous days.

We were on the road earlier this morning than the past few days because we were both up and awake by 6:30. There’s really no point in heading off so early because the sun isn’t up before 8AM anyway, so we stalled as long as we good and eventually left the room a little after 7:45.

We started the day by wandering around our neighbourhood; Place D’Italie. I remembered from a TV show that I saw a few years ago that there was a particularly nice monument to see nearby, but we could not find it and we started getting hungry for breakfast so we gave up, hopped on the metro, and headed to a café near Notre Dame.

First on our agenda was Sainte Chapelle. Thank God there we are in the digital age! Unused film in your camera would stand little chance of surviving a visit to this place! It’s really awe inspiring. When I saw it for the first time in 2014 half the windows were covered up for renovations, but this time we saw it in it’s full glory! Gorgeous.

Next up was climbing the Towers of Notre Dame (almost 400 steps). Despite the fact that it’s October, the line-up was still very long: one hour! Our museum pass did not give us an advantage, we had to wait in line with all the pay-as-you-go riff raff. Despite the wait, it was still worth it. Lot’s of fun!

My favourite part was seeing all the gargoyles up close!

Great views of the city from up there…

… especially this iconic view!

It was about 12:30 by the time we were done and we still had 2 more activities in the area we wanted to do, but we put the kibosh on them in order to go for a nice lunch. I remembered a few great Brasseries near Montparnasse that I wanted to revisit and so off we went! It was terrific. My mom even nipped a few bites of my foie gras and was astonished about how delicious it was.

After lunch we went to explore the Père Lachaise Cemetery and we sadly fell into the same trap that I did when I went in 2012: being unprepared! We didn’t have a guide and didn’t enter through the main gates so it was essentially an aimless wander as opposed to scoping out notables. We still found a few, but not all the ones we wanted.

This one really intrigued me! Does any one know if the potato holds some particular significance??

It started drizzling around 4:30 so we ducked into a café to wait it out. I ordered a Kir aux Pêches and asked them to go heavy on the Pêches which they happily did without charging me extra! How civilized! Look at this picture… the drink seems to actually be shining!!!

I wasn’t ready to call it a day quite yet, so I suggested we go see the Pont des Arts and then have a snacky-supper in a café somewhere. Guess what… No more love locks on the bridge! They completely removed the chain link and replaced it with glass. It’s the end of an era!

My snacky-supper turned into another cheese and nitrate feast… Are you surprised?

After supper we went on a short walk over to another metro station what would mean a direct route home and I was able to get a few night shots on the way. Really not bad for a phone!

Now time to rest up for our adventures tomorrow! Good night.