We decided to set out a little earlier than previously today and discovered that Parisiens like to sleep late on Saturdays. Compared to most mornings when we have ventured out, the place was empty.
Our first excitement of the day was a sudden recollection of Caroline's performance in the Ascham musical set in Paris titled Les Petits Rats. We set off to catch the Metro from the nearby station Sentier. The platform was fairly deserted and then I noticed something moving just a few metres away - a real live Parisian rat! Needless to say we moved rather hastily to the other end of the platform. Rodents aside, Sentier is a good little station to have nearby as it is only a couple of stops to Opera from which many places can be reached.
We emerged from the Metro in front of the Opera House where nearly 50 years ago I attended a very grand ball. I still have pictures of it somewhere back in Bathurst.
We spent the morning on one of those hop on hop off buses. Very touristy but you do get a very good encapsulated view of the city. With the interests of our audience in mind, we subjected ourselves to the Arctic temperatures of the open air deck upstairs to enable easy photo taking. Being the first on board also meant we got the front seats with uninterrupted views. It was worth it but boy, was it cold. I was very glad of my thick jacket, gloves and funny hat and Geoff regarded his scarf as a lifesaving device.
The bus covered quite a lot of the city and the commentary was interesting. We enjoyed the section up the Champs Elysée from Place de la Concorde as all the Christmas markets were in full swing and all the decorations in place. We plan to return this evening when it is dark to see the lights. All very pretty with customised Christmas themed stalls so everything matches.
We're looking forward to this evening's excursion. Very adventurous for us but only about 10 minutes on the Metro.
The round trip took a couple of hours and by the time we arrived back at the Opera we were frozen. Luckily it only took about 10 minutes to get home and dethaw a bit before venturing out again to find something to eat. This time we tried we walked to the other (top?) end of Rue Montorgueil and ended up at a place called Grappe d'Or.
Nice but nothing outstanding, but very pleasant sitting by the window in the warmth watching the, by now, swarming street life and also watching the guy outside smoking nonstop while shucking fresh oysters for customers.
As we emerged from the cafe after lunch there was a cry of "ah, les kiwis" (and I thought we were Australiens?) from up the street. It was our long-bearded friend from the restaurant yesterday riding his bike through the crowds. So he stopped for a chat and a photo (I only had my camera with me at the time so you'll have to wait for that one till we get back to Australia) before peddling off again.
We continued wandering - down the Rue du Louvre as I needed some good shoes and had noticed a nice shop while walking that way the first day, then we skirted round La Bourse and so into the church of Saint-Eustache where it was suggested we admire the magnificent pipe organ. One of the church's officials spied us going in and, having ascertained we were Australians and spoke English, gave us all the appropriate brochures so we could read all about the church's history which actually turned out to be most interesting. One of the chapels houses the tomb of Colbert (1683), finance minister in his time, who lived in the house in which we're staying.
A little later: We now know why there were no people around this morning. They were all saving their energy for a visit to the Christmas Markets tonight.
Even our local rodent station was packed with people and we just managed to squeeze onto the Metro but from Concorde station up the Champs Elysée there were just thousands and thousands of people. The crowds were so dense it was almost impossible to move but the lights and decorations were well worth going out to see. We managed to go about a block up the street before deciding we'd had enough of the crowds and heading home to our little apartment.
If we make it out the door in time, we plan to go and enjoy the music at Saint Eustache at the early morning service tomorrow.
And now a few photos which, if I had had more time I might have tidied up a bit. But they are not too bad.
Home, warm home.
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