Friday 26th May: Weather: 13°C to 19°C: Mostly sunny and cool
Paris: 20k walk to Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triomphe, Le Louvre etc
Accommodation: Hotel de Reims near Gare de Lyon
Early morning Aligre Market
Bullocks heart tomatoes + baguettes
The Eiffel tow seen for miles
Barricade security is prominent
Tourist haven at Arc de Triomphe
Tree lined Champs Elysee
Place de la Concorde
Le Louvre
Bands entertain promenaders
Barge leaving St Martins lock
A very touristy day visiting the landmarks of Paris on a beautiful cool sunny day. So many highlights. It doesn’t matter how many times you see The Eiffel Tower or walk down the Champs Elysee, it’s still something very special.
Awake again early at 3am after 7hrs sleep. But feeling good. It was a warmish night in the hotel room - not hot - just warm enough to melt the ice i had packed around the butter and cheese so that everything was swimming in water in the waste bin. Time to put together my blog and get it sorted ready for the hiking trip in Austria. Five hours later, I have a draft blog ready and insert some of my phone photos - my camera man is yet to arrive. A quick breakfast of Casse jam - blackcurrant - with a coffee and I walk up to check out the Monoprix near Bastille. Most supermarkets are closed on Sunday but google indicated there might be a few Monoprix stores ope. But this one is closed. Ferme as they say.
But on the way back I’m familiar enough with the area to take a short cut and stumble across the Aligre fresh food markets - a whole street closed off with hundreds of fruit, vegetable, cheese and meat stalls. I buy some bullocks heart tomatoes, two onions and a baguette then return to see what I can salvage of my melted cheese and butter. Not much. I put together a lunch pack of baguette, tomato with the jetboil and load it all into my ultra light small back sack that is now falling to pieces. I have hundreds of small back packs at home, but this one was the lightest - so light it’s now tearing at the seams with just a kilo of weight.
Down to the River Seine where hundreds of joggers are sweating there way up and down the embankment. After an hour, I stop for a boiled coffee to soak up the atmosphere, then in another 15 minutes, the Eiffel Towel looms in my sight. Paris is basically a low rise city except for a few spots like La Defense which has a collection of high rise. So the Eiffel Tower can be seen from a long way off. There;s hoards of people heading over the bridges towards the tower which is now surrounded by barricades and security police since I last visited.
Next stop is the Arc de Triomphe then down the Champs Elysee where Parisiens pay extra to be seen sipping wine close to the pavement. It's cheaper to sit at the back of a restaurant where you can’t be seen. Down to Concord Place then up towards Madeleine where I know there;s a sports store called Decathlon. It’s a kind of Kathmandu in France - they used to be good, but now ell cheap Asian stuff at inflated prices. I wander around checking out anything inspirationally new in the way of hiking gear but after an hour, I leave with a 9 euro small back pack to replace my threadbare ultra light Kathmandu pack. For 9 euro if it lasts the next week I’ll be happy.
Back to the River and heading for home. The Sunday morning joggers have been replaced by afternoon promenaders. There’s music streaming from different bands parked at different spots along the path, and hoots from barges carrying tourists up and down the river. When I get to the entrance of St Martins Canal, there’s a large barge waiting to exit the canal after dropping 2 metres in a loch. Time to turn off the path along the Seine and walk towards the familiar Viaduct near the Hotel de Reims. I buy a cold Heineken beer for 2 euro from a mini market on the corner. There's nothing cold back at the hotel room and no supermarkets open. In another 2 minutes I’m back to the hotel at 5pm. Another long day walking around Paris.
The room is warm and after opening the window to let in the cooling breeze, I sit down to enjoy my beer, bread and tomatoes. After a bit of blogging and a movie on the computer, it’s lights out at 9pm. I did try to watch French TV but Midsomer Murders dubbed in French doesn’t do John Nettles any justice.