Saturday October 27, 2018

I got up early to do laundry since our room didn’t have much space for hanging wet clothing. There was a laundromat 5 minutes from our hotel and they opened at 7 am so I was prepared.

I mentioned my experience on Facebook but I will repeat on this blog. I had some visitors while doing the laundry. First I could not figure out how to purchase laundry detergent. The machines were easy to figure out so I ran back to our room to find the last liquid travel packs of Tide. It worked thank goodness!

When I returned, an apparent homeless man, barefoot with filthy feet and clothing, walked in, put his bedding in a dryer and sat next to me. The smell was not pleasant so I moved to check on my laundry. The dryer was .50 for 5 minutes and when it was done he grabbed his stuff and left. Strange.

Then a young kid (20 maybe) opened the door to ask first in French and then in English how much for the washer. I told him 3.40 and he told me to have a happy Christmas and when I told him to have one as well, he said I was beautiful. How sweet, even if he was leftover drunk from the night before…

Finally a young women popped in to ask if I lived next door. She was hoping to get inside the building because her friend must still be sound asleep and she wasn’t answering her phone. She actually helped me with the dryer and was still standing outside when I was all finished.

Fresh clothes and we are off to see the Louvre, but first we really have to find jeans. It is entirely too cold for what we have.

We did manage to find jeans and even a roller bag for me. I made the mistake at the beginning of the trip to send home my spare bag which folded quite small. I didn’t intend to include that bag but once the box was sealed it was too late. I needed an extra bag only when the walk was over so I waited.

While we were shopping we came upon a market that must run weekly. It was three blocks long and had primarily produce. It looked so good. Even the stores here have unusual layouts and offerings like this small store focusing on olives.

We finished those chores, dropped off our goods at the hotel, changed into our jeans for warmth and left for the Louvre.

Our big thing today will be the Eiffel Tower and we have a 3:30 reservation. This now leaves 3 hours to travel to the Louvre and possibly go inside to see Mona Lisa, and then head to the Eiffel. I’m not sure how this will work!

We didn’t make it to the Louvre grounds until almost 1 pm. My suggestion to Suzanne is we not go inside for an hour.

It would be a panic driven look and not worth the effort. Two hours would have worked but not one. We took photos and enjoyed the grandeur of the museum grounds, all the people and decided to walk through the gardens.

I thought walking to the Eiffel Tower would be a good idea but in hindsight we should have taken the metro. It was a long walk past government buildings for at least 30 minutes. My plan was to get to Rue Cler to show Suzanne the cutest Market street. We almost made it there but when I looked at the time we changed plans and went straight to the tower. Rue Cler would be after.

We entered the Eiffel tower security line for those with reservations. A quick bag search to stand in another line. This second line was for those with 15:30 reservations. There were a lot of us! We actually took the elevator up closer to 4:30 so that 3:30 reservation felt like a “suggestion”.

We took the elevator to the second floor. It’s quite the view from that high. The entire city lays below at your feet. I filmed the ascent to the first floor where one of the employees got off. Amazing to think that the elevator completed in 1889 is still running today.

Sacre Couer

We ended up taking the stairs down to the first floor/level which was a long way. The levels look much closer than they actually are. It took a while to round all those platforms and get down to that level. The construction of the tower is so interesting and beautiful.

Suzanne stepped onto the glass floor to take a photo of the center and only when she was finished did she notice what she was standing on. I almost said something but knew if I did she would run off “to safety”. She said I was mean for not telling her. I disagree!

More of the Eiffel Tower. I think it’s one of those iconic places that you cannot stop taking photos just in case that last one is the best one!!

After taking more photos than we needed to, we walked back to Rue Cler for dinner and to look around. No cars allowed except with exceptions, so this is a walkable, family-friendly street. Markets with produce, chickens roasting, butcher, cheese, flowers and macaroons.

We ate at the Bon Marche Cafe in the corner between two hotels I’ve stayed at in the past. We were able to sit outside because they had plenty of heaters to keep us warm. It was Happy Hours, with an “s” because really it is more than 1 hour. So we ordered the large beer and I had a croque monsieur and frites. They were both excellent.

That done, neighborhood enjoyed and a few small souvenir/gift items purchased, we headed off to our last event of the day, the boat tour on the Seine. We took the Metro. I’m not convinced it was faster but it was warmer…

The boat tour went from the Eiffel Tower past Notre Dam and around the other side of the island Ile de la Cité. I braved it on the top open deck but had to go back inside a couple times. Chilled to the bone weather!

Paris is so beautiful at night!

Tour finished , we made it back to our room by 11:30. We still needed to pre-pack for a morning departure. I estimate we should leave as close to 8 am as possible for an 11:50 am departure to Munich. It will take an hour via metro and RER Train to get to the airport plus waiting time etc. I would rather be safe than sorry! We turned out the lights at 2:30 am.

Alarm set for 6:30 am for me, 7 for Suzanne. We were out of the hotel by 8 which was amazing!

It was a nice surprise to be able to purchase the airport portion of the trip at our local station. I thought we would have to get off the metro and buy the airport bound tickets at the transfer point. This is awesome!

Now to the airport and our trip back to the USA. Here we come ready or not!

#enjoythejourney