France 2026 - Day 2 / Paris

Steps today: 24 649...  approximately! 

My Fitbit died today. Not just battery-dead, but dead-dead. (It was a Charge 5 and I've had it for about 4 years I think) I tried restarting it, recharging it, and following all instructions to bring it back to life, but alas nothing worked.  It died around 4PM reading 16 649, but we walked a least an hour and half after this, so I added another 8k to the number to be more realistic.

After this day, I charged the Google Fit app on my phone and the numbers didn't make sense to me for rest of the trip - we rarely cracked 20k per day!?!?!? Frank feels it's accurate because we did do a lot of long train and bus journeys, but I remain suspicious. 

We started Day 2 with breakfast at another of our favourite spots, and got a great window seat to watch the world go by on the busy Boulevard Saint-Germain. It was perfect until someone plonked down right in front of us and not only lit up a cigarette, but blocked our view. Ah well, that's Europe.

I don't remember now if we had a specific goal for the morning, but we wandered by the Fontaine Saint-Michel which is finally out of hiding following renovation....  but a good picture was still a challenge due to all the tents in the square.

Next was Notre Dame, but the line-ups were too long. I've seen it since the Big Reopening and frankly I liked it better before. 

One thing on my Paris List I have yet to experience is climbing the Tour Saint-Jacques. Turns out I would not check that box on this trip - it's closed for renovation until 2028! 

Fontaine des Innocents with no one sitting around! This is the up-side of drizzly weather.

We wandered around Les Halles for a while.

And finally our ultimate destination: Lunch at Brasserie Mollard.  I wanted to bring Frank to show him the beautiful interior. I could just have bread and water and still be happy here. It's so nice to be in beautiful surroundings.

My lunch was not stellar, but I didn't care. I wasn't really there for the food.

Next was a walk over to L'Église de la Sainte Trinité because Frank hasn't seen it since the exterior restorations were completed. This is going to sound dumb, but I can never figure out how to get in! It always looks closed or fenced off... I must be missing a completely difference entrance. One of these visits I will really have to take the time to figure it out....  

On this trip, we just admired it from the café across the street.

Next we walked up to Montmartre

Then a drink stop, where I discovered my Fitbit was dead.  

It's been quite a while since I visited the inside of the Church, so we went in for a quick spin.

Enjoyed the views walking back down, and then a quick coffee so we could use the bathroom

It was almost 6 o'clock by then, so thoughts turned towards supper. I suggested Bouillon Chartier Montparnasse because it's cheap, close to the hotel and would satisfy my yearning for beautiful interiors. It was turned back into a Bouillon format in 2019 and frankly I liked the menu better before, but still, it was good....  minus the food looking like it's about to slip off my plate! Sloppy.

My sad egg looks cute!

We were back in the room by 8ish, time to pack up the suitcases and get some sleep - moving on tomorrow!

France 2026 - Day 1 / Paris

Steps today: 29 427

And so, another adventure begins!

We were concerned this trip wouldn't happen because Frank had just come off a long cycle of antibiotics that totally wiped him out. Even a week before leaving we were in limbo, but fate smiled on us and here we were back in Paris again.

As has become the tradition on Day One, we had a café breakfast with luggage in tow.  We land a little before 6AM and usually get to Paris anywhere from 7:30 to 8:30AM depending on customs. We love it because it gives us a full day. We take the RER into Paris and get out at Denfert-Rochereau, cross the street dragging our bags (and our asses if the flight was rough) and settle in for the Good Stuff at Café du Rendez-Vous. Today we arrived ready for breakfast at 7:45AM

I think I'm over the whole carry-on only thing, more and more and more people do it and so half the time you're forced to check your bag anyway. On this trip we paid extra to check 1 bag (180CDN), and then one carry-on. We had to check the carry-on on the way there (for free), and on the way back we did it too since we'd have to wait for the checked-bag anyway. It got me thinking why bother anymore.

After breakfast, we walked to the hotel to drop off the bags - hoping the room would be ready but it so rarely is, we weren't holding our breath.

We walked through the Montparnasse Cemetery on the way, so beautiful and peaceful early in the morning... except for the clickety clack of our rolling suitcases! 

I wanted to point out "Ricardo" to Frank because he could not remember it, but we didn't get to him. Here's a picture from my visit in April.

After we dropped off the bags, we walked over to the Eiffel Tower and we found it just where we left it. What a perfect sky for pictures today! 

Next it was time for a drink, we picked Le Tourville and I had a Grand Marnier. I wish I could show you a picture of how EMPTY the glass was - like they just lined the bottom of the glass with a thin layer for show. This is it after I added the ice.

Time for lunch, and I wanted to show Frank the impressive "Café du Commerce". It's over 100 years old and has an indoor / outdoor garden vibe with 3 floors and an open center atrium.  He was unimpressed, but I like it!

I had a simple snacky lunch of Mayonnaise Eggs and Escargots...  ahhhh  eggs in Europe! Just look at that perfect yolk!

We made our way back to the hotel after lunch to check in and unpack. It was a very small room, but the 2 windows with great views of the busy streets make it feel spacious enough.  Our room was on the second to top floor with a window on each side

After we settled in, we took the metro to explore the area around the Arc de Triomphe. We passed by Celine Dion's hotel - my Facebook algorithm has been bombarding me with clips of her greeting her fans outside; I was not interested in hanging around for that, but I was curious enough to see the place in person.  Lots of fans camping out already for a just-in-case-glimpse....  not us!

Instead, we just aimless wandered around playing Goldilocks with the cafés and then settled for crap when the heat was just too much to bear.

I had my usual-for-France Kir Pêche and knew instantly when I got it something was not quite right... it was cloudy and not refreshing.  This whole stop was a bit of a fail.

We decided then to cut our losses for the area and head out to the other side of the Champs-Élysées to the Golden Triangle District. I didn't take a ton of pictures because I feel like I have so many already! After something like 15 visits to a city your approach to pictures changes a bit. I took a shot of the arc from afar while crossing the street - it was enough for me.

We walked Avenue George V which ends by the Liberty Flame / Diana Memorial, but I didn't bother with pictures there either....  I did however of course take a picture of my food!

How we were still able to continue after this I don't know, I didn't get any sleep on the plane and we were coming up to almost 24 hours of being awake! Somehow we found the stamina and decided to walk back to the hotel.

Beautiful image of the Seine and Eiffel Tower from the Pont des Invalides.

When we were almost at the hotel, by about 7PM, the lively atmosphere of all the packed terrasses gave me a boost and Frank relented to stop if we could make it quick.  We did.  So quick in fact that I forgot to take a picture of the place! ha! 

A little boost of fibre from some freshly squeezed orange juice and the day was done. Perfect.