October dawned as another early day on Saturday, October 1st as we were up early to make the 15 or so minute walk to the RER (Réseau Express Régional’ or Regional Express Railway) station at Cité Universitaire to make another visit to Gare de Nord. Today’s destination is to be Amsterdam. (I still got to go there after all.) I loved having reliable and rapid transit to use in Paris. It was only a 1 ticket ride to Gare de Nord so it cost less than 2 Euros 1 way; a lot less than the 27 Euro cab ride last time. (And much less than our gypsy cab ride back.) and no more time than taking a taxi.
Unlike our last train trip; this time we weren’t leaving the EU so we just had to go through security and not passport control.
We were about an hour before the train was scheduled to leave and we checked out the train station a little and got some food to take on the train.
Soon our train pulled up and I took my camera out to get a photo or two.
I was concerned to have a rather serious looking security guard come over to me and tell me there are no photographs allowed in the building. Now normally I’m a sarcastic smart ass and would of pointed out that everybody and their dog has a cell phone to take photos with; but not being nearly as dumb as I look; I just said I was disappointed in hearing that as it’s such a beautiful old building and I would adhere to that.
It was just over a three hour trip from Gare de Nord to the Amsterdam Centraal station with quick stops in Brussels, Antwerp, Rotterdam and the Amsterdam airport. We never got off the train at those stops but I’m counting it as visiting Belgium, lol.
It was about a 15 minute walk and even though it was only just noon, we stopped at our hotel; Hotel Pagi to see if we could check in early to keep us from dragging our luggage around. Luckily, they let us check in. Curtis and Lucille’s room wasn’t ready so we put all the stuff in our room and headed out to look for food.
This being the Moffat’s 4 trip to Amsterdam, Curtis has mapped out a plan for food.
We meandered for just over a kilometer as we made our way south toward our lunch stop; De Carrousel Pannenkoeken.
I had heard nothing but great things about the mini Dutch pancakes so it only seemed appropriate to have them as our first meal in Amsterdam.
I had the cherries with mine. I love cherries and they are never an option on the breakfast menu so it only seemed natural.
And I must say, they were fabulous.
We started walking across the canal over towards the Heineken Experience to see what we could find from there.
I loved the architecture I saw along the way and took photos of what seemed like everything.
Soon though we found ourselves at Albert Cuypmarkt; Iconic street market since 1905 with lots of stands selling clothing, local foods, flowers & more.
It looked a lot cooler than our local market so we decided to check it out.
Lynda and Lucille found a few things to purchase (big surprise) and then we came to a stall/store that caught both their eyes.
Lynda deciding on a colour.
I’m not much of a sandal wearer but the pricing was very good so I bought Lynda a pair she liked.
Since we now had things to carry; that was enough shopping for now and we started walking over to the Hard Rock Cafe just over a kilometer away to see about getting Curtis a shot glass. (And a drink or two for us.)
It took us over half an hour to make our way to the Hard Rock as I had to point my camera at a thing or 10 along the way.
There were no shot glasses for sale in Amsterdam but we decided to have a drink while we were here.
Lucille and Lynda wanted a lemon drop shot and the 3 of us shared a large strawberry margarita.
It was getting close to supper time so we started back to our hotel to drop off the shopping bags.
We dropped off the shopping and Curtis moved their stuff up to their room before we headed out for supper.
We’d walked just over 1/2 back towards the train station when we got to our destination; Gandhi Restaurant.
Curtis has travelled quite extensively and had told me that the best Indian food he’s had outside of India was in Amsterdam. I love Indian food so this was my whole reason to make the trip to the city.
I must say, he wasn’t wrong as far as I can tell. (I haven’t been to India but it was the best Indian food I’ve ever had.)
We had to walk that fabulous meal off so we headed out to check out Amsterdam at night.
I couldn’t decide what was cooler; a parking garage for bicycles or the fact there were 1156 spaces available for bikes.Another parking garage for bicycles.
Apparently we did get over to the red light district. I wasn’t paying much attention as I just took photos of everything.
We made our way back to the hotel and I took a last couple of photos from Curtis and Lucille’s room. They faced the main street where we faced a side alley.
Considering we’d spent about 4 hours travelling today it was quite surprising to get just over 20 thousand steps in.
Thursday, September 29th started out as a fairly late day as we recovered from yesterday’s long ass day trip to London.
