Steps today: 28 276 / 18.64 km
What an uncomfortable flight! The seats felt tighter / narrower this time, and the passengers behind me WOULD NOT STOP FIDGETING!!!! I suppose the most important part is arriving safe and sound - and obviously we did... 30 minutes early to boot!
We got to the city just before 8AM and straight as an arrow, luggage in tow (carry on only), we headed for a café to have breakfast. Ahhhh, I'd been longing for this for MONTHS! I was in such a hurry to dig in, that I didn't even bother with staging the table.
After this, it was onward to the hotel - hoping the room would be ready but doubting it would be... and it wasn't. We dumped the bags (it was about 9AM) and set off to see the Eiffel Tower.
I wasn't taking all that many pictures along the way since I felt like I already had eight million pictures of everything already - this was after all my 11th visit to Paris!
The Eiffel Tower was just where we left it, but new on the scene were the Olympic Rings on the Trocadero side. People were lined up to take "the perfect shot" of the rings and tower from a particular vantage point, but I didn't want to wait so I climbed up on a post behind the line-up to shoot over the people's heads and get close to the same effect. Good enough.
Next stop: Café Drinks! I love the vibe at Café Trocadero when the terrasse is open and the sun is out. It was a little early and not that sunny, so the terrasse was not in full splendor... but I was happy anyway. Time for my first Kir Pêche of the trip!
After drinks, the next goal was to check off another box on the favourite food plan: lunch at Relais de l'Entrecôte. Part of the experience is the line-up which is always long but moves fast. They open at noon and we arrived around a quarter-to and I counted about 25 people ahead of us already. (There are 3 locations in Paris, we went to one in "the Golden Triangle" area of the city)
It was just a terrific as I remembered from previous visits, down to the wine and table bread. I know the sauce makes it looks gross, but trust me - it's delicious!
I normally have a cheese plate for dessert, but skipped it this time to give myself an excuse to have another stop later!
To help digest, we went for a long walk along the Champs Élysées - it's always so difficult to take nice pictures here because it's too crowded. I just told my hands as high in the air as I can and hope for the best.
Of course, the Arc de Triomphe and the usual attempts to snap a shot with no cars. I got it in 7 tries this time. Not bad!
By 3ish, we were getting tired (not having been able to sleep on the plane) so we stopped to rest for a bit. I couldn't decide on another Kir Pêche because it's vacation-mode, or a coffee to boost me since I'd been up now about 24 hours.
I did both.
We were running on fumes after this, not ready to drop dead quite yet, but definitely fading. We just wandered aimlessly, not taking many pictures but just enjoying being in Paris!
By 5PM, it was time to start getting serious about supper because we knew we wouldn't last much longer. We went to one of the cafés on the island that I always enjoy: Les Deux Palais.
We made it back to the hotel just after 6:30 to check-in and unpack. The room was nice, but the plug situation was terrible. There were plugs by the bed, but they were blocked by the headboard! SO STUPID! Locals would not have issues, but tourists with bulky current converters are out of luck.
There were some other plugs across the room, but they were high up on a bar so your electronics dangle down by the cables. SO SO SO DUMB!
Other than that, no major complaints. I would have appreciated more hooks to hang jackets by the door, and extra towels, plus the bathroom was really dark - but I picked it for the location close to the train station and not the amenities so overall I was satisfied.
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