Day 17 of 18: Paris

We have been to Paris a few times, but it's such a large city with so much to see and do, that it provided a good transition from the cruise back to home. We chose a more leisurely agenda for Paris than that on the Viking cruise. But we also needed to walk off some of the extra pounds we put on during the 3 meal-a-day cruise feast. So we walked a total of 10 miles around Paris today, admiring some famous Paris landmarks, plus lesser-known monuments and neighborhoods, many for the first time. It was a fun day and the weather was beautiful.

We started our walk in the general direction of Notre Dame cathedral in order to see the restoration progress. From our hotel near Gare de Lyon, we walked along Esplanade du Quai Saint Bernard, a  waterfront promenade on the Seine with an impressive outdoor sculpture museum and well-manicured gardens. 

According to Google, this sculpture from 1980 "parodically depicted the poet Arthur Rimbaud. Ipousteguy had Rimbaud resting upon someone’s soles, perhaps his own, as the body was split in two and time-wrapped in a peculiar machine."

I'm not sure how it works, but I ordered one of these as an exciting addition to the bass section of Motor City Brass Band

This garden looked like a Hobbit House, complete with the round door and picket fence

As we approached the end of the promenade, the scope of the Notre Dame restoration became clear, with the most severely damaged sections from the 2019 fire shrouded in scaffolding. The city says that the plan is to re-open Notre Dame in time for the 2024 Summer Olympics.



Next we passed Fountaine Saint-Michael, while making our way to Blvd Saint Germain to admire the city streets of Paris and find a good lunch spot.

Dragon in front of Fountaine Saint-Michael, 1860

Pub St. Germain, in a quaint alley along Blvd Saint Germain

Pasta with pesto

I was impressed by the number of EVs and the charging infrastructure 

The city buses are mainly battery electric

After lunch, we continued walking to the Invalides neighborhood, passing the Musée de l'Armée, gardens and the tomb of Napoleon Bonaparte. 

Hôtel des Invalides, including the tomb of Napoleon

Le Grand Palais behind Esplanade des Invalides

In previous visits to Paris, we always approached the Eiffel Tower from the river Seine, so today we decided to approach it from Champ de Mars, a long landscaped park leading to the tower. We enjoyed this viewpoint of this Paris landmark.




Did you really think that I would miss this opportunity?

We had planned to take the Metro back to our hotel at Gare du Lyon. But it was a nice day, so we took a similar walking route back, enjoying more of the sights, sounds (and smells) of Paris.

View of Gare de Lyon from our hotel at the end of our walk

We completed the day with a return to the same restaurant Moshimo for another one of those magnificent sushi boats. 


Tomorrow (Thursday, August 3) is Day 18 of 18 of this journey, a travel day back to Michigan. We look forward to returning home.

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