Day Four in Paris.

Laundry

As I mentioned in the previous post, we had damp underwear we had to dry. There was a laundromat near our apartment and within 10 minutes we had dry thermals again.

On the way back we stumbled upon a market under the railway tracks selling everything from socks to fish. Jane couldn’t resist and bought herself a jacket. I bought a extra thick beanie.

We had Breakfast at Secco Patisserie. This was a delight. I ordered a ham and cheese baguette, Jane had a plain crepe and a small croissant.

After, we continued strolling through the markets.

Lunch

When we got back to apartment we changed and got ready for our lunch at the Eiffel Tower. I had booked this before the trip. It allowed us to skip the line to go up the tower and to tick off one of Jane’s “must dos”.

The lunch was a “picnic” style 3 course lunch with a beer or wine. We were lucky enough to get a window seat. We were looking out over the Seine towards Trocadero. It was a clear day, so we were feeling magical. It was really a nice lunch.

Unfortunately the top level of the tower was closed for renovation. A disadvantage of travelling in the off-peak season I guess.

Louvre

After lunch we decided to visit the world famous Musée du Louvre. This is probably the best known museum in the world, and is home to the Mona Lisa and Venus de Milo.

We arrived fairly late which meant no queue to get in. We didn’t have time to see much. The tour guide said you need months to see all 35,000 pieces, Like 80% of visitors we headed straight towards the Mona Lisa, or as the French call her “La Joconde“. There was a big crowd all around it all trying getting a small Mona Lisa image on the their phone.

We spent the remaining time strolling trough random rooms. We stumbled across the Egyptian exhibition which was cool. We kept having to stop and sit to ease our aching feet.

We left the Louvre and made our way to Rome on the Metro.

Rome

No we didn’t go to the Rome. We met Jane’s Aunty in Rome, Paris, just outside the city. Jane hadn’t seen Tita Del in around 20 years. It was nice to catch up with her and her 20 year old son Jay. They treated us to dinner at Mama Primi a very nice Italian restaurant. Jay impressed us with his fluent French and ordered a couple of cheese starters, then two pizzas. Jane had a Bloody Mary and I had a Himalayan Mule. All the food and drinks were delicious. The only problem was we had an outside table and it was very difficult to stay warm. We finished with coffee at a nearby coffee shop. It was a nice evening and was great to meet Del and Jay.

 

Day Five in Paris.

This was our last day in Paris, before travelling to Amsterdam in the morning.

We decided to take things easy as do some shopping.

We traveled to La Défense. The business district with a large shopping mall on the outskirts of the city. Jane bought some stuff for the girls at Sephora.

We caught the Metro back into the city to the Garnier Opera house. This is arguably the most famous opera house in the world and is the setting for the book (play/musical) “The Phantom of the Opera“. This truly an opulent building. So much artistry from the window knobs to the ceilings. It’s hard to imagine building a place like this.

We left the opera house and intended to go to the Musée d’Orsay but our feet were screaming “no more!” at us so we decided to head home for dinner and rest.

We had dinner at Bistro Dupleix near the apartment. We decided to be very french and ordered escargots in garlic butter. We also shared the confit duck leg and potatoes. Very nice way to round out a tiring day.

Big day tomorrow. Off to Amsterdam.