- The Plan
- Outbound SEA-IAD-CDG
- Day 1: Touring the Seine and Left Bank
- Day 2: Two Museums, Three Cafes, and Lots and Lots of Pastry!
- Day 3: Visiting the Louvre and Eiffel Tower
- Return CDG-IAD-SEA
The Crowne Plaza Republique was an excellent hotel for our needs. We only needed a central location and a cheap but comfortable place to sleep. No, it wasn’t the Park Hyatt, but it was very pleasant. Although the room and bathroom were very small (the fire escape plan suggested most others in the hotel were at least 20% larger), they were well laid out. In addition, there was a very pretty courtyard opposite our room that we would have spent more time in if it had been warmer on this brisk April weekend. (These images below are from the hotel’s website.)
We started out Saturday morning watching shops open on the Boulevard Beaumarchais as we walked toward the Seine, admiring the flowering trees along the bank. It was a very nice change from the drizzle and grey of Seattle.
We walked along the quay before crossing over to see Notre Dame. It was busy that morning, and it didn’t appear we would have a chance to go inside soon, so we wandered around the island and came across a cute little outdoor gardening shop. From there we continued on to the Left Bank. One of the first things I saw was this awesome building with the shadow of a tree painted on the side! I’m not sure why, since there were plenty of real trees with real shadows, but it was cool. 🙂
Our destination was the Grand Epicerie at Le Bon Marche. This department store has a supermarket that includes several aisles of food from around the world.
The American aisle was particularly amusing, with food like pancake mix and strawberry syrup. None of the boxed groceries, however, were particularly interesting. The fresh foods and produce looked better. Megan headed over to the cheese section to grab a snack for lunch while I held out to stop at a sandwich shop I had spotted on the walk over. A line of Parisians out the door can’t be wrong!
With our lunch in hand, we continued on to the Jardin du Luxembourg. I really enjoy this garden because of all the different places to visit. There are tennis courts, a pond with sailboats, dense groves of trees, and some very pretty flower beds, too.
We hung out for an hour or two, but by this point we were both pretty tired. We got lost hunting for the Metro back to our hotel, wandering around the narrow, convoluted streets near the Pantheon. By the time we were back, around four in the afternoon, we fell asleep, exhausted.
Well, maybe I woke up a few hours later to grab some McDonald’s from across the plaza, but don’t tell anyone I was eating fast food in Paris. 😉 We were really too tired for good French food this day, but we certainly made up for it later…
