Day 2: St Germain de Pres

We began the day late, after all the sun doesn't rise until 8am and it's a sleepy morning in the Paris winter. We set out up the Boulevard St Germain and stopped in for breakfast at one of the areas landmark street eateries/bistros, Cafe de Flore. It's a great little place to people watch. I'm loving these little enclosed pop out cafe/bistros that extend out onto the footpath. 

 

Whilst the place had charm and character - it was very very pricey. Still, it was worth the experience. We had our first croissant in France and I also had an omelette, which was nice though nothing to write home about, so I'll stop there.

We then set off for a wander of the St Germain district. Immediately it became apparent that this was an upmarket end of town. High fashion label shops and lots of quality bakeries. Today was a shopping day for Sim, as we were heading to La Bon Marche, one of the worlds oldest department stores. However on the way we stopped by a nice bakery called Poilane where we had a decadent apple turnover like scroll, as well as the church St Sulpice, from the Da Vinci Code movie. 

One of the things I love is that the city provides bikes that you can borrow. We even saw a man servicing one today. How great is that! Although we don't have the confidence as yet to ride on the roads, still struggling working out which way traffic is coming from when crossing road. 

We finally got to La Bon Marche and Sim spent some time looking at handbags. However as usual I was the one that ended up purchasing something, grabbing myself a nice wallet.

The building itself was stunning, very much along the line of the David Jones Sydney City store. Sim and I both loved looking at the furniture and lighting that was on offer. So many beautiful pieces. 

Oh and in the toy section we stumbled across the Villa Savoye in Lego ( were off to the real deal tomorrow).

I can't help but laugh everytime I see this advert on a bus stop sign. American Hustle aka American Bluff! 

From there we ventured past some more shops and then on to the Musee d'Orsay, an old railway station in the vein of a Grand Central NYC that has been reconfigured into an art museum.

Not entirely sure if I like the way it's been done within the old building, but as we wandered through the galleries we saw drawings and images of the building as well as the proposal to demolish it and build a modern hotel. So I'm glad it stayed.

The galleries focus is on late 29th early 20th century artists, notably the impressionists, with many Van Gogh, Monet and Cezanne paintings. But it was the art nouveau collection we liked most, some great examples of furniture crafted out if wood appearing to still be growing, from Charles Rennie Mackintosh, FLW and Peter Behrens

After a few hours wandering through the galleries we ate a late lunch at the cafe inside the museum, where duck foi gras and mango chutney salad was on the menu.

It was now late in the afternoon and we wanted to make it to the Eiffel Tower for sunset. We walked through the streets of the 7th arr. passing the National assemble and the Hotel des invalides. 

Walking the streets for two days now, you start to lose track of where youre at exactly, as there's a certain sameness about the scale and design of all the buildings. One of the great things sim loves is the amount of florists in the city, there seems to be one on every block. That and joggers. French people love to jog it would seem.

Well we finally made it to the tower and I must say, it's one of the prettiest sights I've seen. After a long line up for a ticket up, we hopped in the lift and rode up to the 2nd level. The view from here was amazing. We timed our visit perfectly, seeing the sun set on the city and the night sky take over. 

Taking the lift to the top and getting out on to the open air observation decks was a freezing but pleasurable experience. What a view! The city just unfolds itself beneath you, with views all around. You really get a grasp on the proximity and vast expanse of Paris. We spent some time taking considered photographs, trying to time it so the revolving spot light from the tower was in the picture. 

To think that this structure was meant as a temporary tower for the World Exposition - what a great gift to the city.

As we made our way down the lights came on, followed by the twinkle of the fairy lights coming on after. Just magic.

Just before freezing to death, we hopped on the metro for the first time and made our way home for 3euro paninis and coke.  

Just before midnight I told Simone I couldn't sleep so I was going to go for a walk. On my walk I Saw this old fashioned taxi and flagged it down. When I hopped in I was taken to the house of Gertrude Stein, and Hemmingway was there, and Picasso, and Dali and..... wait that's the script for Midnight in Paris. 

Ok, so that didn't really happen. We hit the hay at 10 as we were exhausted!