Up early and ready to tackle what ended up almost being Itinerary 1 in the Paris pocket guide book (Notre Dame and the Left Bank), minus Notre Dame. We're not sure that the author of the guide ever actually walked the route.....it's a fairly long way!
We decided to save time by eating breakfast on the run, with a selection of croissants and a mandarin each from the local supermarket across the road. Had a hilarious laugh with the shopkeeper when we gave her too much money and did a lot of smiling and nodding when she kept retelling the story in rapid fire French. Braved our first trip on the Metro- which we ended up taking for free as the ticket machines were broken at our end (Mirabeau), and went all the way to Cluny La Sorbonne. 2 separate people approached us for directions (in French). The first was quick to dismiss us but the second, thinking Andrew didn't look touristy enough, asked him how to get to a station we'd just passed. Andrew pointed him to the metro station and our new friend seemed happy with the help we provided. Hilarious! We thought we must have looked as lost as they were! Headed up the Rue St Jacque, which I'm sure I've read a book about at some stage....I'm not sure my literary knowledge of Paris is particularly well sourced- I seem to have a general jumble of information from a selection of Agatha Christie books, novels set in wartime France, Phyrne Fisher books and the Da Vinci Code....oh and a smattering of ballet terms!
Rounded the bend to see the Pantheon looming in front of us. All the momuments are on such an enormous scale- not sure we are doing any of them justice with the photos. Andrew decided that the problem is that photos and videos are 2D and that too much is lost without the 3rd dimensional perspective. I'm going to trust his theory on this one. We were there too early in the day to go in, so sat at the gigantic picnic tables to eat our mandarins (Alice, Daddy managed to do his in just one peel like he showed you the other day). Following our guide book we plunged in to explore Montparnasse.
We spent quite a bit of time in the Luxembourg gardens- watching the fish in the ponds, sheltering from a brief rain storm under the chestnut trees and admiring the statues and flowers (and a jogger who had a strange running style, just like a prancing pony trying to kick up the stones underfoot behind him).
We found the house where Getrude Stein presided over the literary and artistic scene of the early 20th century and walked all the way through the district to Tour Montparnasse- the tallest office building in Paris. We bought our tickets to go up to the 56th floor where there is an observation deck and soon we were in the fastest lift ever on the way up (it only takes 37 seconds to go up 56 floors). We thought it might have felt like your stomach was in your feet when you ascended, but surprisingly it wasn't like that at all. From the observation deck we could see all of Paris spread out beneath us, in all directions. There were lots of interactive displays to tell you about what you were seeing below as well as maps to pinpoint the points of interest. We spent ages gazing out the windows and taking photos and decided to have our lunch in the cafe there- some delicious cheese burritos. To get to the helipad on the roof of the building (floor 59) we then climbed several flights of stairs before arriving at an open air deck (enclosed with glass, except for above) where the view was even better, though very windy. They have a champagne bar on the deck ('The Bubbles Bar') so you can have a glass while looking at all Paris stretched out below you. It was incredible ('Incroyable'!) to see in the daytime but it must be absolutely spectacular at night.
We finally had our fill of gazing at the view just as another rain shower passed. With the strong wind, it felt a little bit like bullets of rain hitting us, though not too hard, so headed down the tower and started the slow wander back up the streets of Montparnasse, finding the cafe where Hemingway used to frequent on the way, and some of Picasso's reputed haunts. Sore feet syndrome had set in for me by this stage (we walked 13.3km all up) so we headed back to the Metro at the Sorbonne to make our way home. We sorted out our visitor tickets to the Metro so we can travel wherever we like for the next few days.
We couldn't be bothered heading out again for dinner once we were home, so we trotted back to our friend at the supermarket to get a few bits and pieces to eat for dinner in our room. We were hoping to have another cashier but sadly we went through the hilarious moment of the morning again with our same lady- she must have been on the longest shift in the world!
Lovely to chat with all the kids again before we went to sleep- we're certainly getting more sleep in Paris than we usually do (especially Andrew, who really needs it after the last couple of weeks). Did some French lessons online before we went to bed, so hopefully we learn it in our sleep...
(photos to come when internet connection allows)
