Michelle met me at the station and we took my bag back to the hotel and then went out for a late dinner where my high school French started coming in handy.
The next morning we woke up late, had a long breakfast in the fancy dining room of the fancy hotel and then hit Galeries Lafayette, the shopping center which - like almost every store in Paris - had a huge sale on. Apparently the summer sales in France are quite a ritual and happen at the same time every year. Galeries Lafayette is an amazing store in an even more amazing building -
After some more shopping in the big department stores and chains we took the train to St-Germain to do some shopping in the little boutiques and art galleries before finally picking up a very late lunch. Michelle eating mille-feuille in St-Germain -
We walked from St-Germain to the Jardin du Luxembough where we caught a late afternoon performance of a children's orchestra in the center of the park. The Palais du Luxembourg -
After that, we headed to the Latin Quarter and had dinner at a Moroccan restaurant.
After dinner we returned to the hotel before heading out again towards the Louvre -
From the Louvre we walked through the Jardin des Tuileries before ending up at Place de la Concorde where we had a great view of the Eiffel Tour. By then it was quite late and Michelle's jet lag kicked in so we headed back to the hotel.
On Sunday we woke up early, checked out of the hotel and walked down the Champs Elysees to the Arc de Triomphe. Sunday was also the day of the World Cup final between Italy and France and as well as French flags right along the street, they had started to board up some of the store windows, obviously in anticipation of excitable [rioting] crowds.
From the Arc de Triomphe we walked to the Eiffel Tour -
and then took the train to Montmartre where we had visited some more stores (although, we hardly bought anything the whole weekend) and then walked up the many stairs to Sacre Coeur. From there we went back to a cafe we had seen earlier - the georgeous little Boulangerie a l'ancienne where we had brunch and cafe au lait French style - in big bowls -
After some more walking around Montmartre we took the train back towards the hotel. By this time, the overcast morning had cleared into a beautiful sunny afternoon and we had some wine sitting in a cafe and enjoying the scenery before we both headed off to the train station - Michelle off to Eurodisney and me back to London.
