Pont d'Arcole

Back to Paris, spending a long weekend here. We already booked this stay some months ago, and didn't realize that 'Euro 2016' starts right at this weekend. I remember that our usual hotel asked a prohibitive price, but we thought it would be because of an exhibition or congress. So we decided to give Airbnb a try. We arrived yesterday evening in a small, but beautiful flat - in Hausmannian style - just around the corner where we used to live with a charming lady as host.

During the day we had a stroll, meeting a few people we know (sometimes we have the impression that living in a Paris arrondissement was more personal than in the small town we live now in Switzerland). Afterwards with a Velib bike towards Île de la cité, where this picture is from. The river Seine is still high, but looking at the left arch gives an idea how high it was a few days ago.

Surprisingly (or fortunately) there was not too much fuss about the Euro 2016 in town. Towards 9pm the town was getting very calm, easy to find a place in a restaurant (which usually would be difficult to find a place) and we had a lovely menu while seated outside.