Thanks for joining us again for chapter 13 of A Summer in France: Paris, Week 1. This is part one of our month in Paris, the final leg of our journey.
The weekend before we arrived in Paris, we spent with our friends Valerie, Laurent and Maxine again. I hadn’t realized how tired we were and that we needed a break from our travels. It sounds crazy that you need a vacation from a vacation, but after 6 weeks of driving around 3 countries and doing all the things we’ve done, I guess we’ve run out of steam. Besides, at $7.50 a gallon of gas my wallet needed a vacation too! It was great to have a few days without any agenda except relaxing.
A visit to McDonald’s, a different experience
Valerie and Laurent’s daughter, Maxine, is in her final year of high school and every Saturday she has a 4 hour written exam. Today was a philosophy essay. Afterwards, we decided to take her to McDonald’s to celebrate, or McDo, as the French call it. It’s not quite like ours in the states. You don’t go to the counter here. You order and pay at a digital board and take a number to your table.
We sat outside on the patio and a server brought our order to the table. They are very environmentally conscious here and use reusable cups, trays, and serving items, rather than disposables. The only paper was the wrap around your food. A bit different from the USA. Of course they have items we don’t have like beer, espresso, cappuccino, pain au chocolat and desserts like McChocoNuts (chocolate “burgers” with or without peanut butter), macaroons, donuts and lots more. Take a look at their dessert choices below.
We enjoyed a great meal together at their home on our last night before we left. It was an amazing weekend with them and the time just flew by.
Arriving in Paris
We returned our car at the Paris airport with 4,000 kilometers driven (about 2,500 miles), in one piece, AND undamaged! Well, more or less. I was able to pop the bumper panel back into place after a minor parking issue Danny had with a concrete block that seemed to be inappropriately placed in his way. Oh well, it’s insured…and they never noticed. So it’s all good.
We took the train into Paris and checked into our apartment. It was a beautiful day so we decided to take a long walk to the Louvre. Along the way we, passed the Army Museum, Musée d’Orsay, crossed a bridge over the river Seine and finally arrived at the Louvre. There were lots of people enjoying the park. I think we’ve got all our steps in today—6.3 miles!
The Louvre museum is housed in the Louvre Palace originally built in the late 12th to 13th centuries and expanded many times over the years. It’s the most visited museum in the world with approximately 8 million visitors annually and over 380,000 objects and works of art. We had a great day and ended it with wine and dinner on the large terrace of our apartment.
Since we’ve been to Paris so many times over the years, this time I’m planning for us to do things that might not be typical tourist activities. I’m looking forward to enjoying things on my “to do” list that I’ve never made the time to do before.
Promenade Plantée
The weather all week is sunshine with highs in the 60s so we want to plan lots of outdoor activities. First up is a walk along the Promenade Plantée, also known as the Coulée verte René-Dumont. This is a beautiful tree lined pedestrian walkway approximately 3 miles long created on an elevated decommissioned railway line. The Promenade begins above an old viaduct that is now converted into boutiques and galleries. So the path crosses the entire 12th arrondissement of Paris linking tunnels, bridges and parks.
The last photo is a public water fountain. Paris was the first city in France to offer free sparkling water at its public fountains. This fountain is the first one installed and offers tap, cold and sparkling water free to the public. They are hoping to encourage less plastic bottle waste and more refilling of reusable containers.
Rue Crémieux
We went on a small detour to visit the quaint Rue Crémieux, an old pedestrian cobblestoned lane from the 1800s. Rue Crémieux, originally built as a working class neighborhood, is now lined with colorful painted houses. Unlike the typical Parisian architecture, it’s become somewhat famous now due to movie scenes filmed here, instagrammers and bloggers. It is more reminiscent of London’s Portobello Road than a Paris neighborhood.
Brocantes & Flea Markets
In my earlier post, The 3 best flea markets for antiquing in Paris, I mention that I always check to see what pop up and permanent flea markets I might want to visit. Brocantes is French for antique stores that often have a range of vintage to true antiques, but more affordable than those shops offering “museum quality” antiques. In other words, I can afford to shop Brocantes and Danny will be the first to tell you I’m a bargain hunter. This market was a special Ascension Day market since it was a national holiday and many restaurants and shops were closed. These markets are my favorite past time.
Our apartment is a couple blocks from the Eiffel Tower, so we walk there often. Here’s a quick clip of the sparkling lights that illuminate each hour after sundown.
Friends arriving today
We’re excited to welcome Tom & Cary to Paris this morning. We’re looking forward to spending the week running around the city with them. But first a walk, wine, and dinner before they crash from jet lag.
If you enjoyed A Summer in France: Paris, Week 1, there will be more sites to see in my next post.
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