Jardin du Carrousel

Don and I rose at some ungodly hour to catch the Thalys from Amsterdam to Paris. We checked into a perfectly suitable hotel near the Gare Nord station. The Best Western something or other in an area that used to be filled with street walkers, but is now an up and coming neighborhood without such trappings. The elevator was the tiniest I'd ever seen measuring about a square meter or about the size of a decent shower stall. Our first trip up, a bubbly Japanese tourist lady invited us to join her. It was tight; I guess not unlike a Tokyo subway.

We spent the rest of the afternoon walking the city and mapping about 8.6 miles. We had lunch at an old time bistro le Bouillon Chartier. I had the chitterling sausage and Don went for the roast chicken. The waiter wrote our orders on the paper table cloth and added up the bill from the same scratchings. We hit lots of favorites and were rewarded with a partial view of Notre Dame. (see photo). We did a lot of people watching and continously shared comments. Dinner consisted of bread and cheese under a bridge next to the Seine. The mad eyed buttress guy watched us the whole time (see photo). Got a nice shot of Don and the Eiffel Tower. The photo depicts his response to walking there on a day when the mercury hit 90 is too direct to post. (see photo here: https://photos.app.goo.gl/MTdjaeYVghv7eTxA8 )

We were fortunate in that Thursday evenings the Musee d'Orsay is open late. The museum had grown immensely in the past 30 years since my last visit. Not a place to be taken lightly, or after a day on our feet it turns out. We were pretty fatigued by the time we'd made it through just two of the five floors. My age and irritation were showing when I glared at my fellow museum patrons as they kept turning their backs on the pieces to get selfies. Jeezus. I got a nice shot of a group of tourists admiring a Van Gogh (see photo)

This morning we woke and walked to a nearby bakery Du Pain et des Ideés, recommended by the late Anthony Bourdain and Don. Delicious pastry and good cappuccino. Even picked up a few chocolatines for Nancy. Around noon we said our goodbyes after doing a little planning for meeting up in Bears Ears in mid September. Don was off to the airport and I was off on the nine hour bus ride back to our digs in Amsterdam.Read more