It’s Flea Market Day!

Ok. I couldn’t decide on the Eiffel Tower pic for today so you have to deal with three of them. 

I drug Jo Anne out of bed this morning to get a sunrise view of the Iron Lady. It was a nippy 36 deg as seen by our rosy cheeks. It took us 3 miles. 7,000 steps and about 17 photos to get these three shots. 😁 Starting the day off with a bang!

This photo was taken a couple of days ago on our patisserie tour and was just shared by one of the ladies in our group. Can I just say we’re happy to be away from that group for the rest of our stay in Paris?

In our trek this morning we happened by this memorial statue in Jardins du Tracadero, called Monument à la Admiral de Grasse, sculpted by Paul Landowski. Initially, it was only the bas relief sculpture inaugurated in 1931 as the statue of Admiral de Grasse was finished later. That’s why they are separate as seen in this photo. The bas relief shows French sailors pulling and loading a canon in preparation for battle at sea. The sculptures were kept in storage during World War II, no doubt saving them from being melted down while Paris was under occupation. 

It was later decided to place the monument here in Tracadero Gardens (Jardins du Tracadero) in front of an old stone wall with a walkway. Admiral de Grasse is recognized as being instrumental for the United States gaining independence after setting sail with 3,000 French sailors going to the aid of George Washington. 

Just a portion of the “floors” we’ve already done today and it’s not even 7 am. 

Now that’s a flower pot!!! After our early morning excursion, we went back to the hotel for breakfast and searched out how to get to the flea market by metro. We boarded the #6 green line, then switched to the #2 blue line then went to the #4 red line, which was closed. Apparently on selective Sunday’s they close it for maintenance between 10 and 12. If we had only been a few minutes earlier, we would have made it. However, since it was closed we had to backtrack to another line which ended in a different station and figure out how to walk to the flea market from that station. No problem! 

This dog knew all about riding the escalator up. He got on all by himself and stood on two levels, then walked off. 

Arriving at the flea market. We actually did make it there. 

We were often warned about pickpockets.

We had lunch at La REcyclerie, housed in an old train station. It’s a cafe and coffee shop, with a vegetable garden and chicken coop out back. Since it was Sunday, they were serving brunch so you had three choices: meat, vegetarian or vegan. We went with the meat option so they added three strips of undercooked bacon to our plates 😒. 

I’m all about color on a plate as long as it is natural color. Something about a hot pink egg was a bit off-putting. The plate included a grilled cheese and apple sandwich, roasted pumpkin, carrots and potatoes, hummus, a boiled egg, lettuce and, on the right, the undercooked bacon. 

It came with a basket of bread, because what doesn’t in Paris?

It also came with a brownie.

If I thought it was off-putting before, cutting into it really did me in. This is just NOT natural!

Another flea market pic. 

Jo Anne purchased a salt box. We both found a couple of kitchen towels and I found three stamps I couldn’t live without. I found some really neat fabric too but when she told me it was 90€, I decided real quick that I could live without that. 

Supper was crème brûlée…

and a banana and Nutella crepe. 

After the flea market and a few minutes rest for our dinner above and something to drink, we decided to go ahead and do the Seine river cruise this evening. We purchased our tickets online at the little cafe and walked down to the river, getting there about 15 minutes before the last boarding. As it turned out it was the perfect time of day to see the sun set and the lights of Paris come on. 

The Musée d'Orsay is a museum in Paris, France, on the Left Bank of the Seine. It is housed in the former Gare d'Orsay, a Beaux-Arts railway station built between 1898 and 1900. The museum holds mainly French art dating from 1848 to 1914, including paintings, sculptures, furniture, and photography.

The Pavillon de Flore, part of the Palais du Louvre, stands at the southwest end of the Louvre, near the Pont Royal. It was originally constructed in 1607-1610. during the reign of Henry IV, as the corner pavilion between the Tuileries Palace to the north and the Louvre's

Grande Galerie to the east. The pavilion was entirely redesigned and

rebuilt by Hector Lefuel in 1864-1868 in a highly decorated Napoleon III style.

River view of the L’ouvre. 

River view of Notre Dame. 

Notice all the scaffolding. Hard to believe it will be completed in the next couple of years. 

The Hôtel de Ville in Paris, is the building housing the city's local

administration, standing on the Place de l'Hôtel-de-Ville - Esplanade de la Libération in the 4th arrondissement. The south wing was originally constructed by François I beginning in 1535 until 1551. The north wing was built by Henry IV and Louis XIlI between 1605 and 1628. It was burned by the Paris Commune, along with all the city archives that it contained, during the Commune's final days in May 1871.

Started the day off with a sunrise view of the Iron Lady and ended it with a night view. 

It has been quite a day! I think we’ve made up for any slacking we may have done on any previous or upcoming days. Tomorrow is the Normandy tour so we will be sitting a good part of the day. 

31,304 steps

13.7 miles

22 floors 

Bonne nuit!