Paris 2017 – Day 4

Steps today: 19 470. I didn’t even try today (TMI - I have the trots and had to make it an early night. Back in the room and called it a day by 5:45)

Remembering that I got off to a too-early start yesterday, plus the fact that most attractions on my list only open at 10AM, I took it slow this morning and was on my way after 8:30AM.

I walked until I got too hungry to keep going and sat at an outside café table. I had the whole place to myself, either it was too cold or too early for the locals but I felt great!

After this I continued walking to Jardins Luxembourg, which was not far from my ultimate destination: The Pantheon to climb the Dome.

I got to the Pantheon about 10 minutes before it opened, there were lots of people but I think they were school groups.

When they opened the doors at 10, I shuffled to the front of the groups to go inside but it turns out the Dome was closed today, something about technical difficulties. The man in front of me was PISSED, really irate, and was going on about how it was a catastrophe. Easy buddy. Yes, I was pissed also because every minute of my time is precious on this trip, but it’s FAR from being a catastrophe.

With the goal of saving time in mind, I did not walk to my next destination but took a bus about ¾ of the way arriving at the Army Museum by around a quarter to 11.

HOLY COW is that museum ever extensive!!! You could stay for days; it was total information overload for me, there is almost too much to see. There is even a section dedicated to musical instruments. This armour dates back to the 1400s!

My goals for this museum were to see Napoleon’s Horse – his actual stuffed horse!

and the museum of scale models. It was really cool but the extremely low lighting made it hard to take pictures.

I wandered through the rest of the museum, taking in various interesting exhibits but it stopped sinking in after a while. I wanted to visit the Liberation Museum but I would not have done it justice so I cancelled that idea and will go back another day.

These are various Russian Army uniforms

After this it was time for lunch – it kicked my ass and I felt like shit all afternoon. (Given my current state, pardon the pun!)

Feeling like I needed help digesting what felt like a mountain of food, I reached for my usual: Grand Marnier on ice…  sadly it was the clear Cordon Jaune version that I don’t like, but I felt so much better just sitting down and relaxing. I had a large section of the terrace to myself, so the cigarette smoke was not too bad.

Next was the Museum of French Monuments “Cité de l'Architecture et du Patrimoine” and it blew me away! Honest to God I heard my neck crack at one point I was craning so much to take pictures. I loved it.

I was feeling worse and worse (cramps, bloating) as the afternoon wore on and I was unsure about what to do next but I knew for sure it would not involve food; I could not choke down another bite. I decided on The View of Paris from the roof of the Pompidou Center.

The process of getting inside was a little confusing to me. There were 2 lines outside, one regular and one ‘priority’ reserved for ticket holders. They made no reference to the Museum Pass so I assumed it meant I had a ticket and went in the priority line – I got through easily.  Then at the ticket counter I did not see a dedicated line for Museum Pass holders either. The line-up was about 10-15 minutes and when I got to the counter she said I did not need one because I had a Pass. ARGH! It was not clear! In many places even it you have a pass you still need a ticket, a free ticket, but a ticket nonetheless. Not here.

I am not into modern art and I didn’t feel good enough to go check it out anyway so I stuck to my goal for this venue which was to see the view from the top. It sucked. The escalator tunnel was like a greenhouse and the views were hazy and marred by the barriers.  The only thing I liked about this stop is that it offered me a bathroom break which made me feel much better for a while.

At this point, I thought it would be wise to start heading back to the room – just to be on safe side. I didn’t want to take the metro back because I still wanted to enjoy being out so I checked the bus schedules. As I walked toward where I could catch one, I walked by a scene of 2 men fighting. One of them was all bloodied up and was taunting the other… I did not stick around to watch the rest! All the waiters and people in the cafés were glued to the scene, many standing up an on their phones, I turned back to see what they were all gaping at because when I walked by I didn’t notice anything THAT shocking and I caught a glimpse of a woman picking up a dog. It’s very possibly unrelated and more than likely the two events had nothing to do with each other but I did not want to know any more about it and kept walking away. Given the amount of people there, if something was bad was truely going down, the Police would be notified quickly.

To my surprise, a large portion of Les Halles was opened! This is my 7th visit to Paris and the first time I have ever seen it not under construction!!! The work is not all completed, but what’s there so far is really nice!

After I took a few pictures I continued walking with the goal of catching a bus home, but I came upon a metro stop for a direct line back to the hotel so I did that instead. I felt like speed home was starting to become an issue!! I thought to myself I would go back to the room for about an hour or so and if I feel better I’d go out to a café nearby, but it was not to be. I am staying in now, playing it safe, I don’t want to ruin the rest of my trip by doing too much too soon.

This is not the first time something like this has happened to me in Paris, I came prepared… I am sure I will be just fine in 24 hours.

Here again are some more random shots of my day.

Good night!