Paris 2014 (Version 2) - Day 4

I am unsatisfied with my Field Reports. Years from now, when I look back and want to recall my adventures, they will not do the job… so here I go again using maps, our pictures (including the ones I posted on Facebook), and my memories before they fade!

We started our day picking up the plans we dumped yesterday: La Défense. The renovation on the 7 metro stops that interrupted our ride yesterday were open so it was a direct  ride from our stop. In 2004, we walked to La Défense – this time the plan was to take the metro there and walk back (or back at least as far as the Arc de Triomphe).

We did not stay long, there is not much to do other than admire the buildings. The Grande Arche is really amazing, it’s gargantuan! Check out the people on the bottom steps to help give you context… really cool.

We gawked around at the various structures and then started the trek back.

I got bored with the walk after about 30 minutes – I started feeling like we had seen the best parts and if all we wanted to do is walk, we’ll be doing that all day anyway so let’s move on with our day: take the metro (by now we were at Les Sablons) and go see the Basilique Sacré-Coeur and walk around there.

The closest metro to Sacré-Coeur is Abbesses and from there it’s an uphill walk staircases uphill. PLUS we took the stairs in the metro instead of the elevator so all in all, it was about 200 steps! Priority one before sightseeing was resting with a cold drink!

It was a little after noon by then, time to walk down the hill and find a place to have lunch. About 30 minutes later, we found Terminus Nord (facing the Gare du Nord) – it was terrific!! A typical old-timey French Brasserie… I had the best meal of my trip…  I’m still dreaming about it. Man it was good.

I started with Foie Gras de Canard, then Steak Tartare (prepared exactly the way I like it) and of course cheese for dessert. Perfection.

After lunch, it was over to Cimetière Père-Lachaise.  Some people may think that’s morbid…  those people have never seen Père-Lachaise! It’s not gruesome, it’s beautiful.

By 4PM, it was time to have a drink at a nearby café and try to get in touch with Lou to see where we’d meet for dinner.

We were not able to get in touch with him, so we decided to pick up an abandoned project from our trip in 2012: Searching for the Vel' d'Hiv Monument. If you don’t know about the Vel' d'Hiv Roundup, take a moment to read about it. (If you’d like to read a novel about it to humanize it a bit more, I highly recommend the Book Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay – it’s one of my favourite books.)

In 2012 when we tried searching for it, all we found was a plaque. We searched on maps and Google Earth and Street View but could not find this elusive monument!!! We became very acquainted with the Quai de Grenelle on that trip but the monument was nowhere to be found!

This time: success!!!  Moments before we decided to give up the search again, we spotted a sign directing us to it! We found it! YEAH! I felt like I won a prize. (it took almost an hour!!)

After this we managed to connect with Lou, met him under the Eiffel Tower just after 6:30 and headed off for supper at Café le Dôme.

Still gloriously full from lunch, I took it easy with a sandwich…

After supper I managed to convince the guys to cross the street and hang out at the bistro “Le Champs de Mars” to have coffee and dessert and a night cap while waiting for the sun to set in order to get some night shots of the Eiffel Tower and catch the twinkle show.  (Sadly my IPhone does not take great twilight shots - or perhaps I just don’t know how to use the proper settings??)

We hung around until 9:45 but the twinkle show had not started! Lou and I were willing to wait until at least 10PM, but my husband was fed up. We should have let him leave! ha!

It was a late night (for us) but still a great full day!

Paris 2014 (Version 2) - Day 3

I am unsatisfied with my Field Reports. Years from now, when I look back and want to recall my adventures, they will not do the job… so here I go again using maps, our pictures (including the ones I posted on Facebook), and my memories before they fade!

We started the day by heading out of town to Vincennes.

Not knowing what to expect, I thought we’d tour around and have lunch there after visiting the Château de Vincennes, turns out the visit only took about an hour.  We walked all the way around it, then wandered the grounds – c’est tout!  it’s no Versailles, but I still think it’s worth visiting – in my opinion it has great historical value. For place with relatively nothing to do, we took a ton of pictures; the place is impressive.

When we were done, we thought we’d go to the other extreme - literally and figuratively - from the 700+ year old Château de Vincennes at the eastern terminus of metro line 1 to the ultra modern La Défense at the western terminus.

Turns out however that because of renovation work on the 7 stations that run through the heart of Paris, the metro stopped at “Châtelet” and we were forced off. I thought it would just continue without stopping though the closed stations. Guess not!

So we dumped our plans, got off and just did more wandering! We retraced a lot of our steps, walking along the Seine, through the grounds of the Louvre, down the Jardin des Tuileries, around Place de la Concorde towards the Champs-Élysées ultimately with the goal of seeing the Palais de l'Élysée.

That’s when I realised I left my map at the hotel so we had to go by memory. We got the intersection right – but not the building… ha! only a few days later did we realize our mistake.

From there, we explored the back streets soaking in all the sights, eventually ending up at Place Saint-Augustin. Realizing we were close to the Brasserie Printemps (we skipped it for lunch on Sunday) we decided this would be the day for lunch under the Dome.

The Printemps department store (next to the more famous Galeries Lafayette) is a complex of three buildings and the Dome was interestingly hard to find! You’d think such a nice place would be a little more heavily marketed, but perhaps they don’t want to be overrun with tourists? We actually ended up on a roof-top café at a neighbouring building. Great views of Paris… and the Dome we were searching for!

A little after noon we were where we wanted to be and MAN OH MAN was it ever amazing!  You really don’t get the feeling in the pictures for just how HIGH it is!!  I wonder if that’s the purpose of the balloon hovering in the centre; to help judge the scale?

Such a beautiful room! This picture might help give you an idea what it’s like to sit there.

The tables were cleverly mirrored so you could admire the Dome without craning your neck:

Also practical for gazing up your companion’s nose. ha!

Sadly my meal was awful. I had a salad and it was no good.  It was just lettuce, chicken, and a ton of mayo. A far cry from a good Caesar Salad.

I had some cheese for dessert as a consolation…

Because the sky was nice and blue with only a few clouds, we decided after lunch to go up to the Montparnasse Tower observation platform (essentially the roof / 59th floor) of the tallest sky scraper in Paris (until 2011).

The weather was great for this activity; such beautiful views that we took over 30 pictures from up there! Could not stop clicking.

It was a about 3PM by now, time to stop and have a drink. We walked to the Eiffel Tower area and found a café around 4PM and settled in just when it started raining.

The rain was not letting up, and knowing Lou had planned to see the Arc de Triomphe that afternoon, we texted him to say we’d head out that way to meet up with him.

After a few confusing text messages, he finally met us at “Le Général” around 6:30 – Delicious meal!

I was not ready to call it a day after diner, so my husband and I set out to walk along Champs-Élysées and planned to just jump on the metro whenever we got too tired. Lou’s leg was hurting so he took the metro home right after dinner.

Still wide awake while my husband was fading, I managed to convince him to stop for a night cap agreeing that afterwards we’d go right back to the room. We ended up in a strange place - very hip and pink and loud – not the most enjoyable atmosphere, but I had my night cap and made the most of it. 

I had a glass of champagne and look at the cute way they served it – with it’s own mini ice bucket.

The best part was this dog “sitting” next to me – I think he had a long day. Adorable!

After as promised, after our night cap it was back on the metro and straight home.