Exploring Paris

Hello Paris!  Jess, traffic and the St Madeleine Church

Wednesday July 3

Today was a walking day and rather overcast.  From our apartment we wandered through the area of Les Halles, past the imposing St Eustache Church where we sheltered from a brief shower, and then circled (literally) around the Bourse which is being renovated.  We soon reached Rue de Rivoli and the Louvre which was our first destination, although our arrival was a little delayed while Melanie stocked up on some souvenirs and gifts along the way. 

Mel, Jess and Maree - Rue de Rivoli

Our plans to visit the Louvre were quickly changed when we saw the extent of the queue which stretched almost right around the quadrangle - none of us felt strongly enough about catching up on Mona Lisa and friends to join the end of the line.


Bye, bye queue - Jess outside the Louvre

Undeterred we strolled through the Tuileries gardens dodging the occasional raindrop and the more than occasional vendor selling Eiffel towers, ending up at the Place de  la Concorde and its crazy traffic.  The girls decided that they would like to inspect the designer stores (window shopping, that is) so we ambled up the Rue Royale and annoyed the doormen by scoring a few photo opportunities outside Dior, Chanel etc.



Do you think they will let me in?

Despite the assault on our eardrums we made our way past the Madeleine with its noisy ring of traffic and arrived at the equally noisy Boulevard Haussman, home of the monster department stores, Printemps and Galleries Lafayette - both with ominous signs instead of window displays - SOLDES!  The famous July sales - by law French stores can only have two sale periods per year, summer and winter naturally -and the whole of Paris seems to be here!

Deciding to fortify ourselves before venturing into the melee we found a typical brassiere/café and ordered the usual baguette, coffee etc - quite ordinary in this case but a chance to have a bit of a rest.    Printemps was not too crazy and we did "bag" a couple of bargains - in the handbag dept.  By now we were over shopping but I persuaded the others to make a brief foray into Galleries Lafayette to see the amazing and beautiful dome - a bit of an architectural wonder really.  However the crowds were too much and we escaped into the streets and began the long walk home, stopping to admire Opera Garnier and the classical pianist performing on the main stairs.   Almost home, we enjoyed the lovely ambience of Rue Montmatre and stopped off at a Berthillon café/ice cream place for an apero (and one of the famous ice creams - yum).  Rue Montorgueil was beginning to hum but we were expecting Baptiste so had to get home and forgo dinner at one of the many restaurants there.  In the end we had a nice snack - cheese, olives, red pepper tapenade, crackers and wine in the apartment.  Jess and Baptiste disappeared into the depths of Parisian nightlife to meet up with other Bond Uni friends who are now back in Paris.  Bonne nuit!