If you have not been to Paris before, stay near the Arc de Triomphe! We emerged from the hotel around 11:30, and had a little difficulty getting breakfast: Rachael wanted a croissant and we eventually found a place called the “Croissanterie” or some such, though there were none in evidence.
Me: Est-ce que vous avez des croissants?
Girl: Non, m’sieur
Lady: plupla bwah fefahfefwois - which I took to mean “meh, they’re tourists, give them one of the hard ones from this morning
(Girl goes out the back and returns with a croissant.)
Once brekkie was out the way, it was a slow 3 and a half mile walk from the Arc de Triomphe down the Champs Elysée, past lots of posh shops and American tourists to the Place De La Concorde, a second immense roundabout only this time with two fountains and a 3300-year-old obelisk in the middle. Continuing to the Jardin des Tuileries, lunch of a savoury Galette in the park, onwards to the beautful Place du Carousel and finally the Louvre. At this point, you about face and you can see all the way back to the Arc in perfect symmetry. They even trimmed the trees in the park to line up with the vanishing point!
The Louvre is closed on Tuesdays, so we continued to the Pont Neuf and jumped on a tour boat which showed us all the bits we’d just done, but from the other side, the Eiffel Tower, and the cathedral of Notre Dame, plus some neat bridges.
It was Rachael’s birthday and she wanted to eat in Le Grand Colbert, which appears in Something’s Gotta Give and is claimed to have the best roast chicken in all of Paris. We found it, along with a bunch of stuff in the window about the movie which, along with the prices, made us think we had “done” the Grand Colbert now and had no need to eat there.
A quick Métro trip back to the hotel for a shower and change, and we header to the Latin Quarter to get us a bite to eat. This got a bit interesting since Rachael is currently more-rather-than-less veggie, and doesn’t really like cheese apart from Wensleydale. Most restaurants offered a choice of Duck, Veal, Chicken, Fondue or Raclette. So I had a fondue and Rachael had a “Rustic Plate” of veg and pasta. I enjoyed the fondue (though I paid for it next day) and Rachael thought the veggies OK, but the dessert really made up for it. Crème Brulée (which some Restaurants helpfully translated to “burnt cream”) and Crème Caramel, both of which were absolutely scrummy.
Our walk around the Latin Quarter was truncated by Rachael’s glamorous but impractical choice of footwear, and we Métroed it home again and I began the long task of digesting a dinner that had essentially been a big ball of cheese.