13 - Paris

WEEKEND 13. Paris, Avignon, and Nimes.
Enter TAYLOR and DANIEL.

Thursday

• Went to Bastille market in the morning
• Bought lots of fruit (lots of oranges) and souvenirs
• Bakery to buy bread and lemon tart, Fromagerie for "Fountanbleu" & "Creamy Goat Cheese"
• Fruit breakfast
• Visit Hotel Sully
• Walked through "Le Marais" to the Seine.
• "Paris Plage"
• Pont Neuf
• Past Musée d'Orsey to metro, back to apartment.
• Really good take-out Chinese food, ate at apartment.

Friday

• 7am TGV to Avignon.
• Took bus to Station Central.
• Walked up main street (Rue Republic): crèpes and H&M.
• Past main plaza (Place d'Horloge)
• To Place des Papes (ate crèpes & lady singing "lala").
• To Pont d'Avignon.
• Walked on fort walls, up to garden with crazy fountain.
• Down to Palas des Papes.
• Palas des Papes tour.
• Walked down "Rue Républic": ice cream & H&M.
• Sent post cards to Joyce and Keller, bought Garett the "Bread Man"
• Early for the train: 20 minutes to spare!!!

• Arrived in Nimes.
• Walked to main square, saw magnificent church.
• Made it to the Arena, tour of massive Arena. Like a Roman Gladiator Arena.
• Headed back to train.
• Back to Paris, ate at "Vins des Pyrenes."

Saturday

• Light breakfast, headed to Musée du Cluny.
• Tour of Musée du Moyen Age.
• Walked to Sorbonne, up to Place de la Sorbonne : ate an orange.
• Bought panini's, ate them at Jardins du Luxembourg (live band playing)
• Walked around les Jardins, saw:
• Palace
• Fountains (kids with boats)
• Tennis courts
• On way to Pantheon, stopped to buy souvenirs.
• Took pictures of Pantheon & headed towards metro, but...
• Entered St. Gervais church
• Taylor spotted an interesting building, was attracted to it. We walked to it, and discovered that it was "Notre Dame". Oops.
• Metro to Trocadero : ate an orange.
• Walked through les Jardins de Trocadéro to Eiffel Tower and Champs de Mars.
• Metro to St. Michel, where had a menu dinner at Les Harpes.
• Metro back home.

Sunday

• Went to the "Bargès market," found it empty. Nothing there.
• Back to the Richard Lenoir market, bought food and souvenirs.
• Sat and ate breakfast in the Place des Vosges: bread and cheese.
• Back to apartment to drop stuff off.
• Went to Les Invalides:
• Sat in the garden and had an orange.
• Went to St. Michel for a sit down Crèperie.
• To the Arc de Triumph for a nighttime view.
• Walked down Champs Elysées, and towards George V. bridge.
• Saw interesting building... "mirrors"
• Back to Champs Elysées, and to metro.
• Got off at St. Paul station, walked past church close to apartment, & discovered a nice little square in the Marais district.
• Later learned that it's next to Victor Hugo's house.
• Walked around it and back to apartment.

Monday

• Alarm at 6AM for Taylor. She got up at 7. Took a shower and got back in bed.
• Wake up at 9:30, had a fruit breakfast (peaches/bananas).
• Re-packed, cleaned the apartment, got ready to leave.
• Left the stuff at the apartment, headed to the Louvre.
• Mini-Tabac for tickets, got in quickly through Denon.
• Greek sculptures and ceramics.
• Ancient egypt.
• Oriental and Islamic Antiquities.
• The Medieval Louvre.
• Walked down Rue de Rivoli, took picture of Taylor's house.
• Spotted a great church behind the Louvre.
• Got on the metro to the apartment, got off at St. Paul Station.
• Bought "Jaques Barel" CD.
• Supermarket stop for last Oasis and chocolate.
• Mean Kebab, ate at apartment (worst one ever).
• Took stuff down, returned key.
• Ran to metro, almost couldn't get through gate.
• Man helped Taylor down the stairs with the bag. Onto metro.
• Off at Gare de l'Est, easiest exit with escalators into the Gare. Up anther escalator, arrived at platform, and blindly mounted the train as it was leaving.
• Luckily...the right one.

Back to the USA.