When we were on vacation, after 3 days I was no longer able to include pictures in my blog posts. After 4 days I was no longer able to upload anything at all, but I still composed my posts to update later when I got home. After 8 days I got fed up of bothering to write up things I was not uploading so I gave up. Now that all the technical issue have been resolved, it’s time to go back in time and finish these diary entries.
Steps today: 36 042 / about 24km. Our plan for the day was to set a step-goal and we succeeded.
Get ready for a ton of pictures!
What a pleasure it is to look back and re-live this day in order to write up this post; it was one of my best days in Paris, mostly thanks to the flawlessly blue sky! … although occasionally streaked with contrails, it was still fabulous. The skies were so perfect, I tried to rebuilt my inventory of pictures from previous trips taken on cloudy or rainy days, but once we got home we noticed most of the pictures were every so slightly blurry due to a fingerprint on the lens!! GRRRRR Murphy’s Law. Thankfully many of my cell phone picks turns out alright.
Perfect skies, perfect weather, perfect mood – we were set for a great day of exploring the city on foot to soak up as much as we could! It was a wonderful 13-hour hike around Paris, on our feet the entire time only breaking for food and drinks and one public transportation ‘cheat’ when we took the funicular up to Sacré Coeur instead of walking up. Yay us!!
The day started with a walk (from the hotel) through the Luxembourg Gardens. This was a bit of a let down because there was a huge construction crane in the background and the flowers were not as colourful as they were last fall, but the sky was full of contrails and I couldn’t get over the freaky feeling of being under a net! It was so cool! The pictures don’t convey that sensation, but they are still neat!
Once done gawking a the stripy sky, it was time for breakfast. I regret ordering scrambled eggs! I was not using my head – eggs in Europe are so so SO much more delicious than ours, fried or sunny is the best way to appreciate them. Ah well.
Sufficiently fortified we continued our journey and our next destination was Notre Dame. Considering we were shooting into the sun, I think the pictures came out nicely!
Next on our path was the Hotel de Ville (this was the best we could do given the sun was still lowish in the sky)
Conciergerie:
Pont Neuf:
Pont des Arts, devoid of Love-Locks now that they changed the railings!
The Louves:
We did not visit the inside, and on a great weather day like this, we were not even tempted! Had we changed our minds, we would have been in for an excruciating wait! From this point, it was a 2-hour wait… NEVER! I wish I had taken more pictures to better illustrate just how long the line was, but I was waiting this guy holding the sign to get out of the shot and he kept yapping with that lady so I gave up.
Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel:
Jardin des Tuileries:
And then a treat for me as we walked toward the Place de la Concorde, I finally for the first time saw the Big Wheel in person! 6th visit to Paris and I had never seen it before. I was not tempted to ride it, those little cabins all looks like mini greenhouses to me!
Place de la Concorde:
I liked this one of Frank taking a picture of me taking a picture of the fountain.
Champs-Élysées (by hanging off a lamp-post in the middle of the road)
And then break time! Of course for me, it was a Kir aux Pêches with extra Pêches.
After taking a load off for a while, it was back on the road – and a nod back to Canada at Jardin de la Nouvelle France:
le Petit Palais:
Pont Alexandre III:
Found some Love Locks!
Les Invalides:
… and more contrails!
Then by about a quarter to one, it was time for lunch. We plunked down at Le Vauban and settled in for a great meal! It was delicious and we also had a great view of Invalides Dome while we ate.
After lunch, it was off to the Eiffel Tower and I was trilled with the pictures we got there! Out of all of our previous visits, the ones we took on this day were easily the best. Blue sky, green grass, leafy trees, no cars, construction or buildings in the way… perfect!
Lunch was SO good and SO filling that I was feeling stuffed to the gills. I needed a little help digesting so on the way to our next destination we stopped for a well needed Digestif. Of course for me, that mean Grand Marnier.
The place was empty because everyone was sitting outside, but there was no shade so weren’t up for that!
What made this place extra special, is that there was a cat hanging out in the booths in the basement! Frank saw it on the way to the bathroom, I missed it completely. Does it live in the bar or did it sneak it? Next time we’re in Paris we’ll have to go back and see if he’s still there!
Next stop, Arc de Triomphe:
Palais Garnier:
Then up the hill to Sacré Coeur:
We stopped for a coffee at a café in Place du Tertre nearby, and unbeknownst to us we were sitting next to a celebrity! I did not notice at first, I just thought the man next to me was a local who knew a lot of people. At one point, someone came to sit down and chat for a few minutes, took a picture and left but I still didn’t pay that much attention. It wasn’t until Frank went to the bathroom and I actually listened to what was going on, I noticed a young girl, maybe 12 years old, politely asking if she could take a picture with him and that’s when the penny dropped. A few weeks later after a google search I learned it was “Michou” a French singer, drag artist and owner of Chez Michou in Montmartre.
Have you ever heard of him?
By now, it was 6PM and we had to decide what to do for supper. One of the items I had on my list of things I wanted to do is have a Sauternes at Café Les Deux Magots so we decided to head there and make it a meal.
We passed though the various “Passages”:
La Bourse:
Palais Royale:
Pont Neuf & Square du Vert-Galant:
Institut de France:
And we arrived at our destination by about 7:15
(Again, Frank taking a picture of me taking a picture of the café)
This was THE BEST BEST BEST BEST BEST BEST BEST meal I had on this trip. More than “just” a cheese plate, it was fantabulistic. The cheeses were delicious, the bread was perfect, the butter was the sweet unsalted kind I love… it blew my mind!
And the Sauternes! OMG it was so good!!!!! just as good as I remembered the last time – so good in fact I took a picture of the name in the menu so I could see if I could get it at home. No luck.
Sauternes comes in a zillion price ranges, I have seen half bottle for 640$! No idea if this is a “good” kind or a “cheap” kind, 12€ per glass in a touristy restaurant is not much of a barometer. Maybe one day I will come across this one again, but I am not suffering in the meantime, the stuff I can get at the liquor store here is still pretty awesome!
Over dinner, Frank and I negotiated how we were going to get back home to the hotel; I wanted to walk, but he was fed up - plus the poor guy had a huge bruise on his foot. He rallied toward the end of the meal and agreed to walk home as long as I promised it would be a straight as an arrow walk with no detours or picture-stops.
I agreed, but still managed to sneak this one in of the Pantheon.
I tried plotting a map of our walk in Google Earth, it looks something like this:
Google Earth says this is a little over 28km and Fitbit says it’s closer to 24km. Close enough.
What a terrific day! I loved it! This is an example of a perfect vacation day for me. I know they can’t all be like this, but man-oh-man did I ever enjoy it!
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