Best of Burgundy Day 14
Best of Burgundy
DAY 14 - 10-02-05 - Saturday - Latin Quarter/Left Bank - Paris
We had a chance to sleep a little later today and met Eduardo for breakfast at 9 AM. The hotel has a very good continental breakfast with personal service. In fact, everyone here (hotel, Paris, France) has been superb.
At 10 AM we left the hotel under partly cloudy skies to take the Metro once again to our chosen destination - city center. Once we arrived at Châtelet - Les Halles we decided to walk through the local neighborhood as we wandered south to the Seine River. We saw mid morning walkers and joggers, lovers holding hands and even some street people. Once we arrived at the River we crossed over the Napoleon Bridge and went up the Boulevard Saint Michel, reminding us of our wonderful guide through Burgundy.
We had the opportunity to see stores, shops, restaurants offering a wide variety of goods and services. Shoe stores were very prevalent and offered the new winter styles. Very expensive shoes! We passed the Musee de Cluny and Gennie took some photos of the ruins of the Gallo-Roman Baths that are very much part of the Paris history. We walked up a little ways more and arrived at the La Sorbonne, the University of Paris that was founded in 1253 and has such a magnificent reputation for higher learning all over the world.
As we continued south we came to the Pantheon that we had seen in the rain several days ago and across from it the Luxembourg Gardens. As it was close to 1 PM we decided to have lunch. Fortunately, we found an Arabic restaurant offering kebabs and fries. We went in and the three of us ordered this specialty. As they were preparing our food the proprietress struck a conversation asking where we were from and how did we know about their food. I, in turn, asked her where she was from and she mentioned Iran. We talked about how much we liked this dish, how tasty it was, and then how everyone was so friendly. As we left, she wished us goodbye as did the two cooks. We crossed the street and entered the Gardens where we had lunch amid the flowers, ponds, and birds who chased every single little bite that fell to the ground.
After this lunch, we toured the grounds for a little while and when it began to drizzle we decided to walk down to the river and take the Metro home. We had a chance to see many private art galleries displaying African, South American and Asian artifacts and paintings. A French family with two children in strollers passed us and then stopped to open the large wooden doors to their home. As they did so, they turned to us and invited us in to see their patio and home. We were so surprised - instead I thanked them and walked on. I believed they were somewhat sorry we had not accepted their offer.
We arrived at the Seine River and using the Ponte Neuf to go across to Isle de la Cité and the north side of the city. We caught our subway at the Louvre Rivioli stop and arrived at the Gare de Lyon, next to our hotel. We took some time to work on pictures, read a little bit and rest to give our bodies a chance to catch up from the two very active days we have had here in Paris.
At 8 we met Richard and Ana and the seven of us went to a Chinese restaurant a block away. We had a very good meal at reasonable prices (for Paris). We returned home at 10:30 agreeing to meet see everyone at 8:15 AM for breakfast. Gennie washed out a few small things while I worked on today's journal.
Accommodations: Hotel Terminus Lyon - - - Meals: B
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