Mary and I went up for our free breakfast at about 9:30am. EGGS. Can you believe it? The French don't seem to have eggs for breakfast. I had bacon as well. OMG bacon. As a side note on bacon, the French only half-cook it or conversely, it's half raw. I had to pick through to find the few over cooked pieces that nobody else wanted. But, it was still good.
Our plan today is to take the metro to the Arc de Triomphe, walk down the Champs Elysees, visit the Musée de l'Orangerie, walk down rue de Rivoli past the Louve and onto E. Dehillerin, a world-famous cookware store.
Off we go to the metro. At the small metro stop, we encountered great difficulty in purchasing a ticket. We just didn't know how to work the machines. Of course, there was a ticket window but there was nobody there. Finally, we saw others use the machines and an nice lady explained to us in English how they work. We were able to buy two single metro tickets for one ride each. We went to the Charles de Gaulle-Etoile station (Arc de Triomphe). At this much larger metro station, we did find a friendly person at the ticket window and purchased two carnets (10 tickets). I thought that the tickets would be in a booklet or something but no, a carnet is 10 loose tickets.
Out we come from the metro station and the Arc de Triumphe is right in front of us. Here is our first picture.
To get to the Arc de Triomphe, you cannot cross the street to get to it. Way too much traffic. What you do is go down some stairs to a tunnel that goes under the street and then you go up some stairs to the Arc plaza. Not too bad. We took lots of pictures including one of the permanent flame. Here are a few pictures including a self-taken picture of Mary and me.
Tunnel Under Champs Elysees to Get to the Arc de Triomphe
So now we want to go up to the top to take pictures. €9.50 per person. Then, after you buy the ticket, they tell you there is no lift. It's all stairs up and down. Here's the report on the stairs. First, here's a picture of the stairwell.
Arc de Triomphe Stariwell Looking Down From The 1st Mezzanine
To get to the point where the above picture was taken, you climb 195 steps (I counted them). Then, you walk up another 33 stairs to the next level. Nothing really to see on either of these two levels. Then, to get to the rooftop, you climb another 46 stairs. Total stairs up = 274.
Now were on the roof of the Arc de Triomphe. It's really a great 360-degree view. Below are some pictures.
Actually, there were 272 going down. Add it the 52 stairs twice in the tunnel under the street and we walked up and down 648 stairs to see the top of the Arc de Triomphe.
With slightly sore feet and ankles, off we go down the Champs Elysees. Nothing but shops, sidwalk cafes and a couple of hotels all the way down to the Musée de l'Orangerie. Really interesting stuff, however. The major French car companies (Citroen, Renault and Peugeot) all have beautiful image showrooms along the boulevard. Here is a picture of Mary with her new Peugeot. It was really sporty.
While in the Peugeot store, there was a sudden cloudburst of rain. Everybody on the street rushed into the stores for cover. It was really a hard rain and really windy. Umbrellas were blown apart. About 15 minutes later, the rain subsided enough for us to continue.
While walking down the boulevard, we found shops suggested by daughter-in-law Lora. Here are pictures of two.
It took us awhile to get to the l'Orangerie museum. It was really a long walk. But, what a treat. Monet, Cezzane, Renoir and others. What a spectacular showing of Monet's murals of his lillie pond on the entire walls of two rooms. Here are a few pictures.
Then of course, we saw the numerous portraits of the nude women frolicking or in repose. These were dark-haired women. I have a question. Did women shave there legs in the late 1800s or were the painters just really kind in not painting in the hair on their legs. They don't have hairy legs in the paintings. Just curious.
Now, we're walking down the rue de Rivoli to the cookware store. As it turned out, it was a good 40 minute walk. As we walk by the shops, you occasionlly walk by a chocloate or pastry shop. There are lots of them everywhere we have gone in France. Here are a couple of pictures on one the nicest ones we have seen (at least presentation wise). No free samples.
We finally get to E. Dehillerin, the French cookware store. It's been in business since 1820. And, it looks it. They seem to have everything but nothing seems to be organized. Everything is stuffed from floor to ceiling in shelving that must have been installed sometime in the 1800s. Amazing. My immediate thought was that I had stepped into a shop in Diagon Alley out of Harry Potter. Still, it was stuffed with people all bumping into each other. Here are a couple of pictures.
Mary did find something she wanted from there and made the purchase. Now it's time to return to the hotel. With all of the stairs and walking, we hailed a taxci and rode back to the hotel.
Now we're off the our free food in the Executive Club.
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