I’m pretty sure Lynda and I went out for something for lunch but I never took my camera out of the bag that day so I honestly don’t remember where we would of gone.
I do know that after Curtis was done work we took the subway to Fresh Burritos Bercy Village for supper.
The menu is a lot like what I see at Mucho Burrito here at home and it was a pretty good meal.
The tiles in the bathroom are pretty nice.
It was a short walk to our destination.
There’s even nerds in France
I had left my camera at the apartment as we were going to Accor Arena to see Sum 41, Simple Plan and Guest in concert.
Anyone who tells you a cell phone is as good as a bigger camera in any situation is so full of shit their eyes are brown. But, use what you got and I didn’t want to have to look after a camera in a crowd. (I’m not even sure it would of been allowed in.) All the photos in today post are from my Samsung S21.
Curtis and I went out for snacks and drinks before the concert started and you know you’re at an event venue when you are paying $10 Euros for a draft beer in a plastic cup, but that’s what my sister’s beer cost Curtis.
The guest for the concert was Cassyette – Cassy Brooking; a singer-songwriter from England. She was pretty energetic and she could scream pretty loudly. I didn’t know any of her songs but she wasn’t bad at all.
Zoom doesn’t do so well in the dark
The crowd seemed to like her half hour set.
I’ve never been to a concert where there was an actual intermission between bands but it was about a 20 minute break before Simple Plan hit the stage. It was pretty interesting listening to the crowd singing along to French folk music being played over the speakers while waiting to see bands that played slightly heavier music.
I knew quite a few of the Simple Plan songs and the crowd seemed to really like when the lead singer spoke French to them between songs.
Simple Plan played for about an hour and there was yet again another 20ish minute intermission before Sum 41 hit the stage.
For a city that pretends it doesn’t understand English, it was interesting watching Sum 41s lead singer whip the crowd up. Watching the mosh pit was pretty interesting. I’m not sure why so many guys (and more than 1 girl) had to take their shirts off to run into each other though.
I think I knew all of 1 Sum 41 song but it was still fun being at the arena. I was glad to be up at a comfortable level to watch and not be down on the floor.
We bolted for the subway the second their set was done to try and beat the crowds and we were successful.
It wouldn’t of been my choice of concert to see but it was pretty cool to see a couple of Canadian bands in Paris.
We didn’t walk all that far going to and from the concert but I still managed to hit just over 10k steps for the day. Obviously Lynda and I had gone somewhere earlier in the day, but I still can’t remember where.
5:00 am seemed to come awfully early on Wednesday, September 28th. (The alarm was set for 5:30 but we woke up early.) I had a taxi booked to pick Lynda and I up at 6:20 am to take us to Gare du Nord so we could take the Eurostar train to London for a fish and chip lunch and maybe do some shopping.
Two of the things I wanted to do on our holiday was; take the train somewhere and to have fish and chips in London just because I could. This trip would check both of those off my list. I do have to say it was the most expensive meal I’ve ever had but I probably won’t get back there again so I really don’t care about that.
Our train left Paris at 7:43 am and with the time change heading west; arrived in London’s St. Pancras Station just after 9:00 am. I had booked the basic seats for the trip over to London, not realizing there were no USB chargers in the cheap seats. We never thought to bring a DC/USB adapter with us.
SPOILER ALERT: This blog post contains a lot of touristy looking photos. And I do mean a lot of them. Turns out I wouldn’t have time to shoot the kind of photos I usually do. You have been warned.
Just outside of Paris
There isn’t a whole lot of scenery to view along the way, and at about 300km/hr, if you see something to take a picture of, it’s gone by the time you try to take a photo. (It’s only going 160 km/hr through the Chunnel but there is even less to see there.)
Platform at St Pancras Station
We got off the train and made our way through the station to the attached Kings Cross Subway Station to take the subway to Waterloo Station for a short walk to the lastminute.com London Eye. Lynda had booked our entertainment for while we were in London and the London Eye was to be our first stop.
Just a few bicycles
It was a short walk and soon we were at our destination. Our tour was booked for 11:30 am but we were there before they opened at 11 am. I looked for photo opportunities while Lynda went to ask where we would go to get on the ride.
Turns out that she was right where the line would start so we were the first ones in line. Since that never, ever happens to us it was a weird feeling being at the front of the line. (Not weird enough for us to give up our spot though.)
A long line formed behind us and just after 11:00 o’clock, the line started moving and we were soon standing at the first pod waiting to board for our “flight.”
