Un jour en Paris

 We had arranged to meet friends in Paris - to hell with the air miles - so were up early to bus and train in.

We met on Boulevard St Michel, close to where Marie-Claire kept her Rolling Stones records, yes she did.

From there you can see the soon to reopen Notre Dame.

Le Seine and Notre Dame. Esmeralda at front.

Our first stop was a patisserie, of course. A nice bit of marble cake for me, croissant for J. All so very French. Then it was off to the flower market for a bit of colour.

A splash of colour

Then we went on quite a hike to have lunch at a recommended vegetarian restaurant, only to find it closes for renovations. Never mind, you are never far from food in this country. 

One of the joys of strolling semi-aimlessly is the glimpses of life to be had through open doors. Some are poor, some show gardens, or sculpture and so on, but every building has its secret.

From there we carried on to Les Invalids to see Napoleon's tomb and the Army Museum's collection of fortress models. 

A glimpse of that tower.

Toulon I think, or maybe Marseilles.

Definitely Bayonne which, all going well, we will pass through in a week.

Been there, done that. Amazing place, and an amazing model.

The models were constructed as an aid to planning defences, and to show off the regime's accomplishments. Fantastic detail.

I skipped much of the museum otherwise. There are only so many rooms of weapons or uniforms I can handle.

Les Invalids. A military hospital, barracks, and now (also) museum.

Ottoman cannon. Bitten off more than it can chew I think.

Fings wot go bang, and a few of 'em. Apparently Les Invalids was raided for the cannon that were used to bring down the Bastille.

A Renault FT17 light tank introduced at the end of WW1. 

And here it is: Nappy's tomb. Apparently his ashes were enclosed in 4 (or was it 6?) coffins. Did they think he was a Vampire?

I was a little surprised that he was given such an elaborate tomb by royalty rather than republicans. Especially so soon after his death.

A bus ride later I found time to scoff a thousand sheets (mille feuille) for a mere $16. Nice, but I won't be eating too many more of them! 

We checked out L&S's apartment. There're not having much fun as the the lift was out for a while (they're on the 4th floor), the hot water died, and there were various other problems. They're there for a while yet so hopefully it all gets sorted sooner rather than later.

J and I had pizza near Les Halles and was humming. The area, not the pizza. We didn't make ourselves popular when we shared a pizza and were hurried from our table pretty quickly. How rude.

Dinner en pleine aire. It was a glorious day, which helps.

The Pompidou Centre, which famously hangs its guts out for all to see.

Hermes getting a new paint job from their resident artist.

Across the road is Samaritaine. Love their motif.