Over the weekend I...
...played tour guide to cousins visiting from Belgium!
FRIDAY
Andy started text messaging me with their progress at 8am on Friday morning, which removed the necessity of my alarm clock. Over the next few hours I accomplished things while they made their way to Paris. I picked them up at Gare du Nord, got them back to my place where we had some lunch in my petite cuisine, and then went down to their hotel to check them in.
From there we went into Paris, where we started at the Boulevard Haussmann for some shopping at Galeries Lafayette and the more reasonably priced C&A megastore. From there we went to the area around Les Halles to look in more shops, and then past the Notre Dame to the Saint-Michel area for some dinner. After dinner we went up to Montmartre to see the Sacre Coeur in the fading evening light. It was really beautiful outside - warm and dry. We had an over-priced hot chocolate ($10!) and then made our way back down again and home. Word of the day: Artifishtic.
SATURDAY
We got an early start, going up to La Defense to see the modern architecture there, back down to the Arc d'Triomphe and walked along the Champs d'Elysees to the Place de la Concorde, over to Chatelet where we had Pizza Hut for lunch (last pizza I'll ever eat!) and then over to the Pere LaChaise cemetery where there was a guy selling maps for 2 Euros, but I know there are free ones with the full listing of all the local residents for free. They've changed the maps though, and you no longer get the listing nor the grave locations on the "free" map. Andy came up with a new expression to describe the logic we keep encountering - "French sense"... works for me! I lost them in the cemetery and so went back to the entrance gate to wait for them. From there we went back to Saint-Michel looking for a particular purse that Karla had seen but didn't buy on Friday. From there we went down to Chinatown and had authentic chinese food for dinner. From there we went back to my place and had tea / wine and visited a bit.
SUNDAY
Another early start, beginning at the Eiffel Tower, walking under it and around it, and then over to the Batobus where you can go on the Seine all day for $18 and see all the major sites. The weather was fabulous (clear blue skies and warm sunshine) and it was just heavenly on the water. We got off at the Louvre after going around the Ile de la Cite, walked through the Tuilleries and then over to Rue de Rivoli for a bit before heading up to Montmartre in search of the other Purse store location. We had lunch on the steps of the Sacre Coeur and watched the bracelet scammers do their work. We wandered around the area, saw the Moulin Rouge, and finally found the shop we were looking for nearly at the base of the Sacre Coeur again. From there we went to the train station and they went back to Belgium again.
Pictures!
FRIDAY
Andy started text messaging me with their progress at 8am on Friday morning, which removed the necessity of my alarm clock. Over the next few hours I accomplished things while they made their way to Paris. I picked them up at Gare du Nord, got them back to my place where we had some lunch in my petite cuisine, and then went down to their hotel to check them in.
From there we went into Paris, where we started at the Boulevard Haussmann for some shopping at Galeries Lafayette and the more reasonably priced C&A megastore. From there we went to the area around Les Halles to look in more shops, and then past the Notre Dame to the Saint-Michel area for some dinner. After dinner we went up to Montmartre to see the Sacre Coeur in the fading evening light. It was really beautiful outside - warm and dry. We had an over-priced hot chocolate ($10!) and then made our way back down again and home. Word of the day: Artifishtic.
SATURDAY
We got an early start, going up to La Defense to see the modern architecture there, back down to the Arc d'Triomphe and walked along the Champs d'Elysees to the Place de la Concorde, over to Chatelet where we had Pizza Hut for lunch (last pizza I'll ever eat!) and then over to the Pere LaChaise cemetery where there was a guy selling maps for 2 Euros, but I know there are free ones with the full listing of all the local residents for free. They've changed the maps though, and you no longer get the listing nor the grave locations on the "free" map. Andy came up with a new expression to describe the logic we keep encountering - "French sense"... works for me! I lost them in the cemetery and so went back to the entrance gate to wait for them. From there we went back to Saint-Michel looking for a particular purse that Karla had seen but didn't buy on Friday. From there we went down to Chinatown and had authentic chinese food for dinner. From there we went back to my place and had tea / wine and visited a bit.
SUNDAY
Another early start, beginning at the Eiffel Tower, walking under it and around it, and then over to the Batobus where you can go on the Seine all day for $18 and see all the major sites. The weather was fabulous (clear blue skies and warm sunshine) and it was just heavenly on the water. We got off at the Louvre after going around the Ile de la Cite, walked through the Tuilleries and then over to Rue de Rivoli for a bit before heading up to Montmartre in search of the other Purse store location. We had lunch on the steps of the Sacre Coeur and watched the bracelet scammers do their work. We wandered around the area, saw the Moulin Rouge, and finally found the shop we were looking for nearly at the base of the Sacre Coeur again. From there we went to the train station and they went back to Belgium again.
Pictures!