About 20 of us loaded up and were soon moving up. Upon boarding an electronic voice says; “Welcome to the London Eye.” And that is the last thing that is said. It is a little disappointing that there is no references to any of the buildings you can see so you know what you are looking at.
View from the top
I wasn’t kidding about plenty of tourist photos and you haven’t seen anything yet.
Soon our half hour ride was over and we got off the ride to walk over to Victoria Cross Subway Station for the bus tour Lynda booked for us.
We walked north to the pedestrian bridge over the River Thames and headed towards Trafalgar Square. We saw a few photogenic things along the way.
Panorama1 Shot
We made it to Trafalgar Square.
We made our way to Admiralty Arch on our way to The Mall.
Panorama from up close1 shot from farther down The Mall
Normally The Mall has traffic flowing along it but it was being set up for the London Marathon to use it on October 2nd.
We were about half way down the street when the police were suddenly moving people off the road to the sidewalks as the road opened up.
Victoria Memorial with Buckingham Palace in the distance
As we got near the end of The Mall, we cut through St. James Park.
A very cool snack stand in St. James Park
We were getting close to our destination when we saw something that made us wonder if Lynda’s mom, Gail, has been keep a secret. (Apparently there are 20 or so Gail’s locations in and around London.)
It took us about an hour to make the walk over with our photo stops but we made it to Victoria Cross Station with time to spare to make our tour. (We did miss lunchtime by walking though.)
We got on the open air bus and made our way to the upper deck. Cool weather be damned; we’re tourists looking to see stuff.
Lynda’s all smiles (for now)The upper deck was a pretty popular placeOur tour guide Pepe telling us what we were seeing.
Our very WASP looking, British sounding tour guide, Pepe, told us the story of how he got his name. He said when he was born, the parents were responsible to register the name of a new baby at the registry office. Unfortunately, there were 10 pubs between their house and the registry office; and his father stopped at all of them. By the time he arrived to register a name, he couldn’t recall the chosen name and he blurted out the name of the neighbours dog. He did point out that his mother was Spanish so it wasn’t all bad. He went on to say he often tells his younger brother he’s lucky both sets of grandparents escorted their father to register his birth or he might of been named after the neighbours new dog; Fifi.
Pepe was a good and knowledgeable guide. Unfortunately, most of what he said after his name story didn’t stick with me.
Approaching Westminster AbbeySomeone killed their cell phone and had to switch to plan B
I know we drove past Buckingham Palace, Trafalgar Square and 10 Downing Street but I don’t remember which order we went by them all. There was a protest happening across the street from 10 Downing Street to protest Prime Minister Liz Truss’s economic policies. (And since she’s already been replaced, that might have worked.)
Westminster Abbey again
We drove past Westminster Cathedral on our way to cross the River Thames.
After we crossed the river, we stopped for a photo opportunity of the Parliament Building across the water. I got out to participate while my bride stayed on the bus.
Our bus driver, Floyd stayed on the bus as well.
Soon we were back on the road and re-crossing the river.
The King’s Guard
I wasn’t kidding when I said I didn’t recall the order of places we passed as we are now approaching Trafalgar Square again.
We drove all around the square.
Ducka you head
We made our way down Fleet Street.
It was time to re-cross the river.
We weren’t across the river very long as we were soon crossing Tower Bridge on our way to The Tower of London.
We got out of the bus for a short walk past the London Wall – a piece of the original Roman Wall from when way, way back.
We had a 20 minute stop at The Tower of London while we waited to board our boat for the river cruise part of the tour. (That part came as a surprise to Lynda and I.)
Pepe gathering his flock
Soon our break was over and we were lining up to board the boat. Lynda and I went to the open, top deck so we could again see the most stuff on the tour.
Just as we were leaving the dock, Tower Bridge started to open up. Pepe told us it’s rare to be on the tour and see it.
As the bridge was fully open, we could see a couple of tugs maneuvering a warship towards the opening.
By now we were parallel to the HMS Belfast as we headed up river.
The boat was pretty full with a good amount of people out on the top deck.
After about 20 minutes, we were across from The London Eye and it was time to dock.
It was time to get off the boat and get back on the bus. Some of the people in the tour were going to walk across Westminster Bridge to go to the London Eye. (Lynda didn’t know that was an option when she booked the tour or she would of just booked this tour.)
