Thursday, January 16, 2014

European holiday....Paris bus day 2

A little sleep in this morning saw us setting off a little later than we had planned for our day two bus tour. When we arrived at our stop, we discovered a Lindt chocolate store. It did not take long for us to decide to stop in later for a hot chocolate!




Our first stop was the Arc de Triomphe again, so we alighted the bus, and went for a short walk down the Champs Elysse. Sadly, it was raining this morning, and very grey. The rain was not heavy, more like a constant drizzle, but enough to wet us. We had brought our umbrellas just in case, so were well prepared. One of the places we passed was the Lido, where apparently many of the rich and famous have visited to see the show. Liz would describe it as a "titty" show, and seeing some of the pics I would agree with her.




We were so glad we had visited the Eiffel Tower the day before, as our first view of it was shrouded in mist. We did not see the top clearly today at all, and I imagine that those visiting the second level may not have got such a good view of Paris that we had the day before.




We stayed on our bus until it reached the stop for the Louvre, and stepped off to more rain. Our plan was to have a lemon tart here, and do a quick, well, very quick tour, mainly to see the Mona Lisa. Alas, there was a queue to enter. It moved quickly though, but once through security, and into the foyer, we realized there were more queues to actually buy the tickets. As we were really on the hunt for lemon tart, which Liz had told us were the best anywhere, we went ahead and found some, eating some lunch as well.
This is the famous entrance to the Louvre, and where we queued in the rain for entry.



After lunch, we decided it was not worth another queue to enter the museum itself, so we made our way back to the bus stop for the bus through to the Notre Dame stop.
This very beautiful cathedral actually costs nothing to see, so we did a walk through.



TRO and myself were very keen to see the rose stained glass windows, as we had seen the second biggest one in the world in the another cathedral that I can't recall the name of.



There are actually three in the Notre Dame, one smaller than the other two. The larger are 13 meters in diameter and are numbered among the masterpieces of Christian art.

With the rain still falling we were keen to get back to the Lindt shop, where we enjoyed coffee, hot chocolate, and free samples. Of course, we needed to spend a few Euro as well!

TRO and myself had a quick walk around the Opera, a most magnificent building that is now used only for the ballet. We actually left Aysha in the Lindt shop on her own, trusting her not to buy the shop outright.





Again, a walk back to our hotel, amidst very heavy traffic. There are lots of zebra crossings, some of which have traffic lights on them, and there are of course, the normal crossings at the traffic lights. The general rule of thumb seems to be to ignore any light and cross if you dare. We need to watch out for bicycles, motor bikes, buses and cars, who also ignore the lights if they are able. There seems to always be a police or ambulance wailing as well, either close by, or in the distance.

We found a nice Turkish restaurant close to our hotel for dinner, where TRO enjoyed kofta, and Aysha and myself lentil soup, followed by the inevitable baklava!
Delicious!

Location:Boulevard de Magenta,Paris,France

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