Woke up to a perfect day, sun shining and not a cloud in the sky, about 7C.
Grabbed a coffee from Starbucks (I know, sacrilege for a Melburnian, but local coffee is too strong), then walked 20 minutes to Sacre Coeur – another church. Climbed the 196 steps (I counted them) and arrived at the top next to the funicular station. Oh well, I needed the exercise. We weren’t there for the church per se, but the view over Paris because it’s at the top of a hill. Took photos and went into the church anyway. Walked around the corner to the square where we were accosted by several artists offering to sketch us but we declined. We called in at a cafe to have crepes – I had one with fruit and Song chose chocolate and banana which was a bit of a role reversal, but we swapped half each.
Carried on walking for a while then found a Paul’s bakery so stopped for lunch. Song had a tuna roll (fish!) and I had a pizza slice that looked better than it tasted.
Walked back to the hotel for a pit stop then walked to Galleries Lafayette, a department store, but similar to Harrods in London. As soon as we entered we encountered a sea of Chinese people – literally hundreds. They were all there buying tax free goods and weighed down with Louis Vuitton, Chanel and Gucci bags.
Bought some gear ourselves – we really went to town and bought 8 place mats from the souvenir shop!
Carried on, visited the Uniqlo shop where Song spent an hour picking up and trying every jumper there until deciding she didn’t like any and they were cheaper in Australia anyway.
Took the metro to the Champs-Elysees, walked up one side and down the other, dodging all the other tourists. The weather was still perfect – sunny, and we’d left our jackets in the hotel because it was warm.
Song popped into a shop for a look and came out with 2 handbags.
Starting to feel tired, headed back to the hotel area to get dinner. Checked Tripadvisor and set off for a restaurant but couldn’t find it so just went into one that looked ok and had a few people inside. We seem to have started a trend, because about 12 people came in within about 10 minutes.
We both ordered duck fois gras to start (very nice), I went for beef bourginion for main and Song had – shockingly – sausage. The beef bourginion was excellent. I had one in Iceland that was good and one in Brugges that was average but this one reminded me I was in France and they invented it. 2 large pieces of tender beef, a superb gravy with mushrooms and bacon in a pot , with a plate of creamy mashed potato.
Song said her sausage was good but I was too busy enjoying mine to listen. I also had a glass of red wine.
For dessert I had chocolate fondant with vanilla ice cream, Song had ice cream with grand marnier but couldn’t eat it all so I had to finish it off. What a terrible thing to have to do.
Total cost was about $100 and worth every cent. Luckily the restaurant had a small crane to help me get up out of my seat, then we waddled up the road to the hotel, each carrying a few extra kilos, and squeezed into the lift, collapsed on the bed and tried not to move.
Tomorrow is more walking and sight seeing around The Louvre area.
