Day 1 - Dec 15 - Random walk

Using medium-sized pictures is proving to be a little troublesome in terms of formatting...

The journey begins along les Champs D'Elysees where I am quickly accosted by a Mandarin/broken English-speaking Chinese lady who wants me to buy purses from LV for her using this wad of 900EU. I have never seen a wad of anything worth near 900EU before and am rather skeptical of her story. After I leave, I see her approaching other random tourists trying her luck. Sketchy. How would she possibly think that I in my sneakers, jeans and battered looking travel purse could possibly look not out-of-place in that store?

I keep walking, mainly admiring the window displays. I am a little intimidated about going into the stores, especially the ones that aren't very full. It reminds me most of the Magnificent Mile, but with wider sidewalks (see van backing up into a car-sales shop above). The Mile is positively claustrophobic with all those shoppers and tourists crammed on narrow sidewalks. Paris strikes me as more pedestrian friendly.

There are a lot of these trees all along the streets and the river. The hanging spiky balls make me think that someone has decorated the trees for the holidays. I've seen them here before too, but I've never found out their name. How do you google a tree? Joyce mentioned a friend of hers called the spiky balls 'itchy bombs'. Googling that term, I think these may be sycamores.



I branch off from the Avenue at some point to find the Seine. The sun is on its way down after all and I want to see how the sunset compares to London's. The light is right for some great silhouettes, but a little more cloud was needed to up the colour factor.

I criss-crossed along the bridges making my way up to the obelisk, where there is now also a ferris wheel installed. Nothing the scale of the Eye, but it directly faces the Arch. One side of the sky is a fiery orange, and the facing side is a light pink. I see the same hot air balloon (photo below) that I had noticed going up at the Arch.



Next, I make my way through Jardin des Tuileries. I note that French gardens seem to involve wide expanses of gravel, rather than lawn. I sit at a (free) chair beside a fountain and consult my map to figure out where I am in relation to Notre Dame. Apparently the Louvre is ahead.




Criss-crossing some more I come up to l'Ile de la Cite. Lights start to come on along the Seine. I get a little lost trying to find Notre Dame. I see what I think is it from a distance, but as I get closer, I no longer see it because all the buildings are so tall. I ask a lady for directions, and obviously misunderstand her, as I end up walking off the island, back towards the Louvre. Finally, I turn a corner and there it is, all decked out with a giant Christmas tree in front. And there's Jo, with my suitcase!

We walk to the St. Michel area for dinner. Soupe a l'oignon, steak au poivre et tarte aux pommes. The steak was decidedly on the tough side, but everything else was quite nice, including my first baguette. After dinner, we killed a little time before going to pick Joyce up at the station. Paris reunion :)