Paris, Monday, April 18
We had a nice ride to the Dublin Airport in a Mercedes cab and got to our Air Lingus gate in plenty of time.
You can see that our "delivery" was expected at CDG at 13:58. I think we were close to being on time. We took the train to the Notre Dame/St. Michel station and walked down Blvd. St Germain to our home for the week at # 146 at the Rue de Seine intersection. We were met there by a representative of the owner who gave us a walking tour of the neighborhood. That really helped to get us oriented.
Our apartment was on the seventh floor, at the very top of the building. In the photo on the left you can see our three windows in the mansard roof, the last three on the left. That is the entryway off Blvd St Germain on the right. It led to a courtyard which led to the stairs.
The only way up and down were these stairs, 126 of them! One time I thought I'd sort of run down them but I had to stop about halfway down because I got dizzy! Going up was good exercise. At least that's what we told ourselves.
Here is our hallway.
And the living room. The good news about being so high up is that we had a little isolation from the street noise below, which was a good thing.
Here is the "kitchen". On the lower left is the clothes washer, no dryer. These two alcoves face each other on either side of the entry door, between it and the living room.
The bedroom was a little tight but not too bad. All in all it was a good place to spend the week and the location was perfect.
This is looking straight down on Rue de Seine and the little cafe on the corner.
After travelling most of the day, we gathered some goodies for dinner (baguette, cheese, wine, all the usual suspects) and hauled 'em up the stairs for a relaxing first meal in Paris. We could see the top of the Eifel Tower from our window.
Tuesday, April 19
We decided to start the day off with a couple cappuccinos and chocolate-stuffed croissant and rolls at the small cafe around the corner on Rue de Seine. We then headed toward the Seine and crossed onto Ile de la Cite where Notre Dame is located.
Did I mention that the weather was perfect? Not a cloud in the sky and everything was in bloom - it couldn't have been any better.
We didn't go inside ND that day but we did a couple days later.
We continued on the quaint Ile Saint-Louis where Lorri bought a couple items in this cute little shop owned by an English woman.
We walked along the river on the north side heading generally toward the Arc de Triumph, stopping here and there to check things out.
Like the Pont Des Arts where couples sign a padlock professing their love, lock it to the bridge and throw the key into the river below, thereby securing their love forever. That's the theory anyway. We walked through the Louvre courtyard and found a nice little cafe for lunch called "La Rotonde des Tuileries".
We passed the church of St Mary Magdalene, which looked like the Parthenon to me, and walked our way up the Champs-Elysees toward the Arc de Triomphe. Who are those two on the right?
On the left is a detail from the Arc, next, looking back down Champs-Elysees. On the right is a statue of George Washington which we happened upon as we walked toward the Eiffel Tower.
Just in case you've been in a cave for the last, say, 120 years, this is the Eiffel Tower, the tallest structure in Paris.
After all that walking, we took a cab back to the Pont des Arts and walked from there back to our apartment but not before tossing this guy a few coins (some sort of Euro things) for helping to set the romantic tone of this pedestrian bridge across the Seine.
After some r&r, we visited le Pub Saint Germain on Rue de l'Ancienne Comedie for cocktails
Dinner was right next door at Le Procope, founded in 1686. Supposedly Ben Franklin ate here as well as a lot of other famous dudes.
We didn't see any famous dudes but we had a great dinner and met this dude who was sitting at the table next to ours. I asked him where in the US he was from. California. Us too! We're from San Diego. I'm from Huntington Beach! Lorri: I went to high school in HB! Dude: Me too! Lorri: I went to Marina! Dude: Me too! They were a couple years apart but, small world, eh?
Wednesday, April 20
Today, we went the opposite direction from Tuesday, which means we went away from the river on Rue de Seine toward Luxemburg Gardens, and these are them. There is a large pond where kids rent little sailboats and watch as they float about.
There are lawn chairs spread all over the ground where people relax, read, eat, sleep, etc. We decided to come back later for a picnic dinner. This is a statue that I think has something to do with Hercules. Maybe one of you French scholars can translate for me.
St Sulpice is a beautiful old church with a couple Delacroix murals on a side nave. There stands Lorri below one of them.
What do you know? We found a pub called "Horse's Tavern" that served Guinness and stopped in for one!
A French cat along Carrefour de L'Odeon. We found a Mecca of bread-bakers, Poilane's, and bought a couple fine rolls for our upcoming picnic dinner.
We then stopped at the oldest church in Paris, the one that gives the district its name, St Germain des Pres. According to their printed material, one of two martyrs venerated here is St Vincent, patron saint of wine growers, martyred in the year 304. We said a few prayers to St Vincent that the wine growers would continue to do their thing.
Our picnic at Jardin du Luxembourg doesn't look so spectacular in the photos, but it was pretty excellent!
Ireland, New Market and Dingle
Paris, Monday, Tuesday & Wednesday