There’s a lot less people on the bus nowLynda’s not looking as happy as she did at the start of the tour
The tour was going to continue to Harrods Department Store but we needed to get some food and get back to St Pancras before 6:30 pm for our 8:00 pm departure back to Paris. Our 3 hour tour lasted almost 4 hours and it was around 5:00 pm getting into Kings Cross Station.
We had decided to look for food near the station as we were limited for time and after we walked around to check out the area we decide to try Drake & Morgan at King’s Cross. It looked like a nice place and we felt a bit under dressed walking in. We couldn’t really hear what the hostess said so we wandered over towards the bar to have a look. A manager came over to help us and squeezed us in right at the end of the prep area. After not having a meal since breakfast; we would of been happy to sit in the kitchen to eat.
It was pretty cool watching them prep meals.
We had a waiter come by and mumble he’d be right with us but he never came back so the manager who had seated us took our order.
Fish and chips had been my plan so I ordered that to share with a loaf of sourdough and a couple of fresh fruit drinks for Lynda and I. The British pound was running about $1.50 CAD per so we paid about $52 for our meal. It was a really good piece of fish and the fries were also very good. Our drinks worked out to about $12 each and there was no alcohol in them. (The were yummy though.)
We enjoyed our meal and made our way back to the train station by 6:30 pm like our ticket suggested. We thought we’d charge Lynda’s nearly dead cell phone but finding a USB plug proved more than challenging. (We found 1 spot with 2 jacks in the entire building and 1 of the jacks didn’t work.) Turns out having a DC/USB plug adapter would of again been the solution.
Our train left on time at 8:01 pm and I had upgraded our seats from Standard to Standard Premier so we’d get a meal on the return trip. With the time change it would be almost 11:30 pm getting into Paris so a late supper was appreciated.
As an added bonus, there were USB chargers with the upgraded seats.
Being dark as pitch out, I never tried to take any photos on the return trip.
Our meal was a salmon quiche that was pretty good. (Seems like a popular meal choice.)
Once we got back to Paris, I had a gypsy cab driver offer to take us home and he seemed like a nice old guy so I agreed. (It wasn’t twice as much as the morning trip but it was more than it should of been.)
We got back to the apartment just before midnight. It had been a long day and it felt like a whirlwind trip.
Our day didn’t go as we had planned with lunch coming at supper time and not having any time to do any shopping but even feeling like a rushed day, it was fun and I know what not to do if I ever get back there.
I managed to get over 17k steps in today. No wonder it felt like such a long day.
Another cool and rainy day greeted us on Tuesday, September 27th.
Lynda and I took it easy for most of the morning before heading out to catch the bus to check out the souvenir shops we’d seen down by Galway Irish Pub.
We walked through the market at Fontaine Saint-Michel but Lynda wasn’t feeling anything calling her name so we walked to the Quai des Grands Augustins to check out some of the shops along there.
Lynda was regretting not shopping the last time we were there as she couldn’t find the things that caught her eye the last time.
Maybe a lunch break at The Great Canadian Pub would change our luck.
The service was slow (even compared to other places in France) and the food was only good. (We’d had so much great food on our trip that this place seemed a bit disappointing in comparison.)
Lunch over, we kept walking along the road for a bit to some other shops for Lynda to check out.
I wasn’t on the hunt for souvenirs so I decided to wait outside and take some photos.
The older couple waiting for the bus caught my eye so I decided to get a couple different angles of them.
As I took their photo I remembered that I was hoping to capture some random street shots of Paris in hopes enough of them inspired me to make a black and white calendar. So I shot a few more scenes as we walked along.
Soon we were back by the market at Fontaine Saint-Michel again.
The layout of the booths makes it hard to get a decent shot of the fountain so I just wandered around while she shopped. (And this time, she shopped.)
We made our way over to a bus stop to catch the number 21 back to the apartment. It was about a 7 minute wait and more and more people kept coming to the stop.
The bus was pretty full when it pulled up and a lot of people at the stop got on the bus and we decided to walk along Bd Saint-Michel to another stop to see if the next bus would be less full.
As we walked, I liked the look of the book store. (I always like bookstores.)
The buses were less and less full as they passed by but it was a nice walk so we ventured a little further along until we came to Le Jardin du Luxembourg. (Luxembourg Gardens)
Living where I do with relatively new history; it was pretty neat to wander into a 17th-century park with formally laid-out gardens, trees planted in patterns & statues on pedestals. (And it’s not like that’s the oldest thing around there.)
