“Forty eight hours in Paris and I don’t have a single photo of the Eiffel Tower” – Debbie

Today began with some local drama – we stepped through the door that separates our cobbled courtyard from the street, and noticed a pall of thick black smoke, billowing from a hotel a few doors up.  Next thing there were 3 or 4 fire engines and the “pompiers” got to work with their ladders and hoses.  No sign of any casualties luckily.

Drama on Rue de la Roquette

We are fast learning that making plans is one thing, sticking to them is another.  Today we planned a Metrogaine approach (ie using the highly efficient Metro to move between our designated controls).  Armed with essential navigational aids – a Navigo rail pass, a Paris Museum pass, and a map – we intended to visit four 100-pointers, all requiring climbs to achieve city views (spurred on by a weather forecast for sunshine, which turned out to be completely fictitious).  By the way, we highly recommend the Navigo pass, which lets you go anywhere on the Metro or RER trains, and the Museum pass, which lets you in to nearly all the main attractions including the Louvre and Versailles.  Having both has given us enormous flexibility.

Control no 1 was Notre Dame, specifically the tour that takes you to the balcony high above, and lets you get up close and personal with the grotesques and gargoyles.  One look at the queue changed our minds.  Instead we spent our time looking at the cathedral from all angles at ground level.

Notre Dame

Notre Dame is situated on an island in the Seine, so we walked from one end to the other.  At the northeast end is the Memorial to the Deported, which commemorates the thousands of French who were sent to prisons and concentration camps during WW2.  This stark and sombre monument was designed to resemble prison cells and represents the loss of freedom suffered by these people.

From there we made our circuitous way to the opposite end, under Pont de Neuf, one of the most famous of the Seine bridges.  The little park made a pleasant place to sit and watch the river traffic.  Back up on the bridge we took our first photos of the Eiffel Tower.

No caption necessary

Me!

It started to rain (as it has done around lunchtime most days), so we headed to the upmarket Grands Boulevards, home to the famous Lafayette and Printemps department stores.  Our lunch stop, a gluten free restaurant called Noglu, was in an arcade full of tiny shops housing stamp, postcard, coin and autograph collectors.  We had our first authentic French meal of canard (duck) served very rare, with tiny potatoes and fresh mushrooms.  Dessert was a citron tart for Ian and a brownie for me.  Yummy!

It was still raining.  Controls 2 and 3 were the Pompidou Centre and the Arc de Triomphe.  We chose the indoor option and headed to Pompidou.  You can take the external escalators (aka the Hamster Tubes) to the top of the building for great views of the city, so we did that first then headed in to look at the modern and contemporary art.  Neither of us has ever been a fan, but we decided not to judge until we’d seen it, and it was quite an education.  “C’est un travestie” declared a fellow visitor.  But we  found quite a few pieces that we liked, or at least appreciated.  Others were simply bizarre, but all art is subjective and it was an enjoyable visit.  We even found the Vortex of Doom!

Pompidou Centre and Hamster Wheels

Vortex of Doom

Art or Travestie?

By now it was late and we abandoned the last couple of controls (as you generally do on a rogaine), saving the Arc and the Eiffel Tower for tomorrow. C’est la vie – les plans les mieux conçus des souris et des hommes vont souvent de travers.