|
|
2003-05-31 - Paris Day 6 Following breakfast, we took the Metro to the Notre Dame Cathedral. There were people everywhere, but I was still able to find Alex! She took the train that morning (I think she said she had to leave at 6:30!) and she arrived into Paris at 9:10 that morning. It was really great to see her!
Alex and I split off from the group. Their plans for the rest of the day included visiting the Louvre and the palace of Versailles. Both are very impressive, but I was looking forward to just looking around the city, something I had not had a lot of free time in previous trips to do. We began by walking back towards the area around the opera house. We hit several of the main stores, such as Zara, Galleries Lafayette, Morgan de Toi, and H&M. Galleries Lafayette was interesting. I thought it would primarily be expensive items, but it also had sections for clothing from Mango and Zara, as well as a huge grocery and market area with everything from basic food to gourmet items. Rows and rows of cheese and meats and breads… We continued our way down to the Champs Elysées. Alex and I stopped for lunch at Café di Roma. Not particularly French, but I enjoyed an excellent pizza with really great, fresh cheese! Alex had a salad with salmon. It was a really nice location – we were able to sit outside in the café along the Champs d’ Elysses. It was a great spot for people walking, as people walked briskly up and down both sides of the street. On the way back down the street we stopped at a wonderful “patisserie” called Ladurée. We each had a strawberry tart. The tart was made with the freshest mini-strawberries.
We were going to work our way back over to the Musée d'Orsay, but it was so close to when I needed to meet the group for dinner that we decided to just look in the shops under the Louvre instead. The museum and shopping area was more crowded than I had ever seen before, perhaps because our tour groups usually take us to the Louvre first thing as it is opening. Alex and I were going to walk along the river to meet our group at the restaurant, which was just to the west of the Eiffel Tower. I do believe we underestimated our walking time (and our weary legs) and we ended up catching the Metro at the Invalides stop. Alex was invaluable as she spoke to the worker at the Metro to find the quickest route to the restaurant. We arrived just a little late and we said our goodbyes as Alex prepared to catch the train back to Rennes. I wish I had had more time in the area to have been able to visit her hometown! Next time! Our dinner that evening included a salad, a dish of baked chicken with sauce and French fries, and a fresh apple tart sliced like pie with ice cream. Following dinner, one group went to the Eiffel Tower and mom and I went with another group to the shops along Champs Elysées. The road was fairly crowded and was actually closed off by the police due to a broken water line. There were a couple of spots where the water was spraying upward, like an unintentional fountain! The locals were enjoying the lack of traffic and were taking pictures in the middle of the street with the Arc de Triomphe in the background. One group of teenagers were marching down the street like soldiers, with the one in the front playing the drum. Some stores were actually closed. We split up with some time to look around and then meet back up a little later. Mom and I went to Zara’s again and went a store called MonoPrix. They had some inexpensive clothing and things you might find in a Wal-Mart. The grocery store was downstairs and we went downstairs to see if we wanted anything for the train for tomorrow. We did not find anything, but we did find a pickpocket team operating using their cell phones. One of them was based by a machine where you could access the Internet, looking for unsuspecting tourists to pull out their pocketbook. His counterpart was walking the aisles through the store and, sure enough, mom and I were able to pick him out as he walked by and made sure to look up as we clinched our purses. Hah! We met back up with the rest of the group on the Champs Elysées and made our way to the Metro. We almost got onto the RER system instead. Paris’s Metro system can be so confusing. It’s not too bad if you just ignore the RER system, which is a separate Metro system that crosses and connects with the main Metro line. We finally found our way onto the Metro. This group of local boys (probably upper teens?) boarded in the same car and once they realized we spoke English, they proceeded to use what little English they knew. They kept screaming out streams of cusswords. One of them screamed out “I love New York”. It was so funny. One of the girls, Martha, must have looked over at them because they kept saying “I speak English” – “She speaks English” – and then “She knows!”. It was so funny. You might have had to have been there, but it was quite interesting. We made sure to exit to the other way from their group and we went back to the hotel. I was quite exhausted from all of the walking Alex and I did!
75, Avenue des Champs Elysées 75008 Paris
61, Quai de Grenelle Paris, France Phone: 011-33-1-40 58 20 00
|