We're halfway through our trip and we haven't taken local transit yet, being able to walk to most destinations so far. Maybe our inability to purchase the transit pass turned out to be a good thing since we probably didn't need it. This would be our first day taking a transit bus - a 15 minute ride to Champs Elysees. This included about 5 minutes of walking and walking the whole way would be just over half an hour. We had breakfast at Pret a Manger again. This time M1 got the bacon, tomato, cheese croissant because she wanted it first yesterday and I kept raving about it. I just got an almond croissant (going to try as many different varieties as I can).
We walked up one side of Champs Elysees, which is almost 2km long. It was like the Yorkville of Paris with lots of stores. All the while the girls were singing the Champs Elysees song. We went in several clothing stores and M2 saw a jean jacket that caught her eye but we planned to get it on the way back so we wouldn't have to carry it the whole morning. At the end of Champs Elysees was the Arc de Triomphe. We could have just admired it at ground level but we had booked this as an attraction on our City Pass and that allowed us to go to the top and visit the museum. There was a pretty long line-up and we decided to ask security where to go if we had the City Pass. He promptly escorted us to another entrance, scanned our passes and let us in! Somehow we bypassed the line-up. I wonder if City Passholders get priority, but it seemed like we were the only ones. Also, children under 18 get free admission, so now M3 has an extra attraction she can attend on her pass.
There were no elevators to the top of the Arc de Triomphe and no warning that there were a lot of steps. We had to walk up 284 steps to get to the top! M3 kept complaining that her legs were broken. Several people stopped part way through to take a breather. It was a great view of the whole city from the terrace at the top. I wondered if we were at the centre of Paris and the rest of the city just branches out in a circular manner from here.
After we came back down the 284 steps, we walked along the other side of the street and checked out those stores. We didn't end up buying anything except for some souvenirs and M2's jean jacket. M1 wanted to try fast food so we went to a McDonald's. Much to our dismay, there were no meal combos. M3 got to try the Grimace Shake, which she throroughly enjoyed. Later we found out that there are meal combos, but they're called "Best of ...". For example, you're supposed to order "Best of Big Mac".
Next we had a 1-hour Seine River boat cruise booked and the boarding site was a 25 minute walk. Transit would take 23 minutes, so we decided to just walk - so much walking today! The cruise fare included a crepe and a soft drink. The soft drink was very much needed as this was the hottest day of the trip (28 degrees Celsius). M1 saw that the crepe was frozen and just heated up for us. It didn't taste good at all. Also, we asked for strawberries and they just gave us sugar. The boat cruise itself was enjoyable and relaxing; again M1 and M3 fell asleep.
Dinner was at Les Amours and this was going to be our true French meal. I got a Parisienne salad, M1 got the duck confit (she's just copying me all the time), M2 got beef bourguignon, and M3 got escargots. The food was okay but not great. Only M3 really enjoyed her meal. None of us were brave enough to try the escargots but M3 said it was the best meal of the trip for her.
This restaurant was very close to the Eiffel Tower and that's where we were headed at night so we could see the bright lights of the tower. There were many people gathered in a field to view the spectacle. After sunset, the lights flash for 5 minutes each hour on the hour until midnight. It was such a beautiful sight and I was disappointed with myself for not coming here earlier with YC. But I know she was watching with us on this night.
Big Oh
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