France 2023 - Day 8 / Paris

Steps today : 29 428 / 19.4 km

It was a pretty miserable start to the day today - it was drizzling just a little bit when we left the hotel around 7:30, but that quickly turned into full blown rain. Is that why all the cafés were closed? Most places usually open around 7, but none of the ones on our route this morning! My mom hates the rain so she was extra extra cranky - I joined her in her grumpy mood by the time my feet got wretchedly wet. No fun!

We finally spotted a place that was open and scurried in like drowned rats.

After breakfast we did our best to walk between the rain drops and made it to the canopy of Les Halles for shelter

We wandered around inside for about 20 minutes, we were glued to the satellite map for the rain and it was quite accurate! when we emerged near the Eglise Saint Eustache it had stopped. Sadly the church was closed so we could not visit.

What I really wanted to show my mom was the Notre-Dame-des-Victoires Basilica. It's amazing. I call it the church of a zillion plaques.  Wall to wall, floor to ceiling, it's quite a sight!

The rain was on and off after that, from nothing to drizzle to rain and everything in between so we explored the covered passages. Perfect activity for a rainy day.

A little pit-stop for a Kir Pêches, of course!

And back to explore more covered passages.

FINALY the rain stopped for good and it was time for lunch. We decided to go to the Brasserie Printemps, a restaurant at the top of the Printemps department store tucked under a huge gorgeous stained glass dome. The tables are even mirrored so you can gaze up at the dome while staring down at your plate. Clever.

What a horrible horrible horrible turn of events!!!! The restaurant is gone and the store's swimwear department took over the space.

We found a nice place for lunch that served the best dinner rolls I have ever had. If I could go back in time, I would just have a basket of rolls for lunch they were that delicious.

After lunch, my mom wanted to go to Gallerie Lafayette to buy more socks and it was a good excuse to go in and admire the dome - especially after the dome-tragedy over at Printemps!

It really was a miserable morning walking around with wet socks and feet, I was happy that they were finally dry by now! Our next stop was the Opera House to say a silent prayer for all the first-time tourists to Paris who see this instead of the beautiful building. 

Next, we loitered around in Place Vendome for a while

And then a stroll through the Tuilerie Gardens - where we actually got too hot and had to walk in the shade.

Missing Frank...

My mom wanted to go to Angelina for a coffee and maybe a dessert, but when we got there there was such a long line-up that we didn't even consider it. Instead, we went to another café nearby where I had a not-so-great espresso martini. It was too milky and just upset my stomach. I should have stuck to my usual Kir.

We sat outside based on our experience of being too hot just now in Gardens, but of course when we sat down the wind picked up again.

By the time we were done, around 4, the skies were blue so I thought we should go explore some areas where having nice weather makes better pictures, and so we took the metro to the Champ Elysées and walked to the Arc the Triomphe.

I've never been able to capture decent images while strolling along the Champs Elysees, this time I just stretched my arms up above my head and hoped for the best...  the results are not that bad!

The crowds near the Arc de Triomphe were quite thick, but we managed to wriggle our way in and get some nice shots.  As usual, we also saw plenty or moronic tourists who raced across the round-about to get to it instead of using the underground passages! I would have taken pictures, but I didn't want to see them get hit by cars... I couldn't look.

Being sensible people, we used the underground passages to get to it! We climbed to the top last time so no interest to do that again today.

After about 20 minutes, I said to my mom: "Where to next? We have a beautiful blue sky right now and more rain in the forecast for tomorrow, we need to take advantage!"

She asked me: "What's that nice bridge where you can take pictures of the tower?" That was Pont Alexandre III, and off we went!

We passed the Petit and Grand Palais on the way...

And made it to the bridge just after 6PM

While we were there (we spent about a half hour there) I started feeling a soar throat coming on. It hurt when I swallowed. I take vitamin C and echinacea twice a day when I travel, but that was no match for cold weather, rain, wind, and a day walking the city with wet feet! Thankfully my mom wasn't feeling it.

For supper, we went to a restaurant nearby that I really like, and got exactly what I wanted: salad with veggies and cheese. It was perfect.

We were going to do back to the hotel after this, then out for a nightcap, but my mom was pretty tired after that long day and suggested we go straight for a drink and then call it a night. ok! I was just happy to keep the day going.

We headed to another place I liked with a busy terrace for watching the world go by, and my mom turned into Goldilocks. It was actually quite funny.  The first seat didn't have a nice view because there was a small construction barrier near by - fair enough. The second seat was "practically on the sidewalk" - ok fine. The third place was not totally pleasing either because the workers were taking the extra terrace tables in for the night, but I was not changing again and she agreed it was good enough.

We walked back to the hotel after this, it's only about 10 minutes and still light out even though it was almost 9PM! 

Loved it!

Minus my little cold brewing, it was a great day - even with the wet start.