Another long day ahead of us with the major sights to see today. We were going toward the Musse Orsey area. We made the mistake of having brunch in the Ladurée, according to guide book, another historic establishment. But maybe because we were traveling and not having the time, the services were way too slow. We spent almost two hours there, wasting our precious time on a beautiful Sunday morning. The cafe is right on Champs- Elysees, we took our time walking toward the arc de triumphe. Traffic was light on the streets, still hordes of people around the arc. we lingered around it and walked thru a underground pedestrians passage to get to the circle. We could see La Defense, another famous arc at the far end. And on the opposite side, the oblique, tuileries and louvre were in the distance. Huge French flag hang from the enter of the arc and waving in the morning breeze. Napoleon order the construction of the arc to celebrate his crowning of the new French emperor, and died before it's completion. Megan took several photos here, she has become our budding family photographer. We then started walking toward place de la concorde. That was a long walk, nothing really interesting along the way, mostly souvenirs stores or American chain stores. Finally we got to the plaza. The Obelisk was there to commemorate all the excited during the reign of terrors during French revolution. Marie Antoinette and her husband with thousands of people met their ends here. Today there were people just admiring the sheer engineer of erecting this gigantic marble. We could see Eiffel tower in the distance, and louvre and the tuillerie was a short walk. The Louvre can wait, we headed toward the tower. We talked along the north bank of the river, with tree lined boulevards, and many bridges, admiring the view of the city and tower as it got closer and closer. Unbeknown to us, we passed by the famous tunnel where princess Di was killed. We saw a huge golden flame statue with flowers and many people taking the picture on re de New York. So I ran back to find out that this was the site. We took a good hour on foot to reach Trocadero Square. We go to some drinks and sat at the park with the tower right in front of us. It was thrill to see it so up close. We had a great view from this vantage point.
Just like the Arc de Triomphe, we knew going up the tower was out of the questions with these many people. So we left to catch a RER to go to Musee d'Orsay. We had a lot of expectation with this museum because over the years everyone all said this was their favorite museum in Paris. We spent the rest of the afternoon there browsing in a fairly fast way trying to digest all that's there. Lee's favorite painting by Dennis was Not in the display, so that was disappointing to him. I personally like the van Gogh gallery. There were so many well known paintings there it was almost too overwhelming to see them all at once. I wished we have more time. We got some books at the shop to remember our trip here.
And thanks to our Jim, we knew where we were eating today. It's on our way home anyway. We went back to Saint-Germain-des-Prés cause the restaurant is near there. The time was still early, so we stopped by at the famous Café de Flore to have some drink. The outside tables are full so we had to sit inside. After that, we went to check out the old church of Saint-Germain-des-Prés. There was a service going on, so we didn't stay long.
Our restaurant is a tiny place tucked behind the Odeon metro. Took us a while to find it even with the map. It's called Cremerie Restaurant Polidor, supposed to be a popular place with the locals. the interior is stuck in the late 1800's. Big wooden commune tables that the dinners have to share. The staff was friendly and patient, knowing we were foreigners. We all had excellent meals there that night. Lee had something very French. A grilled sausage stuffed with intestines. My steak with shallots was very good and the girls like their chicken and beef stew. Here are a couple reviews about the places, one in NYT and another from paris-bistros.com. It was a good way to summed up the day.
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