Yet another perfect Paris day

This will have to a quick précis of our day as it’s already 10.25…but again it was perfect weather…totally clear sky, cool, sunny…what more could you ask for? So after breakfast we set off for our visit to l’Orangerie. This was the best yet as it is so small and manageable, and we enjoyed it without feeling at all museum-ed out. As well as the Monet waterlilies there was a wonderful Hockney exhibition of his work during lockdown at his retreat in Normandy. He had drawn on his iPad which he frequently does, and then printed it all out in a long (90 metres) display going through the seasons in wonderful colours and the Hockney way…and there was the other collection of great impressionists and other that are always there. Lovely morning.

Then we walked along Blvd St Germain admiring the beautiful buildings, visited the St Germain de Près church where we lit a candle for Ira, then had lunch at a crêperie…continued along walking, Amr bought an eclair from the patisserie that won 2nd prize in 2018 for eclairs and Omnia had a croissant that had won first prize! (I was too full of crepe)! Continued wandering round the old haunts, past the Pantheon and along rue Mouffetard full of little eateries.

Omnia had to leave us and head back to the hotel for 2 meetings online, and Amr and I continued, stopped and had a glass of wine in a square and to our surprise a March of small children all dressed up and making a racket came along with a banner “heureux Halloween”…I didn’t know it had spread to France…then we walked back to rue St Jacques, near our old hotel Esmeralda, to look for - and found - Camino shell markings on the pavement, marking the way for pilgrims leaving Paris at Notre Dame to walk to Santiago. We had not thought about it before, but that is probably why it is called rue St Jacques…we then moved on to the Luxembourg gardens which was alive with people on this lovely afternoon - children floating boats in the pond, people sitting in the chairs around the water, and walking and playing. We sat and read kindles and enjoyed the scene.

Then Amr had a successful time first in a CD/DVD shop he remembered on Blvd St Michel and found a particular movie he was looking for unavailable in Oz, and also looked at the little booths along the banks of the Seine and had another success there. Very happy. Then we walked all the way back to Gare de Lyon. Left at 7 and walked back to Île St Louis where we had a couscous dinner, an ice cream after and a coffee back near St Michel. It was much quieter than the hubbub of the afternoon, but still alive. Got the metro back, but still did another camino day of walking!Read more