Flowers were not in summer form but not in bad condition all in all.
We wandered through the park until we came to Luxembourg Palace; Former royal residence, now repurposed & used as the meeting place for the French senate. (We didn’t know what the building was at the time but the armed guards made it seem official.)
Even in the rain, it is a beautiful park.
We made our way out of the park and as we walked to another bus stop, I couldn’t help but notice the “skinny” building.
We finally grabbed a fairly empty bus to get back to the apartment in time to get supper.
Lucille wanted to get a roast chicken and potatoes from her local butcher; who was right beside L’Amiral Chicken; where we’d had supper last night. I decided to go with her and as we left the apartment; the rain that was almost done when Lynda and I got back was now pouring down.
We mostly ran to the butcher and were pretty soaked (Well, I was; Lucille had on a rain coat.) In the 3 minutes we were in the shop, the rain stopped so we walked back at a more sedate pace.
After our tasty meal, all of us but Lynda went out to look for a coat for Lucille and to get some stuff from the fruit market. Lynda had enough walking for 1 day so she stayed behind to have a nice relaxing bath.
We didn’t find a coat for Lucille at the mall but the fruit market stop was successful.
It was starting to get dark as we headed back to the apartment.
The indoor gas station is a bit freaky
I had gotten just over 15 thousand steps for the day and it was time for an relatively early night as it was going to be an early morning for Lynda and I in no time at all.
The 4:30 am wake up alarm came awfully early on Monday, September 26th and Lynda and I were awake before it went off.
We got showered, dressed and finished our packing before it was time to leave at 5:30 am to return the rental car and check in at the airport for our flight to Madrid on our way back to Paris. The clouds were still looking like there was more rain to come but it wasn’t raining as we left for our drive to the airport.
We had come on a direct flight but in order to get the good deal we got for the flights and apartment, there was to be a 4 hour stopover in Madrid on the return leg. I’ve been liking Spain so far so how bad can that be?
After dropping off the car we walked into the terminal at Aeropuerto de Tenerife Sur and preceded through the check in/ security check with no real problems.
Boarding seemed to take the longest. Why planes aren’t loaded from the back, forward is beyond me. It feels like it takes you 20 minutes to get down the isle to your seat near the back of the plane.
It was still dark as our Airbus A321 climbed out for our 2 and a half hour flight and headed north towards Spain.
The weather cleared up as we approached Madrid and we enjoyed a nice smooth landing.
The Madrid airport is a very long building with some nice design features. (One would think I would of taken photos of such things, but one would be mistaken in that belief.)
We passed the time with people watching and airport food.
Finally, it was time to board another Airbus for the hour and a half flight to Paris.
Another smooth landing at Aéroport de Paris-Orly was appreciated by all.
The nice thing about these flights were we didn’t have to go through Customs upon arrival so it was pretty quick to get through the airport for the taxi queue. It was a whole lot longer than the one Lynda and I got into when we got back from Nice.
It really wasn’t all that long before it was our turn at the front of the line.
We told the fellow directing people that there was 4 of us and he pointed at a sedan. The driver started to protest but we told him that’s were we were directed to, so he loaded us up and took us.
We got safely back to the apartment and decided to head out for supper.
It was a really long walk of a block and a half over to L’Amiral Chicken for really good kebabs and fries.
Views in Tenerife were a bit better
It was a pretty quiet night for us as all we did was wander back to the apartment to call it a day.
Even with it being a travel day, I still managed to almost get my 10k in steps topping out at 9552. I know it was close but no cigar (I draw the line at trying wine).
The 1st full day of fall had arrived in Paris so it was time to head for a warmer climate.
We arrived at Aéroport de Paris-Orly quite early to catch our flight to Tenerife, Canary Island.
Many years ago I had researched the most temperate climate in the world and Tenerife in the Canary Islands was the answer. So, I told management at work that if they ever opened a store there I would be willing to move there, sight unseen.
Once we had decided to go to Paris, I started checking out inexpensive trips to take from there and Tenerife was in the running to check out.
Lucille and Curtis had never been and Curtis was interested in going so, he booked us flights and accommodations for 4 days.
Hola
Curtis had decided to get a rental car and luckily he gets a deal through work.
We piled into the car and headed to our apartments.
Soon we were checking into Apartamentos Parque Carolina to drop off our stuff and we went looking for food.
