France 2023 - Day 15 & 16 / Paris

Steps today : 24 033 / 15.84 km

Last full day! And it wasn't the best one. I think we were both exhausted and ready to end it.

We started with breakfast at the Brasserie Le Flore en l'Île. I've been many times over the years and have always liked it, but this time there was something off about it. Could it be because it was raining again? or the old view of  Notre Dame is now just a crap view of a construction zone? Or the sadness of it being the last day? I don't know.

Another reason why I picked this place was because it was near Notre Dame and I wanted to read the panels that had been put up all around it. It was like a little exhibit about the fire and restauration work, really interesting. I whizzed passed them quickly when I was there last spring, but I wanted to take my time now to read them more in detail. 

Next, I wanted to revisit the Musée des Plans-Reliefs. The walk to the museum (which in the Invalids) from Notre Dame is only about 40-Google minutes. My preference is to walk when possible because you can see so many details in the city, but because we stopped to take so many pictures, the walk was almost an hour and a half which did my mother in.

This museum of fortified towns relief maps impressed me very much when I saw it the first time, but I couldn't get good pictures at the time because of the low light. I was looking forward to trying again with my better phone-cam, but the experience was a flop. Ah well, it was free since it was included in the pass so all I lost was about 30 minutes of my time.

Next was the National Museum of French Monuments. My head was on a swivel the entire time and I do not recommend a visit if you can't crane your neck. If fact, I was back to back with another tourist and we had quite a painful head but. The kind you feel in your nose. Ouch!

Lunch was a total write off, I regret it. It wasn't good, wasn't a yummy French treat and wasn't worthy of a vacation meal. Now I really know how my mother felt when she hated her crêpe the other day!

We took a stroll around the Trocadero and Eiffel Tower, but the crowds were grating on our already fragile nerves, so we didn't linger.

To make up for the disappointment that was lunch, we stopped in here where I purposely had some of my favourites: Montbazillac and Saint-Marcellin.  Totally worth it.

When we done, a little before 4PM, we decided to go to the Rodin Museum. It was very crowded there too and my mom and I were just saturated. We were both getting cranky.

We enjoyed the museum, but like at the Louvre, we were happy to leave.

We headed back to the hotel so my mom could take a micro nap, then headed out to find a place for our last supper in Paris.

I normally like something more celebratory to commemorate the vacation, but we were exhausted and cranky and I didn't even have a glass of wine.  The Croque was delicious though.

We were back at the hotel around 7:30 and it was time to pack our bags and argue about where to have breakfast the next morning.

I wanted something more "hoorah!" for a vacation send-off, especially because I felt I missed out on it tonight. My mom was fed up, done, baked, finished, over, and exhausted and didn't even want to entertain the idea of going anywhere any more.

I suggested Café de Flore, she countered with the hotel breakfast...  we were miles apart.

The next morning, I dragged her out. The idea of the hotel breakfast was out of the question anyway because in this place you have to tell them the night before if you are staying in for breakfast.

We did go to Café de Flore and you know what: she LOVED it! and repeatedly said she was glad it worked out that way.  I think after a night of restorative sleep, she found the motivation and also bought into the idea of a "send off meal". 

The dishes amused me, they REALLY want you to know where you are eating.

After this, it was time to check out and trek to airport....

Great vacation - can't wait for the next one!

France 2023 - Day 14 / Paris

Steps today : 20 386 / 13.44 km

Almost every trip I take to Paris includes having a cheese plate at Les Deux Magots. It didn't look like it was going to happen this time, so I suggested we have breakfast here today so that I could at least say I went!

Our first stop for the day was a walk through the Parc Monceau

The last time I visited, I came across a tree Ginko biloba tree that was 7 meters in circumference! I wanted to show it to my mom but we didn't find it - surprisingly! But this one gives you an idea:

Next was the Nissim de Camondo museum and I have to say that it was not as interesting the second time around. Still, the kitchen in the basement was worth seeing again.  Thanks to Downton Abbey, it was easy to visualize it full of people working.

I thought to myself the pictures of the upstairs rooms would make some really good jigsaw puzzles! 

We stopped for a non-photographed coffee and then our next priority was to make it to the Pantheon to climb the dome. We stopped by the hotel first to shed a layer of jackets and then headed out.

Thanks to our museum pass, we were able to skip the long line at the entrance and breeze right in. We headed straight to the dome stairs only to discover the dome was not included in the pass like I remembered; we needed to buy a separate ticket. If you want to see the dome, the museum pass is useless. We had to get back in line and by time we got to the front of it, the next entrance time to the dome was for 3:15PM, a full hour and half after we arrived! Ah well. We really wanted to climb the dome, so we had to suck it up and wait around.

Remember we stopped by the hotel to shed a layer because it was a hot day and I was melting in that jacket I bought in Switzerland. I also thought I'd heat up extra from the exertion of the stair climbing. Now, we were "stuck" in Pantheon for over an hour waiting, and it was fr fr fr freezing in there!!

We went to see a few tombs in the crypt - even colder down there! 

Finally the long cold wait was over, and up we went. My mom was concerned that she would hold people back by going slow because she was tired, but she had nothing to worry about, they were nice and wide and not crowded at all. (203 steps in all - nothing compared to the 688 steps of the Eiffel Tower, but we were also in better shape that day!)

This section made me a bit nervous because the stairs were very steep and the banister was very low! I see why they warn you to be careful if you have vertigo - I was gripping it hard.

The effort was worth it of course, the views are outstanding!

I liked this one of Notre Dame and the restauration work, my mom didn't even recognize it at first!

This one turned out well too, with the tower between the columns:

 

Time for food now, we were both so hungry; it was 4PM and we hadn't had lunch. I felt 100% back to normal so it was cheese and nitrates and booze for me! Bring it on!

When we left the restaurant, we realized we still had time to make it to the Cluny Museum before it closed. Medieval art is really not my thing, but the "Lady and the Unicorn" tapestries are an exception. We skipped the rest of the museum and just focused on these. It wasn't easy dodging heads in the pictures, but I am generally satisfied.

It was such a hot day that I was getting cranky.  I can't tolerate anything over 20°C.  I feel like I shouldn't complain after the cold days we had, but I feel just as miserable when I am too hot.

By 6:30 we found ourselves at Café de Flore and I needed a cool drink! Never has an Aperol Spritz been so refreshing, and expensive! LOL

They don't mix it because they pour the champagne into it at the table in front of you. Fancy, but prettier when mixed.

We were back at the hotel soon after 7PM and it made me crazy to think that I was getting ready for bed when there was still almost 2 hours of daylight left! I did have the urge to just say fuck it, get dressed again and get back out there...  but I forced myself to "be good".  I was feeling fine and didn't want to do anything to jeopardize our last full day of vacation tomorrow.