Day 3 & 4 Paris

Once we were out of the hotel and heading towards the  symbol of Bastile we found ourselves amongst the Sunday market. What a wonderfully professional organisation as it is all undercover  for the stall owners with the crowds wandering down the middle. The display of the vegetables and fruit were done in such an artful way it made you want to buy them. The cheeses and bread were to die for....... This is suburban Paris at its best.

We headed towards the Notre Dame for breakfast. By the time we had breakfasted (about 11am) the crowds to get into the wonderful cathedral looked hours long already. Thankfully it wasn't on our list of activities, although it did amuse me to recall the last time we were here with Trish and Grant when Trish took one look at the queue and marched us up to the front and into the cathedral like we owned the place. Stunned onlookers made derogatory comments about rude Americans, which we thought was funny.

We headed for the Luxembourg Gardens which is impressive, with its obligatory chateau included. The sun was shining, the gardens immaculate, there was a band playing, people relaxing - what more could you want?

From there we visited  a medieval museum which was nearby. - very pious and not my cup of tea, although you had to admire the quality of the tapestries and the stories they depicted.

The afternoon was hot and spent in a couple of cafés. Drinking cocktails in the afternoon on a hot day is a recipe for needing an afternoon siesta, however we managed to fill in the day by watching the men's tennis final at Roland Garros on a screen in a cafe. Trish, being an avid tennis follower, and in love with Rafel, was very pleased with the result.

Monday

Michael and Trish were out running in the thunder and lightening this morning before I even woke up. When everyone was ready we headed off for breakfast on the Champs Élysées. We then walked up one side of the street, window shopping and a bit of retail therapy (Trish and I bought matching golf tops!), until we got to the top. We had seen the Arc de Triumphe up close before but had never been up the top. By the time I had climbed up all those hundreds of steps I felt like I needed bilateral knee replacements, but it was worth it. The view from the top shows the wonderfully planning that is a feature of Paris with all major roads heading towards that one point. All he roads are beautifully tree lines as well.

Once on terra firma we headed down the other side of the Champs Élysées. By this stage it was time for something a little bit special so we popped into the Laduree restaurant which is known for its fine dining and excellent array of patisseries. In other words we stopped for a drink and desert, however it was all very elegant and exquisite.

It was a decent hike back to the hotel, but no doubt good for the body after what we had just consumed. We later dined at a restaurant about 200m from our hotel, and had the most
delicious meal, albeit lacking in vegetables - top class!