Lucille found Flicks Bar listed as being really close and we followed her to find it. Since she isn’t all that great at reading her phone map, we were soon going the wrong way and ended up at Tapas Harry’s Place. It was a pretty cool view but they weren’t serving food yet.
We headed back to find Flicks. We were almost there when we saw an older couple on the deck of their apartment and asked about the bar. They told us it had closed down about 3 weeks ago. I still walked down the path to take a couple photos as I was there anyway.
It was too bad the place was closed because it would of been a great place to sit and have lunch.
So Curtis pulled out his phone to find food and soon we were walking northwest to see what we could find.
We saw a few places but the name Lizzie’s Bistro jumped out at us and we decided to give it a try.
The thing that jumps out at you at Lizzie’s is the drink menu of 64 cocktails.
Looked like a challenging menu to try them all but we thought we should at least try and we each ordered something different.
The first round was good so we had a 2nd round with our food.
We stopped after 2 rounds so we could go check out the pool at our apartments.
The listing for the apartment stated it had an ocean view and to be fair, it was accurate.
The view from our our window
With swim time over, it was time to go and find supper. So back to Lizzie’s to add more drinks to our list.
It was karaoke night and there were a few talented singers to entertain us.
With 2 more rounds under our belt, we headed back to our apartments the same way we had walked earlier in the day. Curtis found the shutter button assembly from Lynda’s camera on a sidewalk. We had found it broken when we were getting ready to go for supper and I guessed it probably had gotten jammed up against something she was carrying and it popped off somewhere along our walk.
The camera would focus with the button but it wouldn’t take a photo so I guess it’s her cell phone for the rest of the trip as need be.
Got about 15.5 k in steps today so getting back on track anyway.
Tuesday, September 20th was a cool, cloudy, rainy kind of day.
Lucille had a physio appointment over near Arc de Triomphe after school.
Lynda and I walked over to the metro to meet her along the way and she’d show us where it was while we waited for her to be done.
We rode to the chosen stop and got off the train to wait. She was late getting out of school so we sat and watched a few trains come and go.
Finally she came rushing in and we hopped on the next train to the right station. It was few stops away but our end station – Charles de Gaulle – Étoile is huge and waiting there was probably not a good idea.
Lucille pointed out where our exit was and hurried off to her appointment. We continued on our way and made our way up the stairs.
I’d seen many pictures of the Arc de Triomphe and the thing that I marveled at the most is the size of the traffic circle without any lane markers in it. It is a crazy sight to behold.
We took a few photos and decided maybe we would go up to the top after lunch. So we picked a street at random and wandered down it looking for food.
We walked down Av. de Friedland a few blocks and decided on Brasserie Le Balzac.
Even in the cool weather, we were determined to eat outside.
We shared fettuccine and a meat sauce for lunch and were getting ready to leave when Lucille messaged that she was done her appointment.
We arranged to meet at the base of the Arc.
Once there, we decided that between the cold weather and the line to go up, we’d skip going up to see the view.
So we decided to window shop on Av. des Champs-Élysées.
Lynda was going to look for a purse for her mom but the line to just get into Louis Vuitton was a bit ridiculous so we we kept walking.
Hard for the social status differences not to catch my eye
We stopped at Starbucks and Lucille bought us all drinks so she’s shopped on the Champs-Élysées.
Finding the entrance to the subway is challenging along the avenue as they aren’t marked with the big Metro signs like the peasant areas of the city.
A very cool ice cream truck near the end of the park
We wandered through some of Jardin des Champs-Élysées before heading towards the river on our way back to the metro.
As we strolled along Avenue Winston Churchill near the sign for and looking at Petit Palais, we ran into an American woman looking for Avenue Winston Churchill. We told her she was there and she looked at the Palais and asked if that was the Arc de Triomphe? I see why so many places aren’t fans of Americans.
We were soon on the Pont Alexandre III. The official description calls it an ornate bridge but it looks a bit gaudy to me.
We continued towards Hôtel des Invalides.
We kept walking through more park area. Like Beijing, I would bet I could visit a park a day for an entire year and not get to all the parks in Paris.
And of course the streets and building continued to catch my eye.
Finally we were back at the subway to go to the apartment before we headed out for supper.
I honestly don’t remember where we ended up but I know it was good as I’ve yet to have a bad meal on the trip.
After we were back in for the evening, I liked the quality of the light outside so I shot a couple shots from the balcony. There wasn’t much colour in sunset but I still liked what I saw.
