Monday morning I took the metro to the Place Concorde and wandered up the Champs Elysees. It is a wide tree lined avenue and the trees are all trimmed to size. It does not cease to amaze me how well arranged nature is here. I wanted to take a picture of the trees, but none of the shots seemed quite right and so I did not take the picture (more on that later). Half the walk is trees and then you hit shopping. I wandered past a lot of stores and then I realized how hungry I was, especially since I had not had any breakfast and I stopped at George V. I paid too much money for a cafe au lait and crepe with smoked salmon, but it was worth it. Sitting sipping my coffee under the sun on the Champs Elysees was a moment to be treasured. I have gotten used to traveling alone, but I find that eating alone I usually arm myself with a book. I watched an older lady sit and sip her cafe content to be in that moment and I had an aha moment. It is perfectly ok to sit and enjoy ones meal or linger alone over coffee. That may seem obvious to some of you, but it was a life lesson for me.
I walked up to the Arch de Triumph and it is very grand. memorial. It reminded me of all I learned about Europe and the devastation of World War I and II. To see Paris as it is today it is almost hard to see how it had been pummeled during the war. Then you come across the Tomb of the Unknown soldier and stop and take a moment to reflect.
I then took the metro to the Eiffel Tower. There was about an hours wait. There was no wait for the tower that only had stairs, but there was no way I was up to climbing to the top. This cold I have will not go away and has knocked me on my bum. It really sucks. I keep trying to pretend I'm not sick. That is kind of working until I collapse. The Eiffel Tower is just oooh la la. The view is stupendous. Going up to the top in the elevator was one of the first times I had a little bit of fear of heights. It felt like there was nothing holding us up. It definitely was worth the brief moment of terror though. I took a couple of interesting shots and I hope they come out ok. My tour of the Eiffel took about 3 hours with the wait and by then I was exhausted. I took the metro back to the Champs Elysees because I needed to do a little shopping.
I stopped at Zara and was seriously disappointed. I expected some feminine flirty items and it was a sea of beige and black. H&M had some better choices, but everything that was pretty was polyester. I did at least find some unmentionables that I needed. I headed back down the Champs Elysees to the Place Concorde and there was the shot. The sun was setting and so the trees which are all in a perfect row were casting their perfect shadow. This woman wandered into my shot and did not seem to understand I was waiting for her to move it. Then she did and I have a beautiful shot of the boulevard.
I went back to my hotel to rest for a bit and then I went to dinner at a little bistro on the Place des Vosges, which is right around the corner from my hotel. One of my most memorable meals was a baguette with a bit of butter and cheese in the Hague. Dinner was a salad with a delicious mustard vinaigrette and a baguette with a bit of butter and cheese. It was just perfect.
I walked up to the Arch de Triumph and it is very grand. memorial. It reminded me of all I learned about Europe and the devastation of World War I and II. To see Paris as it is today it is almost hard to see how it had been pummeled during the war. Then you come across the Tomb of the Unknown soldier and stop and take a moment to reflect.
I then took the metro to the Eiffel Tower. There was about an hours wait. There was no wait for the tower that only had stairs, but there was no way I was up to climbing to the top. This cold I have will not go away and has knocked me on my bum. It really sucks. I keep trying to pretend I'm not sick. That is kind of working until I collapse. The Eiffel Tower is just oooh la la. The view is stupendous. Going up to the top in the elevator was one of the first times I had a little bit of fear of heights. It felt like there was nothing holding us up. It definitely was worth the brief moment of terror though. I took a couple of interesting shots and I hope they come out ok. My tour of the Eiffel took about 3 hours with the wait and by then I was exhausted. I took the metro back to the Champs Elysees because I needed to do a little shopping.
I stopped at Zara and was seriously disappointed. I expected some feminine flirty items and it was a sea of beige and black. H&M had some better choices, but everything that was pretty was polyester. I did at least find some unmentionables that I needed. I headed back down the Champs Elysees to the Place Concorde and there was the shot. The sun was setting and so the trees which are all in a perfect row were casting their perfect shadow. This woman wandered into my shot and did not seem to understand I was waiting for her to move it. Then she did and I have a beautiful shot of the boulevard.
I went back to my hotel to rest for a bit and then I went to dinner at a little bistro on the Place des Vosges, which is right around the corner from my hotel. One of my most memorable meals was a baguette with a bit of butter and cheese in the Hague. Dinner was a salad with a delicious mustard vinaigrette and a baguette with a bit of butter and cheese. It was just perfect.
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