Slept ok but woke up a lot, resisted the temptation to get up too early and woke up at 08:00. We didn’t pay for breakfast at the hotel because it’s Paris, one of the great cafe places of the world so thought we’d go to our favourite chain of French cafes called Paul.
We’ve stayed at the same hotel in Paris for the last 3 visits, Song found it nearly 10 years ago and it’s really nice – a bit quirky with the decor, but clean and a fantastic location. The standard rooms are small but adequate. It’s just down the road from the Moulin Rouge and walking distance (not short, but we walk a lot when on holiday) to all the main attractions. It’s called Hotel Joke Astotel if you ever come to Paris, and it’s currently ranked number 23 of 1858 hotels in Paris on Tripadvisor.
We headed out to a Paul, and on the way walked past one of our favourite restaurants and made a booking for the evening. Weather was overcast and only 3c, getting to 8c according to google, but when the sun came out it felt quite warm.
Found a Paul but it was a take away place only, but there was another just over the road and we had a croissant between us plus Song had a danish of some kind and I had a pain au chocolate and a coffee. Came to 12.05 Euro ($21.49 at today’s rate, and the Aussie dollar is rubbish at the moment).
Popped over the road to a department store called Au Printemps, very upmarket and famous (apparently). Didn’t buy anything. Walked down the road, heading for Notre Dame and ended up in the street with all the high end jewellery shops – Chopard, Bulgari and a huge Van Cleef and Arples, where you needed an appointment to get in. We didn’t buy anything.
Decided instead of going to Notre Dame we’d head to a lunch spot Song had read about – Pho in the Vietnamese district. Seems a bit odd going to Paris and having Vietnamese food, but France has a history with Vietnam and there is a large community here. Popped into a church on the way and turns out it was pretty big, built in 1653 but there was a chapel there in 1240 or so. Found a metro station and bought a 10 trip metro card each and luckily were on the right metro line.
We found the place Song had seen and sat down, maybe 4 other tables of about 30 were occupied. Then a load of people arrived and it was full in a few minutes – we’d arrived just before 12:30 and just beat the lunchtime rush.
We both had Pho, it was very good, on a par with Melbourne but maybe not quite as good. Cost 26.50 Euro ($45.57)
Headed back to Notre Dame, stopping at an Asian grocery store to pick up some fruit and stuff. We’d tried to book for Notre Dame but it was sold out, but it was a bit of a miserable day so thought we’d see what the queue was like – turned out not too bad and we were inside in about 10 minutes, although it was packed. Managed to wander around and happened upon some kind of ceremony as a load of priests marched up to the altar and the main guy gave a sermon.
Left Notre Dame and decided to head back to the hotel, walked a bit but were pretty worn out so got on the metro. Nice to get back to the warm and lie down. Had about 1.5 hours before dinner.
A bit rested, walked around the corner to the restaurant. Song ordered a starter of pate which looked a bit like a terrine, I skipped the starter and ordered a main of Beef Bourguignon and a chocolate dessert. Song ordered the andouillette sausage. Mine came with mashed potatoes, Song’s came with chips (or literally French fries). Both were really good. I had a chocolate dessert. Cost 72.90 Euro ($125.35).
We have some Euro left over from our previous trips, which we exchanged when the Aussie dollar was stronger, so it makes sense to use those from now on instead of the credit card which is killing us on the current exchange rate.
Back to the hotel, noticeably colder outside, and crashed.
Tomorrow is a travel day, we leave Paris on the 10:22 train to get to Taesch in Switzerland and have to change 3 times and arrive at 17:30. Some of the changes are 6 minutes and they close the doors 2 minutes before departure so it’s going to be tight. So not much walking, compared to today, I did over 18000 steps. My feet hurt.