Final days in Paris

We leave Paris tomorrow after a wonderful week! Saturday we had a late start, sleeping in for a change. We hopped on a local bus, just to get another view of Paris. We stayed on it until the end, then returned on the same bus. We got off at the Place de la Bastille and walked towards Notre Dame.

Colonne de Juillet

There were lots of people around and when we got to Notre Dame the queue to go inside was very long. We had been inside last time so we didn’t bother trying this time.

The south window

Claire wanted to go to Les Halles, described as a mix of chic boutiques and large megastores. As we were making our way there the crowds were getting bigger and there were police everywhere. We saw on the news later that there had been a rally in that area later in the day, luckily we missed it. Les Halles was huge and a bit overwhelming so we didn’t spend too long there, just long enough to find “something nice from Paris” for Lisa.

Fountain des Innocents

After such a busy week it was lovely to go back to the apartment early and just rest for a while. We went out to eat quite unfashionably early and then explored the area around our apartment a little more. We feel quite safe walking around at night. On the way back we decided to have crepes for dessert and ended up sitting with a couple from the Blue Mountains and an Australian journalist. It was a very pleasant end to the evening. We even saw Tim Finn walking down the street with his family.

Sunday we were off to another area we hadn’t explored yet. We caught the Metro out to Porte de Vanvers to go to a flea market. It stretched for a long way down the side of the road. It was fun to browse, but hoping we didn’t fall in love with anything too big to bring home!

Then off to the Arc de Triomphe. We decided to go to the top, all 284 steps. The view was worth it. It was a little hazy but still spectacular.

The view down the Champs-Elysees.

We spent some time watching the traffic around the Arc de Triomphe. There are 12 road intersecting and it is fascinating to watch.

Next came our stroll down the Champs-Elysees. It was getting close to lunchtime, but we decided our budget doesn’t stretch to eating at a restaurant on the Champs-Elysees. Luckily we found a good place on a side street, then headed back. Claire decided she didn’t need to join the huge queue to go into the Louis Vuitton store (lucky Peter). However we did go into the Renault showroom. Peter had to take a photo of a truly “green” car.

And an all electric “concept car”

No Scott we are not bringing one back for you!

We finished our stroll at the Place de la Concorde and the Tuileries Gardens. It was an area we hadn’t visited last time and it was lovely. Lots of people enjoying the beautiful weather, we have been very lucky this week, we couldn’t have asked for nicer weather.

We made our way along the Seine to the nearest Metro station, but realised we weren’t too far from the apartment so we walked the rest of the way, coming down the Rue des Invalides towards the Hotel des Invalides.

I’ll finish up now because we are heading out for our last night. Not sure when we will post again. We have been extremely fortunate with our internet access so far.