Another beautiful morning in Paris!!
Our Marathon day!!!Out the door by 8:30am and headed straight to the Eiffel Tower - or rather tried - RER line C is down so we had to %26quot;hopscotch%26quot; to get the Eiffel Tower - ended up there by about 9:30 and by then the lines were already HUGE! (NOTE: When planning your time, bear in mind that sections of the Metro can be down which means it may take you longer to get where you want to go!) Decided our time would be better spent somewhere else so headed over the Les Invalides and spent the rest of the morning touring the museum - the armor collection was impressive!! It was a warm day and all I could think of was %26quot;how in the world those men could stand it!! %26quot;Interesting to note that most of the men in those days were shorter than I am!!! Given that hunger pangs set in we grabbed sandwiches at the cafeteria there and gobbled them up (the sandwiches weren%26#39;t the best but certainly not the worst and not outrageously priced so if you find yourself there in need of sustenance, go for it!).Finished up with Napoleon%26#39;s tomb (quite a monument!) Although not on my itinerary my husband decided he had to see the Pompidou so off we went - only to find it closed of course (%26quot;this is WHY I had an itinerary dear%26quot;!). Consoled ourselves with some more ice cream so it wasn%26#39;t a complete waste!! Enjoyed prowling around the area and decided we%26#39;d come back at some point to explore further. My oldest wanted to check out the Quicksilver store (%26quot;So, why do you want to check out the store that is based right next to your hometown%26quot;??)) so, it was to Quicksilver we went. Boys enjoyed poking around (%26quot;Mom, why do they have surfboards in Paris?%26quot;)) From there we walked over the BHV - the boys liked the hardware section and I picked up my supply of Opinel knives. Then it was on to Bon Marche and their decadent food hall. Perused all the yummy food and the boys picked out snacks at which point my husband announced that we should go out for dinner (%26quot;You mean you don%26#39;t want to sample the foie gras I have been eying for the last 15 minutes??%26quot;%26quot;) So, having read all about Rue Cler we decide we had to check it out. Nice little pedestrian street - we enjoyed browsing and poking around. I saw some tennis shoes for sale and decided to try them out - although I have done quite a bit of tromping in my walking sandals I hadn%26#39;t accounted for the heat and that my feet would swell a bit so my sandals were TIGHT as were my other shoes. Not the most supportive tennis shoes but a welcome change from what I had. Stopped at a cafe and had dinner - chicken and steaks for the boys and prosciutto with Melon and salad for me. Having read the pros and cons of Rue Cler I honestly have to say I wasn%26#39;t expecting much and I was pleasantly surprised. Everyone%26#39;s food was good and quite reasonably priced (about 10 -14 Euros per person without drinks). After a relaxing hour and half the boys decide that it%26#39;s a perfect night to re visit the Eiffel Tower and so ,,, off we went. (Yes, my family and the energizer bunny ARE related!). It was, I have to admit, a gorgeous night. Got to the Eiffel Tower about 9:00 and the line was pretty impressive. Stood in line for about 1 hour and up we went - the boys took the stairs but I wimped out and took the elevator! Missed each other on the second level and the boys continued to the top - I don%26#39;t do well with heights so the 2nd level was my limit. Agreed to meet at the bottom if we didn%26#39;t connect. I of course was down first and happily SAT and people watched - it was almost 11:15pm by the time the boys showed up and the place was still mobbed!!!! They loved the top but said it was REALLY crowded. Deciding that one more ice cream would get them home, we stopped for ice cream and then trudged back to the metro and the apt. and collapsed into bed.
Wednesday - Versailles!
Got up early and headed out and were at Versailles by 9:30am. The ticket line was already long but because we had our passes we skipped it and only waited about 5 minutes to go through security. Made a pit stop at the restrooms (which I have to say aren%26#39;t sufficient in number for the volume of people that come to Versailles). Only rude french person I encountered - the bathroom attendant would only let one person use the restroom at a time even though there were three stalls - never did figure that one out!!! Anyway, made our way to the palace and toured away - the artwork and craftsmanship are truly amazing but I can see why Marie Antoinette wasn%26#39;t thrilled with it - it was a bit too ornate for my tastes as well!! Needed food AGAIN, so popped down to the cafe and grabbed some sandwiches which were surprisingly tasty. Had wanted to bring a picnic but given our marathon day before it wasn%26#39;t happening. Relaxed in the cafe for a bit (it was nice and cool) and then headed out to explore the gardens. What can I say?? Beautiful, immense, amazing - I wasn%26#39;t prepared for how LARGE they were - to really see and appreciate them I think you need more than one day!! We headed towards Marie Antoinette%26#39;s hamlet stopping for ice cream about half way (did I mention it was about 80 plus degrees this day??) Found the hamlet - it was charming and SO different from the Palace. By now everyone was fading a bit so headed back - we were too tired to explore the Grand and Petit Trianons (%26quot;gosh, guess we%26#39;ll have to go back, what a PITY!!). Took the train back and found a Monoprix - picked up dinner items, snack items, etc. and headed to apt. Got cleaned up had snacks and drinks and then dinner. After dinner we all headed out the Marais and found a cafe for drinks and dessert. Relaxed and watched Paris go by and then headed home for some much needed SLEEP!!
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Enjoyed your latest installment! You%26#39;ve just reminded me that I need to add salted caramel ice cream to my to-do list for next month.
Merci!
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Another great post... We will be staying on Rue Valadon, one street over from Rue Cler, so I liked your take on it.
However, for your future posts.... can you try paragraphs...??? Your one-giant-block-of-text was distracting and when I was done reading it, when I looked at a white wall I could see the %26quot;negative%26quot; image of your post for the next ten minutes... lol
The rods and cones in my eyes.... ouch! (short post, 3 paragraphs!) LOL
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