We checked out of our cute little hotel in Amsterdam the next morning and dodged the cyclists back to the train station. Bryn was flying back home, and I was catching a train bound for Paris!
I love Paris...it's just so old and grand and full of history. It's one of those places, like Kyoto or Dubai, that you just feel so lucky to be in. At least I do!
For my quick trip to Paris, I tried an AirBnB for the first time. The whole process was very easy and the little apartment I stayed in could not have had a better location.
After dropping off my bag, I ventured out for a wander. The apartment was just steps from Notre Dame, which had recently had it's roof burnt to nothing. You couldn't get anywhere near the cathedral due to the reconstruction, so I was glad I had visited it years before, on my first trip to Paris (in 2004!!)
Instead, I spent the afternoon weaving my way through the streets of Ile de la Cite and the Latin Quarter, stopping only for photos and the occasional croissant (duh!)
Did I mention there was a heatwave across Europe while we were there? Paris was HOT! Sleeping was not easy, but I just channeled my aircondition-less childhood in St. Michaels and five years in Japan.
I got up early the next morning to walk. I had promised myself that I would stay away from places I have been to before this visit, but I just couldn't go to Paris and not see the Eiffel Tower!
My early morning stroll along the Seine was very pleasant. I only passed the occasional jogger and people on their way to work, since it was too early for tourists to be out and about.
I decided to take a path through the Tuileries gardens by the Louvre to get away from the noisy Paris traffic. It was practically deserted aside from the goat munching grass in a ditch!
I moved back to the river bank for the rest of the walk as the rest of the city started to wake up.
Eventually, I made it to my destination. It is not hard to find something that towers over the city! It had changed a lot since my other visits...walls all around it to keep anyone who hadn't paid for a ticket and been checked by security out. Kind of sad that the world has come to that. Again, I was glad I got to visit it at a time when we could walk underneath it's huge legs and drink wine on the grass while it sparkled overhead!
Having accomplished my first goal of the day, I decided on a different route back to the Latin Quarter, but I'll have to share that next time. As always I took way too many photos, but love them all and want to share them with you!
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