Awake before the desk called at 7 am; Jim and I were dressed
and downstairs well before the Shuttle Bus arrived to pick him us at 7:45 am
for his ride to Charles de Gaule Airport and his 11:30 am flight back to
California. He has a long day ahead with
an eleven hour flight to Dallas, Texas; a seven hour layover….unless he can get
an earlier flight…. And then three and a half hours back to Los Angeles. But, he seems happy to be going home; six
weeks was long enough for him.
I headed over to the apartment in the rain; very light rain;
and enjoyed breakfast with the girls. We
decided to go grocery shopping first. We
established a kitty to use when we are all participating in an expense. It was fun making decisions about our
purchases along with learning about the store and the French ways…ie…fruit and vegetables
need to be weighed and a price attached before going to checkout.
Rain is very light and sometimes none at all. It was so nice we walked back to the
apartment from the store instead of taking the Metro the one stop between
them. By the time we arrived and put
everything away it was time for a light lunch.
By 2 pm we were out the door and on the Metro with our first
stop at the Palais Royal Musee du Louvre.
There I spotted the special entrance into the Louvre and took the girls
into the underground shopping mall that has an inverted pyramid and an entrance
into the Louvre plus tons of fancy stores!
It took us a bit to move forward as everyone had a different store they
wanted to visit! But we finally emerged
on Rue de Rivoli and began our trek past the Comedie Francaise and then into
the Petit Royal Gardens.
At the far end of the gardens we checked the outrageous prices
on the famous Le Grand Vefour Restaurant that was featured in the movie “Midnight
in Paris”.
Our next adventure was to find some of the Galeries/Passages
from the late 1800’s that are scattered across Paris and are slowly being
restored. Today we visited the Galerie Colbert
that has the famous Restaurant that was featured in the movie with Jack
Nicholson and Diane Keaton “Somethings gotta Give”….
Next we walked slowly through the Galerie Vivienne; stopping
for half an hour to have tea and cake at one of the lovely shops in the
Galerie. A unique experience for
me! Bonnie loved the shop with all the
old postcards.
Next we walked towards the Opera Garnier and passed the
Paris Stock Exchange called the “Bourse”.
Then met a woman from California whose parents live in Yorba Linda. Bonnie loved her cape and that started the
conversation as she joined us on our walk to the Opera House. She was hoping to tour the Opera House today
as she flies home tomorrow. She took the
photo of all of us in front of the Opera House.
We all arrived together and there was only half an hour left before
closing. She quickly told us where to
purchase the cape and then headed in to get a quick glimpse before
closing. We’ll come back another day.
Off across the street to the huge department store Galeries
Lafayette to climb the stairs to the top for view across the city and also the
stained glass dome inside on the way up.
So much to see and so little time!
As we reached the top the rain began to sprinkle drops here and there
and so we made a decision to call it a day.
By 6 pm we were back at our grocery store picking up some
premade hot food that we took home for our dinner in the apartment. After catching our breath we ended the evening
with a couple of games of Hearts. They
had to teach me as it’s been years since I played! Lots of fun.
It’s now after midnight and Jim just sent me an email; he has arrived in
Dallas. Unable to change his flight so
will have a long layover and arrive home in Los Angeles about midnight.
Hope you enjoy the slideshow:
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