Paris: Day 2

As seems to be the way with this trip, I had one day to myself in Paris. That day was today and I think I made the most of it.

I started with the Jardin du Luxembourg, before crossing one of the many bridges that span the Seine for Sainte Chapelle. Ste Chapelle is one of those amazing places that is particularly difficult to describe without photos. Essentially it´s a chapel, however it is pillarless. This means that you have a 360 degree view of the entire chapel no matter where you stand! It might not sound like much, but with the right amount of sunlight and all the stained-glass windows, it´s spectacular.

From Ste Chapelle I headed over Pont Neuf, stopping to further confuse some Italian tourists who mistook me for a local (so my beret and moustache disguise worked! Just kidding). The best part was, despite my very limited French, it still took a while. I even had a Lonely Planet map (thanks Ange!) How much more tourist can you get!?!

From the Right Bank of the Seine I walked the entire length of the Champs Elysees from the Musee de Louvre, past Place de la Concorde all the way to the Arc de Triomphe. It might not seem like a huge distance, but it´s probably close to 2km, if not further! To give you some idea, it´s 6 metro stations! Along the way I stopped and had a crepe avec jambon et fromage - essentially a ham and cheese crepe. Not too bad considering it´s on the Champs Elysees and they can serve anything and people will eat it.

To add insult to injury I decided to climb the hundreds of steps to the top of the Arc de Triomphe. It was well worth it though, with a spectacular view of the Tour D´Eiffel and the 12 roads that lead from the roundabout. What makes the Arc so special, aside from its history, the tomb etc., is the road itself. Legend has it that all insurance policies are null and void once you enter the roundabout, and are reactivated when you leave it. Having seen many near misses in my short time there, I´m not at all surprised. It´s the only road I´ve ever seen where the traffic entering the road has right-of-way. This makes for a very slow-moving road, which is I guess the intention.

From the Arc, I walked down towards the Tour d´Eiffel and the Australian Embassy. Neither for any particular reason, more just to say I´d done it. The bonus came near the Aus Embassy, where I stumbled upon Place du Sydney. I´ve travelled all this way and I still haven´t left Sydney!

By this time it was 4pm and I was buggered, so I headed home to catch up with Chye after his day at school. I also got to see his photos and video from the trip to Cambodia and Vietnam he took in May. Impressive stuff! Makes me want to go there again

We had dinner at a Japanese restaurant (as you do) near the Musee de Louvre, which was actually fantastic - I´ve been missing rice so it was perfect! Afterwards, we headed for Montmartre with the aim of having a drink at a corner cafe somewhere. We ended up climbing to the Basilica de Sacre Coeur, eating amazing gelato and taking loads of night photos.

The highlight came though when I paid for the gelato, and a €1 coin fell into the remaining tubs, never to be seen again. I guess it might be good luck to find a €1 coin in your ice cream, but I would be wary of the hygeine!

We were even offered roses by some over-zealous sellers! Don´t worry Ange, I´m not going to run off with Chye...yet

And on that high note, I shall end this post.

Bon nuit!