Paris - Day 12

After another pleasant breakfast at Café St Regis, we headed out for another day of walking the streets of beautiful Paris.

Today we began with a stroll along the length of the Rue de Rivoli, passing the Hotel de Ville, the Musee de Louvre, and the Jardin des Tuileries.

We arrived at the Place de la Concorde to find that there were some road closures and lots of activity and French flags, all part of the preparations for the French National Day, often referred to as Bastille Day.

The Place de la Concorde has at its centre a 3,300 year old pink granite obelisk with a gilded top that once stood in the Temple of Ramses at Thebes and was given to France in 1831 by the viceroy and pasha of Egypt, Muhammad Ali.

We continued along the flag-lined Champs Elysees past the Grand Palais towards the Arc de Triomphe, stopping at some of the shops along the way (Louis Vitton, Gucci, Guerlain, Adidas, Disney, etc, etc).

While walking we heard the roar of aircraft overhead and stopped to see the flyover of a number of military aircraft, practicing for Bastille Day.

We returned along the other side of the Champs Elysees and the Rue de Rivoli back to the Marais district. We thought that we would try and find the wine shop of Hana’s niece’s father in law, called Caves du Marais (Cellar of Marais). We found it but found it closed with a sign (in French) in the window. While trying to work out what it said, a young man walked up and explained to Hana that he was on holidays but that this was the best wine shop in Paris!

We wandered down to the riverside to find that there were a number of open air bars set up there as part of Paris Plages, an annual event each summer that creates temporary artificial beaches along the river Seine in the centre of Paris. We found a nice one and sat and listened to some jazz while having a drink and nibblies on the shore of the Seine.Read more