We woke at the normal time of 7:00am. After unpacking our items, we took to the streets to start our day... But first, breakfast! Unfortunately, the streets of Paris are disorienting and we ended up walking in a big loop before finding a place offering breakfast! We enjoyed a breakfast of croissant and half a baguette with butter and marmalade, fresh orange juice, and a hot drink of our choice, Mat ordered a cappuccino and I selected black tea. We sat and watched the traffic go by as we ate and talked.
Eventually, we started walking again, casually making our way towards the Eiffel tower. We ended up back at the Arc de Triomphe. We took the tunnel to get a closer look before continuing our amble towards the Eiffel tower. As we dropped nearer to the Seine, we came across a narrow market. Fresh, fragrant strawberries were being sold at the corner booth near the sidewalk so we had to stop to buy some! Then Mat thought we could use some bread so we wandered the entire length of the little narrow market. By the time we continued on to the tower, we had ourselves some bread, brie cheese, and natural apple juice to go with our strawberries! We reached the Jardin du Trocadero, an open green space with views looking across the Seine River to the Eiffel tower. The weather was spectacular, warm and sunny in the 70's, and the flowers were in bloom so the place was crowded with tourists and locals alike enjoying the warmth and beauty! We found ourselves a partially shaded bench and tucked into our Parisian picnic. After food and people watching, we continued walking, up and around the gardens before crossing the Seine to the base of the tower. We weren't interested in spending the money or time standing in line to get underneath the tower so we just walked through the Champ de Mars gardens.
Our next goal was to see the Notre Dame Cathedral. We ambled over, admiring the Parisian architecture as we went. It was a beautiful structure and inside was just as beautiful. By the time we finished with our look inside I was hungry again so we headed for the Jean XXIII Gardens at the rear of the cathedral to eat the last of our picnic meal. Minds clearer with a full stomach, we went to investigate getting to the bell towers at the top of the cathedral. Unfortunately, all the admission spots were booked for the day. Timed admissions are reserved on a little electronic kiosk; if we were smart about it, we should have made our reservations first and then spent the 1.5 hour wait time viewing inside the cathedral and eating our snack. Oh well.
We started our walk home, hitting up the market near our flat. A quick rinse off and elevating our feet for a bit, then we ventured out again to find dinner. We ended up at Restaurant Libanais near a quiet traffic circle with a small park in the middle. We scored a table outside (all the outside tables are full in the evenings!) and enjoyed the best tabuli and lamb kabob we've ever had, washing it down with delicious Lebanese wine. Now to bed, time to pass out!
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