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Published: June 26th 2017
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Geo: 48.8566, 2.35097
Two days in Paris and a variety of activities and perspectives. On our first morning we reacquainted ourselves with the central part near the Seine, strolling down to the river and then wandering along both the right and left banks. We met with Serena and Norm and some other friends for lunch at Le Petit-Pont restaurant next to the Petit Pont opposite Notre Dame. We discovered that our e-mail booking for Le Chaine dinner had not got through and now the bookings are closed and the function full. Norm put us in touch with the organiser who tried to do her best for us but we will not be attending the dinner after all. Apart from lugging Fletcher's dinner suit the whole way, we don't really mind as it was very expensive so we save ourselves quite a lot of money. We hope to catch up with Norm and Serena again on Sunday. The rest of the day we walked!! We went up the Champs Elysees to the Arc de Triomphe and then through the streets past the Opera, the Bourse, Les Halles and finally down the Rue de Rivoli and Rue St Antoine back to our hotel.We were
exhausted at the end as we must have walked for over 2 hours!!
After a rest we found a great restaurant nearby, Les Bonnes Soeurs and had a very nice meal.
Today I spent an exciting morning at the Lavomat, washing and drying a load of clothes. Dreary but necessary!!
After this we bought our passes for the Metro and took the train to Hotel de Ville. We walked to the Pont Neuf to board a cruise along the Seine but we found the next one went at 1-30pm. We then walked into the Left Bank and had lunch. When we returned we found the first boat very crowded, so waited a half hour to ensure ourselves of front outside seats. The cruise took an hour. It was great. We cruised down to the Eiffel Tower and then back to Ile de City, Notre Dame and then back to the Pont Neuf.
We finished there at 3pm so decided to return to some little pedestrian streets we had seen yesterday. Got the Metro to Sentier and emerged into the path of a parade. There were hundreds of young people and large trucks containing floats for a Technopard Festival. This was a celebration of Techno
music. We watched for awhile and then walked down the Rue des Petits Cadeaux which is a great pedestrian street containing, as the name suggests, lots of shops of various kinds from bakeries to butchers to delis to cafes.This leads into an entire pedestrian area leading down to Les Halles. On this Saturday afternoon the streets were packed, so we sat at one of the bars and just people watched for a while.
We eventually returned to our hotel down the Rue de Rivoli and Rue St Antoine finding that the Technopard Festival had its centre in La Place de Bastille, right near our hotel. We can hear it from the room.
We are resting now but will emerge for dinner soon. So though no Grand Chapitre dinner, we are still enjoying seeing the real Paris and enjoying the people and atmosphere of this vibrant city.
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