With Wednesday, October 30th, 2024 being our last full day in Paris, I wanted to do some touristy type stuff. (More touristy than we’d been doing.)

Lynda and I had come across the tail end of weekly neighbourhood markets a few times during our visits but we hadn’t actually been to one. So our day started out by walking Rue de Tolbiac up to Rue de la Glacière to see the one that sets up there on Wednesdays.

While it was a nice market with lots of fresh stuff, there was nothing there calling my name, so we left empty handed.

Lynda wanted to pick up a couple bottles of the Champagne she likes as we can’t find it in Canada. (It’s hard to even find a demi sec Champagne of any brand it seems.) So we walked down Rue de Tolbiac in the opposite direction to Nicolas – the wine store.

Lynda and Lucille were successful in their quests. (I don’t remember what Lucille was looking for.)

We took the scenic route back to the apartment to drop off the wine so we could catch the subway to go down to Place du Trocadero.

Place du Trocadero sits on the right bank of the Seine, northwest of the Eiffel Tower and provides some nice views of the tower. A lot of broadcasters set up there during the 2024 Olympics. The athletes gathered in the garden below for the opening ceremonies. The finish line to the bicycle road races was down on the bridge.

We took the #6 subway from our usual stop at Glacière right to Trocadero.

It’s not very far from the subway stop to Palais de Chaillot – Architectural, naval & ethnographic museums, above fountains & gardens with Eiffel Tower views.

I took the same photo with my 18mm, 40mm and 85mm lenses to see/show the differences.

With the haze/fog hanging in the air, we couldn’t see as far as we should be able to.

Musée national de la Marine de Paris.

The square.

The view from the square. Technically, the panorama from the square.

We wandered around and took in the views for about half an hour before we decided to walk down by the river. We’ve never strolled along the river and thought we’d give it a try.

@Spookie_bugz wanted to pose for me so I took a few photographs to keep him happy.

I liked the look of some of the boats with the Eiffel Tower in the background.

The wind that was blowing up at the Trocadero had felt a bit cool, but down here by the water it was downright cold, so we headed back up to the road.

We came up by Flamme de la Liberté – “Gold-leafed torch & unofficial Diana memorial, built to commemorate American/French friendship.”

We started up Ave George V heading north to Av. des Champs-Élysées.

As we were passing the Four Seasons Hotel George V, I noticed a few shiny cars sitting out front and since I hardly ever see an Aston Martin at home, I took a photo of the one sitting there.

Surprise, surprise, another building I liked the look of.

Since we joined Av. des Champs-Élysées at Louis Vuitton, @spookie_bugz wanted to strike a pose. They are renovation a massive building right next door to look like a metal case and it looks like they will be moving soon.

We walked the 5 or so blocks up to the Arc de Triomphe and I did my best tourist impression getting a couple of photos.

There are 12 roads that come down to the traffic circle that the Arc sits inside of. We only walked to the 1st spoke to Av. de Friedland to go looking in search of some lunch. We stopped when we got to Brasserie Le Balzac. We had eaten lunch there on our trip a couple of years ago and thought we’d try it again. Sadly, it was too cold for the girls (I probably wouldn’t have enjoyed it either) to sit outside.

Lynda contemplating what to get. Or maybe she’s wondering how she got here.

We all decided that since it was our last day here, dessert and tea for the girls and a coffee for me, was the appropriate course of action.

Lucille’s choices.

My choices.

We headed back south on Rue Balzac towards Av. des Champs-Élysées with the new Louis Vuitton in the distance.

It was busier than I expected for late October.

We walked southeast along all the shops we couldn’t afford to shop in until we were down at Statue du Général Charles de Gaulle. We were going to meet one of the girls Lucille had been in French class with as she wanted to give Lucille a gift before she left the county.

While we were waiting, I decided to take some photos of the Petit Palais and Grand Palais. I had so wanted to get into the Grand Palais, but it wasn’t open to the general public while renovations were going on.

The Petit Palais as a wide angle panorama.

Lucille’s friend arrived and they chatted for a while.

A doorway at the Grand Palais.

@spookie_bugz wanted a portrait take there.

I took a couple of photos of Hôtel des Invalides across the Pont Alexandre III.

We continued down Av. des Champs-Élysées and through Place de la Concorde.

As we walked through Jardin des Tuileries, Lynda could see La Roue de Paris – the giant ferris wheel we had seen in our trips to this area and she really wanted to go on it. It is a tourist day afterall.

The line up either wasn’t too long, or we just cut without noticing, but it was less than 10 minutes for us to get on. Lucille doesn’t do heights, so she sat on a bench and waited for us. It was a bit challenging taking photos through the plexiglass but you do whatcha you gotta do.

My wide angle shots seem to look okay. I wasn’t sure if they would as I dropped my lens on the sidewalk yesterday. (I sent it for repair when I got back to work.)

It was pretty neat to see some of the areas we’d been to from the higher vantage point.

After 3 trips around, it was time to get out.

It was getting on towards supper time and we wandered north on Rue de Richelieu to meet Curtis at his favorite restaurant – Goiko; a hamburger restaurant that’s only a few blocks from Palais Garnier.

Supper was pretty good and we made our way to the subway station at Opera to take the #7 train down to Tolbiac for the short walk back to the apartment.

We’d covered more ground than yesterday, but more than half of it was on the subway so I only got 23, 516 steps in today.

The 4 of us had a bottle of Champagne and snacks before we went to bed. We wanted to say goodbye to Curtis in the morning so we weren’t staying up too late.