Sunday – June 3, 2018
Today I was off to a bit of a slow start due to a late night last night and because I was busy getting things in order for today, figuring out my gameplan, etc. The first thing I did was to take the Metro to Montmartre.
Le Sacre Coeur at Montmartre
Chez Eugene
I got off the train and nearly passed out from walking all of the stairs up to Le Sacre Coeur. Once at the top it took me a bit of getting lost in order to eventually double back to Chez Eugene.
Chez Eugene was, I think, the first restaurant I ever ate at in Paris when I was there in 2009. Because it was not winter, I wanted to eat outside along the street and people watch. Despite the fact that it was already 11am, it wasn’t super busy. Though every outside table was filled, every indoor table was empty.
Chez Eugene; restaurant where I ate breakfast
A table shortly freed up and I had a long slow breakfast of crêpes covered in Nutella and bananas. (I also had a full/untouched croissant that was left at the table next to me. They were going to throw it out, why let it go to waste?) The service was very slow and I’m not used to taking my time and enjoying my food. Especially when I have a bunch of things to see.
Despite making eye contact with my waiter several times and giving him the “check” sign, I ended up getting up, going into the restaurant and paying at the counter. I then walked back down to the streets below and hopped on the Metro.
Centre Pompidou/Stravinsky Fountain
I took the Metro to the area near the Centre Pompidou. However, the screen shot of the directions I had taken was not super clear and I ended up at a park near Les Halles Metro station. I re-routed but went in the wrong direction. However, I found a map that was helpful and, re-routed again and, found the Centre.
Centre Pompidou
I took a few pictures of it and in my walking around, stumbled into the nearby Stravinsky Fountain; also on my to see list. I got a few pictures of that as well and decided not to go into the Centre. I then chilled in the area for a bit before doubling back to my next destination.
Duluc Detective/The Louvre
Duluc Detective
While heading to my next stop, I stopped into a grocery store and grabbed a desperately needed ice tea. Moving on, I easily found the street I was looking for and easily found the location as well. The Duluc Detective agency is one of the location’s featured in the movie Midnight In Paris.
The Louvre museum
After basking in it’s glory and taking a few pictures I continued on my way. I had other sights to see but being that it was right there I walked through the courtyard area of the Louvre. I took a few pictures of the exterior before continuing on my way.
Notre Dame/Shakespeare and Company
I continued walking, now I was along the water (I even went down a ramp that took me along the bank) and eventually made my way to Point Neuf. I strolled through and soon ended up in Place Dauphine where I passed and took pictures of two restaurants also featured in Midnight In Paris.
Notre Dame
This was an unexpected surprise as, though I did have them on my “to see” list, I had omitted them from today’s itinerary due to their lack of importance to me. Eventually, after continuing to walk, I made my way to Notre Dame. I got a few pictures of the front, side and back before sitting on a bench to figure out my next move.
Shakespeare and Company book store
As it so happened, as I sort of expected, I was right near the Shakespeare and Company book store. So, I got off my ass and walked the relatively short distance there. This is yet another location from Midnight In Paris. However, there was a line to get in so I just took pictures of it.
Bastille
I then walked to the nearby Metro station and took the subway to Bastille. Upon exiting the station there were subway police and I almost got fined again because I hadn’t written my name on my Metro card.
Bastille
Luckily he just brushed me off and I exited the station to get my pictures of the Bastille. I then found a nearby gift shop where I “tested” a pen by writing my name on my metro card. Afterwards I walked back to the Metro and took it to Gare de Lyon. There I was to switch to the 14 train, however, it was not running.
After a bit of looking at the Metro map and the station map, I found that there was a station nearby which connected to a train that took me to where I wanted to go. So I exited the station and walked to 5 train. Took the 5 to the 6 and the 6 to Bercy.
Bercy
Now, Bercy is not a place anyone would go to just to go. It is a stadium so unless you have a concert or event to see. However, I am me. I am a nerd and this is the venue (or one of the venues) where Daft Punk performed their Alive 2007 concert. I know, I know, totally nerd, BUT, I was here, I wanted to see it and I did. Plus, I’m sure you’ve never see an arena like this:
Bercy arena
I then walked over to a nearby skatepark to watch some cool tricks before taking the Metro back to my Air BnB. It was a long day with a lot of walking and despite the fact that it was only ~5pm, I decided to call it quits for the day.
My initial plan was to go out to another jazz club, however, the one I thought had a show which started at 7:30, actually had one that ends at 7pm. I was not going to trek out there to see maybe an hour of showtime, so I wrote this and planned my next few days instead.
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