We saved our favorite city for last. Not that we had a choice--that was the cruise itinerary. After breakfast we boarded our bus with guide Cecilie for the Panoramic Paris tour. It was about an hour's drive into the city, down the Champs-Élysées, past the Arc de Triomphe and the twelve avenues emanating from it, to our first stop, in front of the Grand Palais. This was where those of us who decided to go off on our own were let off. It was not our first rodeo so we got off. (The next stop was Notre Dame, and it turns out we probably should have stayed on the bus and gone there.)
We walked across the street, past the Petit Palais, through the Jardins des Champs-Élysées and the Place de la Concorde to Rue de Rivoli. Our destination? Angelina for the requisite chocolat chaud, of course. After we got our fix, we wandered across the Jardin des Tuileries where we sat for a bit, enjoying the sun and watching the people. We passed the Louvre, then crossed the Seine via the Pont Royal, leaving the right bank behind us. I'm almost sure that we looked from the bridge down the river to Notre Dame, but I don't remember.
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| Marqueste Laurent Honoré, Le Centaure Nessus Enlevant Déjanire, 1892 |
We had no destination in mind. We were hoping to visit the Rodin Museum, but it is closed on Mondays. I wanted to go to the Frank Gehry-designed Louis Vuitton Foundation, an art museum that was open today, but it is at the edge of the Bois de Bologne and Gord wasn't too keen on going up there, preferring to walk around instead.
We found a cafe, Le Saint Germain, on the rue du Bac, where we sat outside and had lunch. It was cool, but the sun provided the perfect amount of warmth. Gord ordered a club sandwich and I opted for quiche. The portions were so large we could have split one of them and been happy. Instead we ended up leaving half of everything.
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| Our view from the cafe |
We continued walking down the rue du Bac, passing the Paris Foreign Missions Society, turning onto rue du Babylone and down boulevard des Invalides to Place Vauban. There were long lines at Les Invalides for entry into the museums. Most city-owned museums are closed on Mondays, so I assume the lines are longer at the museums that are open. Add Holy Week to the mix, not to mention the Paris Marathon that took place the day before, and you get one busy city.
We walked across the Pont Alexandre III, spent a bit of time in the Jardin d'Erevan, before walking across the street to our meeting spot in front of the statue of Winston Churchill. We were quite early, but it felt good to sit on a bench and get off our feet. A couple, who were also waiting for the bus back, told us they had walked up to the Louis Vuitton Foundation (it had taken them 90 minutes), only to find out there was a two-hour wait to get in. We were glad we chose to walk around instead, exploring parts of Paris that were new to us.
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| Chapel at the Paris Foreign Missions Society |
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| Dôme des Invalides |
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| Eiffel Tower in the distance |
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| Rodin Museum that was closed |
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| Bleachers left over from the Paris Marathon |
We returned to our boat which had moved from Mantes-la-Jolie to Le Pecq. We attended the final farewell in the lounge and then went down to dinner where we got even more special treatment from Dobo than the previous nights. I guess he liked our tips. As we were leaving the restaurant the four Brits asked us if we had heard about the fire at Notre Dame. They had quite a sense of humor so we thought they were kidding at first. But, sadly, they were not. We went to our room and watched on our television while we packed. There was a scheduled Paris by Night tour for which we had not signed up. Surprisingly it was not cancelled. We heard later from Lyn that the bridges and the Arc de Triomphe were not lit and that the light show at the Eiffel Tower also was cancelled as it was not a night for celebration. It was an emotional end to a wonderful trip.
We awoke early on April 16 for our transfer to the airport. Our flights to Washington, DC and Albany were uneventful (and much shorter than our flights at the beginning of our adventure, thankfully). I say that, but Gordon reminded me about the loud, obnoxious man who talked his way into the exit row/bulkhead seat next to him because he apparently had an injured leg and needed to stretch it out. He kept kneeling on his seat to talk/shout to his wife who was sitting in the row behind, so I guess it wasn't that injured. My leg wasn't in the best condition either after all the walking we did, which was one reason we decided the night before to pay $300+ more for those seats. I guess maybe next time I should be loud and obnoxious and get them for free. [Update: We did file a claim and received compensation for our delayed flight from Munich to Marseille, nearly $1,000, so I'll stop complaining.]
