Paris en Poche

The Locker. It's a big locker.

I was able to get about 10 solid hours of sleep and woke up feeling more or less refreshed. The trials of the day before seemed a distant memory, I was ready to do some sightseeing in Paris. After getting a shower and finishing off what was left of the mini-bar, I checked out and headed back to Gare du Nord to stow my backpack with the bike. My sense of direction only slightly improved from yesterday, what should have been a 10 minute walk probably took an hour. No worries though, we're on vacation, and we have all day! I walked by a couple breakfast places I had wanted to try, but they were all really busy again, so I just kept going.

Having made the drop and finding my bike safe and sound right where I had left it, it seemed Paris was my oyster. I didn't really have an itinerary so I started walking roughly south toward the Seine and all the famous landmarks that lay in that direction. Soon though I realized that I had underestimated the size of the city, and that hopping on the Metro was probably a better way to get around. I had been avoiding it a little, just a bit of trepidation. But of course it is awesome. Clean, cheap, and fast.

At the Louvre

At the Louvre.

First stop, Les Halles. Just a big mall. Back underground to the Metro, I pop back up on Rue Rivoli, and walked down to the Louvre. I spent some time on the grounds there watching all the other tourists and marveling at the architecture. Continuing through the Jardin de Tuileries, I stopped a minute at a picnic spot overlooking the Place de la Concorde, under threatening skies.

From there, a walk up the Champs Elysee produced my best souvenir of Paris: a chestnut from the famous trees that line that most famous avenue.

I lingered at the Arc de Triomphe for a bit, watched the tourists take their selfies and the Randonneurs from Malaysia get a group photo.

I walked over the Pont Alexander III to the Eiffel Tower and hung around there for awhile, decided the line was too long to go to the observation deck, watched the tourists milling around again and left.

Tourists, Tuileries, Obelisk, Arc

By this time it was late in the afternoon and my coffee and pastry was wearing thin, but I still wanted to see Notre Dame, or what's left of it. So a walk down the Seine over the Pont au Change brought me as near to it as gendarmes would allow. I got a Croque Monsieur and a Coke, then crossed the Petit Pont to the Quai de Montebello where you could at least see the cathedral. It was quite sad to see the melted and slumping scaffolding still in place. You don't get to 900 years old without a few bumps in the road though, and I had the feeling that I was witnessing some history in the making, albeit unhappy.

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Looking back I have to say, that although the skill of the architects, builders and gardeners was evident, and on the whole beautiful, lacking historical context I'm afraid a lot of Grand Old Paris was lost on me. I really wish I had taken more time, and had more time, to explore and learn about what I was looking at. I feel like I really missed out on a lot. Next time.

People watching is universal and always interesting though, and there was plenty of opportunity for that.

A photo shoot going on. very Paris.

At the Arc de Triomphe