Week 13

Posted September 17, 2018 by camandkatie

Day 85

Today was another day of meandering around the streets of Paris. Check out the photo for more details.

Landed on some solid Science fiction and Katie got a book about Paris.

After the bookstore we headed back into the Tuileries Gardens. We were getting hungry so we checked out some of the menus of the restaurants in the gardens. This was a mistake. Restaurants in Paris have been yummy and the waiters have been great but we have mainly stayed away from touristy cafes. We have heard from locals that waiters/staff at touristy places don’t care as much because tourists don’t have the “palate and expectations” of Parisians. In this case that seems to be true.

The bees approved of our choice and descended on the food upon arrival and no amount of shooing at them helped. Cam decided these bees were carnivorous, as they kept going for the meats on the tray.

Crepes to make up for a bad meat/cheese board

Future plans include staying away from the touristy restaurants. You can spot them because they have the menu in any language but French.

Day 86

When we had the vaccination shots a week ago we learned that we had to get a second one this week. Today was the day for that. We took walk through the 10th arrondissement before going to the Air France Vaccine location.

We like our current AirBnb but this is also in our backyard.

Lots of the street signs have interesting history.

There is a long history of men in Paris peeing outside.

$200 more and we are ready to travel all the places! Vaccines aren’t cheap folks… After the vaccines we strolled around. Check out the captions to see where we went.

Nom nom nom. So many boulangeries, fromageries, and boucheries. #heaven

Fancy cup, but a fairly average (by highfalutin French standards,) coffee

We have walked by Notre Dame quite a few times and there is usually a long line to go in. Today we bit the bullet and waited in the line. It ended up moving quickly and we were inside shortly.

More wandering around after our Notre Dame adventure. Aperitif is a thing here. Not sure we understand it yet but we tried it out today. We tried Campari and Soda today. Katie is still bitter about how it tasted.

After dinner we headed back to the Seine to enjoy sunset.

Day 87

Today we stopped at a boulangerie for some sandwiches and headed to the steps of Sacred Heart Church. Pro-tip for doing Paris on a budget is the sandwiches. Bakeries make them fresh each day, they’re made on delicious fresh bread, and there are often meal deals where you can get a drink and dessert for under 10 Euros!

After hanging out and people watching for a while we headed to dinner. We walked around in the 9th for a while until we found Saigon Deli.

If you’re ever in the 9th arrondissement go here.

Day 88

The Pompidou (modern and contemporary art museum) is open until 11:00 on Thursdays. We made a 10:30 dinner reservation at a cabaret and we were ready for our day. But first coffee.

View of our house from the escalator (You can see Sacred Heart to)

Niki de Saint Phalle – she shoots balloons of paint to create art.

After Pompidou we had a little bit of time before our dinner reservation. We walked through Forum des Halles on the way to dinner. And saw some decidedly Parisian scenes at the Lego Store.

We were enjoying the night view of Notre Dame when a British women near by started yelling, “Nope! Sorry Paris its been fun. Bye.” Interested, we kept listening and realized she had seen a big rat. After this Katie was on the look out (because she was scared of them) and saw three more before we got to dinner.

We arrived at the restaurant and had drinks outside before heading downstairs to see the show.

One more pic by Notre Dame on the walk home.

More rats on the walk home. This is a side of Paris that some people miss out on completely.

Day 89

Todays plan: Boulangerie and walking around. #sameplaneveryday

Funny street posts that stop people from parking on the sidewalk

This shops right up the street from our places and we love it!

After going to the boulangerie we started our daily walkabout. We were heading in a new direction today through Montmartre, the 18th and 19th Arrondissements. We eventually ended at the Eiffel Tower after a very long walk.

After the cabaret last night we were saying we should look up where the Moulin Rouge is but instead we happened upon it while we were walking today.

A few doors down from the Moulin Rouge… Paris has everything Eiffel Tower

After we had walked for a long time we ran into a park. We decided to take a break and enjoy the park for a while.

After the park we headed to the Eiffel tower. The view from the non-park side is better for pictures. We saw the fountains at night-time earlier this week but unfortunately the fountains were drained today. We still took some fun pics though.

We walked a lot today. By a lot we mean over 10 km. We were tired by the time we got home. We have seen this O’Tacos fast food quite a few places. As long as you don’t think of it like a taco from home but rather its own thing then it is delicious!

So bad but oh so good. (there are potatoes in the taco… and it was possibly panini pressed?)

Day 90

Today we did a lot of reading and enjoyed a walk along the canal. We also stopped in the Tuileries again for a crepe.

Day 91

Today was another day of wandering around the neighborhood.

Check out the statue guy in the front. We saw him scare quite a few tourists!

These guys are set up all over Paris. They sell every size of Eiffel tower and other knick knacks.

We have learned that street signs in Paris are super regulated. Sometimes the regulations lead to ridiculous looking corners. The semi-circle with the arrondissement number as well as the size and design are regulated by the city. The height is also regulated but it has changed over time. Sometimes when there are changes the building owner takes down the old street sign and sometimes not. So if you’re paying attention you could see a corner like the one below.