We woke up to the mobile alarm – not wanting to wake up after the late-ish and very big dinner we’d eaten last night but eventually we got out of bed and ready for the day ahead… We went down stairs for our petit-dejeneur ...
Q: "Cafe? The?"
A: “deux café sil vous plait”
We enjoyed our fresh bread, orange juice and coffee and then went back upstairs for last minute preparations before heading out.
We filled up the new backpack with essentials for the day and back downstairs,
“Bonjour! Merci”
as we left our door card key with the friendly man at reception!! (Sorry Deb – we do not know his name yet! Actually we have only seen the website guy here once – usually it' s another guy – the owner we think!)
It was a grey and blustery morning as we ambled our way up Rue Ponclet past the men and women setting up their daily market stalls, yells from the men selling their fruit as they try to grab passer bys attention and draw them in to buy some fruits.
The Gyspies are sitting at the side of the street, munching on some food, before beginning their days work.
The butcher grabs something from his stall and rushes down the street to his shop…
“Pardon”, “Excuse-Moi”,
“Fleurs.. Madame pour vous/ un petit bouquet, Mademoiselle”
And “voila” - we are out onto Ave de Ternes, we make our way across the Rd and continue up the hill to our Metro stop (Charles de Gaulle Etoile). This morning we are going on line 6 to get off at Trocedero and walk down towards the Eiffel Tower. We planed to do to Hotel des Invalides, meet up with Romain and his son and perhaps go to another museum??
A man is playing the glockenspiel on the side of the platform as our train arrives, we get into the carriage and sit down – opposite us is an oldish man carrying a parcel…suspiciously this parcel looks like a piano accordion wrapped up neatly in a green plastic garbage bag… as the train moves on he unwraps the accordion and then meticulously rolls up the bag slowly and carefully making it as small and neat as possible (reminding me of how my Gramps used to wrap up little parcels). He finishes as I wonder where he has his rubber band to hold it together, his hand goes into his pocket and he pulls out a rubber band wrapping it twice around the bag and Voila..into the other pocket goes the little parcel. And then to my disappointment he simply sits there… We stop at a station and then the train starts again and the little man stands up… says to us,
“some music for you”
He walks into to the next open space and begins playing some lovely music on his accordion!! (I remember sometimes at Christmas time, after much pleading Nan would play us something on her accordion)
So, moving along – we departed the metro at Trocadero, out came the camera and more click clicks as the Eiffel Tower is snapped a few more hundred times...
...past a carousel - J'aime!!!
...past the river (and a pretty houseboat)
We eventually arrived at Hotel des Invalides
They had lots of canons and stuff outside and here is Guy next to one of the larger ones!!
We went back outside and Guy phoned Romain who was at des Invalides with his son, Gaetan (on their bikes)… we eventually worked out we were at different gates and they rode around to where we were!
We set off in search of somewhere to eat lunch – we were walking and Gaetan was riding backwards and forwards zipping around various obstacles! We decided to eat at a Parisienne Brasserie and found a decent looking one… We had a great lunch!! (Merci, Romain)
It was great to catch up ☺ - 16 years since Guy had seen his “cousin”.
After lunch we set off towards Musee du Quai Branly – as we have been told by Marie-France and Jean-Louis that we should see it…. It is a big modern building with lots of bright colours, we did not actually go in and look at the exhibits (we had seen a book with many of the exhibits in it at Benoit’s place in Marseilles). We headed back towards our hotel…. At the edge of Musee du Quai Branly was a living wall!!! Pretty interesting!
And then – around the other side of the Eiffel Tower… ooh la la… pretty with flowers in front of it! Can one take too many photos of the one subject???
We saw the Australian embassy, which unfortunately was closed – but we had fun taking some different photos…
Guy = half in France and half on "Australian soil?"
With an Aussie flag and the Eiffel tower
in front of the main entrance and the coat of arms.
We continued on towards the metro station and stopped in a souvenir shop for some gifts and some postcards!
Meanwhile the sky was looking very threatening… we made it to the metro and boarded a train…across the Double Decker bridge…. Au-Revoir Eiffel tower!
“Oh no, it’s raining again!!”
We kept on (stopping under some doorways etc) We have noticed that there are barely any awnings around Paris!!!
We stopped in another shop just down from where we are staying.. .and this time we bought a 3.90E umbrella ☺ We browsed for a bit and then left – ahh…the rain had almost finished!!!
A rest/ nap and then off to dinner – we went back to café des Ternes – much better service this time and yummy food!!!
The helpful man at reception asked us about getting to the airport and he has booked us a shuttle! ☺
And here we are – back at the hotel.. Guy is watching Predator and I am writing this essay/ novel?? If you have read this far I applaud you!!
Bon Nuit!!!
zzzzzzzzzzzz
2 comments:
wow cool. still alive and shopping and all!
i once stayed with a friend who lived just across the Seine from the embassy, above de Passy i think was the metro stop.
it's pretty wierd, isn't it, the aussie embassy just down river from the eiffel tower!
just gotta work out how to wrangle a diplomatic job there!
stay safe
cya soon
wooohooo, I got my mentioned on your blog!!!!!
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