Tuesday in Paris - Buses, roads, rivers and boats

Tuesday We tried to get up early, well I did, but this morning it was SKs turn to delay our departure. He was exhausted, still, and when I woke him up he seemed a bit confused. He admitted he had been dreaming were we in Paris...oh, wait, we are. Today we decided to take it a little easy on the feet that are not used to walking so much. We did Les Cars Rouges, a hop-on, hop-off tour of part of Paris. We got on at the base of le Tour d'Eiffel, it took us around to the other side, stopped for a few seconds for the photo op and to pick up more passengers. As we head away from the area of le Trocadero, I notice a restaurant that SK has been looking for. The streets of Paris are amazing. There are the small, charming alleys, roads with rows of buildings with many windows and roofs bristling with chimneys. There are huge avenues, where cars careen chaotically from one side to the next, the monuments ignored by the motorists. Huge monuments line massive squares, that in earlier ages provided armies an area to parade. The traffic is amazingly horrific. Cars zip by, cutting each other off, motorcycles and scooters rush to the front, bicycles are out there too, zooming by. The bus stops and starts sporadically as the lights change and we move forward to the next intersection. The Place de la Concorde is breathtaking in is grandness. It is huge, with huge monuments, including an obelisk that was a gift to France from Egypt. We head north along la rue Royale toward the place de la Madeleine and l'Opera. Both of these buildings are amazing. The church is surrounded by pillars, somewhat like the Parthenon. The doors are so amazingly huge. You could ride giraffes through the doors and there would be plenty off room for fancy , really tall headdresses on the giraffes. When we had noted the building on Monday, the doors were closed, today they were open and we wanted inside. We never did make it back. Maybe next time. We wind through the narrow streets of Paris, entering the chaotic roundabouts, turning until we find our exit to the next destination. The Champs Élysées is a parade route from the kings of France. It is wide, tree lined , lined with shops of every kind and leads straight to the Arc de Triompe. It's huge, magnificent, grand, amazing. And how do you get to it? We didn't stop to visit, though I would like to do that if I return, and I found out later that you have to use an underground tunnel to get to the Arc from the outer walkways. From the Arc we returned down the Champs Elysees and stopped at Les Invalides where there are museums of the Navy and Armed forces. The buildings are beautiful, the statues commemorating heroes of war from around the world are golden. From there we returned to La Place de la Concorde and around to the road leading back along le Riv Droit (Seine River) passing by le Louvre and toward Notre Dame. Another amazingly huge building. The details are amazing and plentiful. We then returned along le Riv Gauche, passing by le Musee d'Orsay. Le Louvre is HUGE. We walked around most of the building the day before, but would wait until Wednesday to go inside. The Musee d'Orsay was where we had encountered the ring-finders. Now it was crowded with people going into the museum, no ring-finders in sight. We returned to the Tour d'Eiffel and decided to get some lunch. We tried to find La Terrasse, but found another cafe instead. One suggestion made by one of SK's coworkers was to order a "pichet" of wine. A bottle of wine is usually 75 cl (or 750 ml) and contains about 6 glasses of wine. If only 2 people are drinking the wine, that's quite a bit of wine. A pichet can be available in multiple sizes, usually 25 cl or 50 cl. SK and I enjoyed the 50 cl size, and usually ordered that or the 25 cl size during lunch. You have to ask for water at meals, it is not automatically served. The Parisiennes tend to order bottled water, Evian is popular. We tried a few of the mineral waters, AM didn't like them much. I found them flavorful, some more pleasant than others. Most of the water is also carbonated. I preferred the "still" water. Almost every sit-down cafe serves crepes or sandwiches. Take-away stands will sell wonderful ham and cheese warmed baguette sandwiches. After lunch we continued our sit down tour of Paris by taking the boat tour. The boat was boarded at the foot of the Tour d'Eiffel. We traveled west along the Seine seeing beautiful buildings and sights. Many Parisiennes sit along the banks and wave to the boats as they go by. We turned around and returned along the left side of the river.