Shopping and Sight Seeing

Highlights: Printemps, Fouchon, Hediard, L'Opera Garnier, L'Orangerie, Eiffel Tower, Rickshaw

Belinda was up at 6:30 and I was up at 8:00. It was another beautiful sunny day but already hot. We got our transit pass with our picture (Navigo). We had coffee around the corner which was a mistake - the coffee was expensive, smokey and bitter. Then we headed to St. Sulpice station where we had some laughs trying to use our transit pass. We went to Madeline square which is full of great food shopping. We were delighted to see Fauchon and Hediard, two of our destinations, as we exited the metro.

We walked all around the square and realized not every store was food-related. Then we strolled down a boulevard to Printemps, a "department store". We stopped in one store to buy necklaces for me and a scarf for Belinda. Printemps was three separate stores - one for men, one for women and one for housewares. It was like Holt Renfrew and we quickly realized Belinda was not going to be able to replace the clothes in her suitcase there.

We went to the rooftop which had fabulous views and realized it was a cafeteria. I made a mistake and got a barely cooked burger. Belinda chose better with a quiche. We took a few pictures and then headed to L'Opera Garner. Belinda got the run around with respect to the timing and price of tours. Instead of a tour, we spontaneously decided to buy ballet tickets for Thursday night. We walked slowly towards Concord. We spotted a Gap store and Belinda was thrilled to buy 2 pairs of pants, 2 tops and ballet shoes. Time for a cafe.

The waiter said I could only have Badoir, not San Pellegrino if I was not eating. This felt like the rude French service of olden days. So I ordered a cafe au lait which was awful. We walked to Concord and worried that L'Orangerie might be closed. We saw a lineup but our museum pass took us to the front.

The two rooms with floor to ceiling water lilies were nice, but the basement held the biggest surprise of paintings by Matisse, Renoir, Picasso and others. We took the metro home and stopped in a plastic shop where Belinda bought a plastic champagne bucket for the flowers. We trudged home burdened with bags and rested before going to the Eiffel Tower.

We found the St. Sulpice bus with no problem but I got flustered trying to find my Navigo pass. I finally paid 2 euros and then had a mini freak out thinking I had lost my glasses too (which was not the case). We got to the Eiffel Tower and sat in a park watching young men dancing in the park. At 8:15 pm, we got closer to the Tower and saw 5,000 - 10,000 people in line. I was so happy Belinda reserved on line.

We walked right in and took the gondola to the second floor. We got some good pictures and watched the sunset. Then we tried to take a boat trip back to our apartment but there were only 2-3 hour return trips available. We trudged back to the Tower planning to take a bus, but Belinda spotted a bicycle rickshaw and we took it. It was a nice half hour ride along the Seine. We got home at 11:00 and headed to bed. We could still see a strobe light show from the Eiffel Tower.Read more