Capital adventures

By marchmont

Dimanche

The extra hour didn't do many any favours and I still would ridiculously early, and being Sunday no good R4 to listen to. 

Out before 9 to have breakfast at the bakery on the Boulevard. It was bright if a bit windy but that didn't last and the rain started as I headed the queue for the Musée de Cluny at 9.20. 

Unfortunately the tour of the Roman baths was complet but I spent a wonderful 2 hours wandering through the rooms of this historic building Musée de Moyen Age. And it was so much quieter than the last 2 days. There was an interesting exhibition on crystal and I was enthralled by the Lady and the Unicorn tapestries. Great place and only 2 minutes from the hotel. 

The rain was off by the time I came out so I walked up to the Luxembourg Gardens. Many of the flower beds were empty but the place was full of people walking and kids enjoying the boating in the pond. The Medici Fountain had very autumnal reflections.

Decided to do the bus tour and walked down to Notre Dame to pay and then hop on. It was hooching outside the Cathedral and I saw my second rat of the weekend, dead this time. The first was scurrying down a hole beside the Panthéon). 

Wrapped up in my scarf I sat on the top deck as we drove along and over the Seine. Got off at the Eiffel Tower for the boat trip just as the sky darkened and the rain came on ( but my rain jacket was in my bag!). It didn't last long though and by the time I was back in the bus at the Eiffel Tower the sun was out and the sky was blue.

Many of Paris's building including the Tower and the Grand Palais are shrouded or surrounded by portakabins as work is being done on them. In preparation for next year? The countdown clocks were on the quai. 

It took ages to get back to the Notre Dame stop. The traffic was horrendous but I've got loads of pictures of a Parisian Sunday.

I hadn't had anything since the pain au chocolat before 9 do after a coffee and a rest it was back down the road to another of the tourist attracting formule restaurants. The food was good but the service was much too quick! 

I walked down to look at another fountain, St Michel, under a full (?) moon and then back to the hotel to doze off with Netflix.

My legs, feet and piriformis were all thankful for a day spent mostly sitting though I still did about 12k steps.

And Thursday nights queues were not for a nightclub but for a cinema. There are 3 beside the hotel, one on each side and the Filmthèque 2 doors up. I could have seen the original West Side Story this afternoon! 

Comments
Sign in or get an account to comment.