With over 14k in steps I had almost twice as many as yesterday so I should be keeping my average over the 10k/day goal.
Monday, September 19th was a decent looking day with a mix of sun and cloud but Lynda and I took it easy while Lucille was at school and Curtis was working from home.
I got some laundry done and worked on my blog that day.
The only photos I took were when we went out for supper to The X Pot; a hot pot restaurant. Curtis had made reservations as our last attempt at getting in didn’t go so well.
Making decisionsSpicy broth on the left, tomato based on the rightSo much good food
It was super fun picking what we wanted and being able to add whatever sauce we wanted.
Lucille picked the spicy broth for us and I thought at first she was trying to kill me as it was more than a little spicy. But after I got past my mouth being on fire, it was very enjoyable.
So far, Hot Pot has been my favorite food in Paris; even with having to cook it ourselves. (There are a lot of close 2nds however.)
Everything was fresh and the staff were super nice. Pretty much everywhere we’ve been the staff has been great as has the food.
I got just under 8k in steps as my sitting around the house really hampered my walking. We’ll strive to do better tomorrow.
Sunday, September 18th was a mix of sun and cloud with a bit of a breeze blowing. Summer seemed to be giving way to autumn in the flip of a switch.
We took the bus to Galway Irish Pub for lunch and some sightseeing in the area. There was quite a traffic jam and some closed roads as we got off the bus. There was some kind of event happening in the area to encourage people to bike or take public transit downtown.
I liked the names on the animals/figuresCell phone shot.
With another good food experience under our belt(s), we headed in the general direction of Musée du Louvre. I’d love to spend time in the Louvre but it is a huge museum and I just don’t have the time to see all the things I’d want to see so we settled on checking out the outside area.
There were a few things to see along the way.
So many book sellers along the left bank of the Seine
Soon we were along the back side of the Louvre. It is a massive building.
As we walked we came to Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel – the entrance of the former palace where the Louvre is.
We continued on to Carrousel Garden and Grand Bassin Rond (which isn’t as big as you’d expect.).
When we got to Place de la Concorde, we found ground zero for the bicycle event.
A small sample of bikes at the event.
There was music and some kind of show going on and a really weird human powered something or other going around the Place de la Concorde.
We headed back over the river on the very opulent Pont de la Concorde. It’s pretty impressive for a bridge that’s over 200 years old. I wasn’t all that happy with my photos so none of the bridge, just shots off the bridge.
I love the look of so many of the buildings.
As we got near Lucille and Curtis’ apartment I saw something other than buildings that I liked.
We hung out at the apartment for a few hours and left to find a late supper near Tour Eiffel as my bride had booked us all a 9:00 pm tour to the top.
Many years ago, when I was a photofinisher, I had seen the Eiffel Tower from every angle you could imagine and never thought I’d have any interest in it if I saw it in person. (I was wrong) It’s an impressive structure and at night it is a sight to behold. They make the lights twinkle to look like it’s glowing for about a minute on the hour and sadly, my video can’t be seen here.
The breeze that was blowing at ground level seemed a lot colder up on the 2nd level.
The city of light you say.
In for a penny, in for a pound; we took the elevator up to the top.
I know the views should be similar just from higher up but something about being up there seemed different than the 2nd level.
We met a nice British couple and their baby while up there and another Canadian couple as well.
We decided against having champagne as the glasses were extremely small, the price extremely high and the cold wind making us want hot chocolate instead.
Curtis shooting a laser beam from his head.
Finally it was time to head back down.
As we were walking away so I could get an overall shot of the tower I was asked if I could take a photo of a young couple with the tower in behind them on their phone.
I took an couple of photos and the young man asked if I minded doing another one.
He quickly pulled a ring out of his pocket, dropped to one knee and proposed to the young lady. I snapped a couple of quick photos and switched it to video for them.
They were from Switzerland and not at all dour like Adam Kerr leads me to believe all Swiss are in the journals of his blog – Canada Slim.
I never thought to grab a photo of the couple I shot their engagement photos.
As a vertical panorama.As a single shot.
We’d spent a couple of hours in and around the tower so it was more than time to call it a night as Lucille had school in the morning and Curtis had to go to work.
We got to the subway station after 11:00 pm and after a short wait, were on our way.
It was closer to midnight than we’d of liked when we got back to the apartment. I had gotten almost 17k in steps for the day. No wonder I was tired.
Hank's Blog - Musings of a Wandering Mind 