Paris 2016 - Day 3

Steps today: 25 799. We’re back in business!

We started the day a little earlier than yesterday, on the road by 8:45 AM and walked through the Jardins Luxembourg again – I think this will turn into a regular routine.

The weather is great, the skies are blue, but it’s hard to know how to dress; you have to pick between being cold in the morning or being too hot in the afternoon. I said yesterday I wished I had another layer so my mom lent me a sweater… which was nice in the morning but when I got too hot and had to peel off layers I was getting cranky. Maybe tomorrow I will try the sweater but with one less outer layer… I don’t know. It’s really hard to find the right balance.

Our first official sight-seeing stop was St Sulpice

Followed by breakfast right across the street (I loved the dishes! So pretty!)

We then walked along Boulvard St Germain all the way to Place de La Concorde.

… and walked the entire length of the Champs Elysees, but it was really hard to get a nice shot! This was the best I could do.

We ended up at the Arc de Triomphe and climbed to the roof. It was really spectacular! A little hazy looking in the direction of the sun, but still gorgeous views… and blue skies!!!

Our next stop was La Défense (we took the metro to get there! We didn’t walk).

Lots of construction going on around the Grande Arche, but it’s still an awesome sight. Pictures don’t do justice to its gargantuan size.

We intended to have lunch there but all we came across were fast food type places and it’s not what we had in mind. We eventually cut our losses and decided to head back into the city and go to Bouillon Chartier… but there was a line up! We were almost dying by then because it was after 2PM so we just picked the closest (but nicest) brasserie on the corner and collapsed into our meals.

Of course, I had foie gras!

And yes that’s a salad!!! But don’t worry, there is cheese on top!

Feeling practically reborn after lunch, next on the agenda was Sacré Coeur. OMG. There was a wine festival up there and instead of being fun and festive it was just crazy chaos. Wall to wall people as far as the eye could see!! It was total insanity!!  You could not see anything in the various booths because they were 3-4-5 people deep on both sides; it was claustrophobic! We just snapped a few pictures and left.

This was the LEAST crowded section!!

Lord only knows what was being sold in these booths!

We agreed it was interesting to have experienced it, but we had no intention of lingering.  We might go back another day to see the crowdless version if we run out of things to do so we can enjoy hanging out a little more; we’ll see. 

After escaping the crazy-madness around 5:30PM, we debated having a small bite to eat somewhere but we were still too full from lunch so we just went to a café for a drink and also to recharge since the hoards of people around the Cathedral zapped us of most of our energy. 

(I ordered a GM but got a Cointreau instead! How can that happen in PARIS of all places!?!?!?)

On our list of things to do in Paris is to stay up late one night and go see the Eiffel Tower light show. During previous visits, it always started late – like after 10PM – but after supper last night we caught a glimpse of it flashing and it was only 8PM! We were so relieved that it would not mean a late night, so we did that tonight.

We got there by around 7:15 and enjoyed watching the sky darken and see the Tower light up. Then right on time at 8PM the Twinkle Show began – it was great! 

I can’t post the little video in my blog, I'll try Facebook later.

Good night!