We made the most of our two days/three nights in the capital of France. Our apartment had a view of the beautiful Pretemps Building just along Rue Hauseman from Galleries La Fayette. We caught up with the rest of the crowd who will be cruising with us on the houseboat and then Linda and the rest went out to dinner at a nearby Italian restaurant - I have to ask why???
But I (Julie) opted to meet up with friends Natalie and Simon. Simon currently works in Paris and Nat is based in Glasgow so it was fortunate that they were both in town this weekend. It was lovely to catch up on all their news since their marriage in Melbourne last November.
Natalie, Simon and Jules dining in Paris
Linda's husband Tony arrived early next morning so it was time to go and discover the city. But in true Parisian style it was time for coffee first! Some people watching while sipping our cafe lattes across from Gallaries Lafeyette provided a fascinating insight into the pecking order of French societe. The various cars including numerous chauffeured black Mercedes were compactly parked along the side street but then along came the very new, bright white Rolls Royce. Well it become a show of pecking order - parking shuffle with the Mercedes closest to the entrance being relegated to allow the RR to have prime position adjacent to the door. Ooh to have that sort of privilege!
An afternoon walking tour of the Latin Quarter gave us insights to the history of scholars and universities of Paris. Fascinating to hear and see parts of Paris not previously visited. But there's still so more of Paris left for the next visit!!
A quick late lunch and then another long walk back to our hotel, probably a total distance of around 12km for the dayl! Our walking has certainly increased now that we are in France thank heavens. Still trying to work off the kgs from Greece!!
Everyone was exhausted from trekking all over Paris so an indoor picnic was quickly arranged in Suite 118 ( Linda, Tony and Julie's sort-of two bed apartment.) Baguette, fromage, vin de blanc, pâté, etc made for some fine dining for weary tourists.
Sundays in Paris are free museum days so we joined the queue to see Monets beautiful and very large water lily paintings at Musee d'Orangerie. The colors and light in his paintings are wonderful to experience in such close proximity. Other paintings in the museum by famous french artists such as Renoir, just didn't have the same effect.
Wandering over the River Seine we found a rather quiet area but the numerous riot squad police cars lining the street were of some concern. On enquiring at the nearby restaurant where we had lunch we found out that there was going to be protests in the late afternoon. Somewhat of a relief as we would not be in the area then as we were heading for an evening at the Eiffel Tower.
Picnic style dinner in the park with wine and baguettes. Then it was time to join another very long queue for an hour. The sign was saying the the top was closed temporarily but as Julie just got to the head of the queue the sign announced that we could go to the top! We took the two lifts to the top and voila, Paris!!!
A fabulous evening for taking photos with the sun going down over the city which was toasted by champagne! Chris and Sandy were seen below looking after our goodies and also doing security work for some unsuspecting tourists who were about to have their bags snatched. Great job Constable Chris.
Linda and Tony at the summit!
Jules and Linda at the champagne bar of course!
The weary travellers then returned to the hotel (by taxi) to prepare for our train trip from Paris Est station to Epinal to pick up our boat in Fontenoy le Chateau.
Excitement all around when we saw our beautiful boat and we eagerly boarded, unpacked and settled in.
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