Relaxed in Paris

The day started out surprisingly well by the fact that I could actually see the sun through the clouds. Most days it has been gray and you know that rain will soon follow, which it does. As I was walking to the Metro I got a glimpse of the sunrise, you can see the Montparnasse tower from the Eiffel Tower. Simply beautiful! I noticed there was a lot more guards around the tower than usual today and that they were setting up barricades but thought nothing of it. Since the day looked like it was going to be sunny and bright I decided to take my film camera about town taking pictures of main sights. I went back to Notre Dame, it’s just a few metro stops away, and tried to take a picture of the rose windows inside. For some reason it is really hard to get a nice clear shot of the beautiful stained glass windows and the altar. I had wanted to do a river tour of Paris and so I took the Metro back to the Eiffel tower since there is a Bateaux Parisian tour that is located there. When I got out of the Metro the entire roadway in front of the Eiffel Tower was blocked off and there were plenty of police officers around. Turns out there were some kind of ceremony for the soldiers of France that served in the Algiers. I got a picture of the crowd’s back from the Seine dock that the boat tour was leaving. There were some men dressed in coats that looked like the one’s the Three Musketeer’s would wear sitting in a van down near the docks.

The boat tour took an hour and I thought that it would pass by the small island near the miniature Statue of Liberty is located, but it didn’t. The tour wasn’t a big disappointment though since it allowed you to see a different view of Paris. From this angle you could see the bridges up close and there was the big “N” which was Napoleon’s mark on the bridges of Paris. What you don’t see above the river are the squatters that live in tents near the river I guess there are some problems that are universal, homelessness being one of them. Here are some pictures that I took while on the boat.

I had wanted to go eat my lunch at Samartine; this department store located near Notre Dame and has a good view of the Ile de Cite from the upper floors. Unfortunately the store is closed for renovations until further notice. L So I had to keep walking, now if you’ve read travel magazines or watched the travel shows about Paris they mention that some of the Metro stops have very ornate entrances. I found one of them near the Palais Royal area. Rick Steves says that if you want to find some good food with low prices, look for where the locals go. So I wandered around the back streets of the Palais Royal and found this nice Mediterranean place off Rue Moliere. The price was right and looked really cozy inside, so I ventured in. Wow what a lunch! I’m still stuffed from it. Their main meat was L’Agneau which is lamb. I ordered the Couscous Maison (house couscous) which came with chicken and lamb over couscous. The chicken was nice and tender that it just melted off with the cut of the knife and yet it wasn’t over cooked. You could taste the meat and didn’t have to chew so hard because once in your mouth it melted along with the couscous. The lamb was fantastic! Now before this trip I was a bit wary about eating lamb, but I must say that at least here in Paris I prefer it over beef. And that is saying quite a bit since I am a beef/pork person! But this leg of lamb was well done, not over cooked there was a tint of pink in it but you knew it was cooked because you could pull apart the meat easily with your fork. There was some kind of soup that you pour over the couscous and it absorbs it. Man what a meal, this is why I came to the gastronomic melting pot of Paris! The place began to get crowded just a few minutes after I sat down and since it was a hole in the wall place there wasn’t much room for people to sit. I think it could only about 30-35 people max and the chef would bring out your meal. He was this olive skinned older man who had a slight limp but boy can he cook! I had already planned that I would have tea at Laduree later on in the afternoon so I skipped dessert and the café that would end the meal. My lunch lasted almost 2 hours and I was alone. Can you tell I’m beginning to relax?

I wandered around the Jardin Tuileries forgetting that the Louvre was closed on Tuesday so I couldn’t use the bathroom there. There are several fountains with various green lawn chairs available for people to sit and relax in the Jardin. It was a bit windy and I watched the sea gulls struggle against the wind until they descended into the fountain to sit. Finally I decided to risk using the public bathroom in the Tuileries. Having experienced the public bathroom in Venice, I was expecting the worst (ask Allison about this! LOL). You had to pay .40 euros to use the bathroom but it was worth every penny! The bathroom was clean, there was a toilet seat and it didn’t smell funky inside. On the way to the Champs-Elysee I passed Angelina’s and I was so tempted to just have my tea there because of the hot chocolate. But the lure of the “French Kiss” and Laduree won out and I kept walking. I did some window shopping or as the literal French translation for it is called “window licking” around the fabulous shops near the Place de la Concorde. If you were rich this was the place to shop, there was all the name brand boutiques from home as well as the one’s here in Europe. Furs of all types were used in jackets that looked so inviting and the window displays were alluring, my pocket book kept me in reality though!

Now I wanted to go up to the top of the L’Arc du Triomphe and online I had read that there is an elevator you could take. When I got to the Arc though, it looked like people were using the stair and so I decided to put off climbing the Arc for another day. I didn’t pull a “Moses” and try crossing the roundabout surrounding the Arc; I followed the Japanese tourist that went through the tunnel instead. The view from the center of the Arc as you look down one side and see the Champs-Elysee and turn your head 180 degrees and see La Defense is amazing!

Tea at Laduree is another sumptuous experience. It would be like taking an elementary girl who read ‘Eloise in Paris’ to Foquets for a meal. I had ordered the Thé Mélange Speciale Laduree, which is a tea made up of oolong leaves, citrus, vanilla and rose petals. The smell was heavenly; you could smell the vanilla and roses. Also for food I had the Meillieux de Praline and Laduree’s special macaroons. Wow! The tea was so relaxing by the time I was done with my dessert I had that la-la land feeling. It was like I was drugged but not in a bad way in a good way, so totally relaxed. I spent an hour having tea by myself in Laduree. Not a bad way to spend part of your afternoon especially since I would face the mob of people that were shopping in Galleries Lafayette. The Galleries have the cutest window displays for kids and lots of families were stopping by just staring at the display even in the rain.