Saturday morning, we got up early and went to see Notre Dame, just a small bridge away from us on the Ile-de-la-Cite. Notre Dame is enormous and there was a lot to see.
We took a leisurely stroll from Notre Dame to the Hotel de Ville, which had a big outdoor festival promoting heart health. There was a colorful violinist playing there, jumping up on the stage and walking around in the crowd while she played. From there, we walked along the Seine to the Boulevard Henry V, and turned northeast to the Bastille, where we met our friends Kerstin and Christophe at their hotel.
We had met Kerstin and Christophe initially in San Francisco, and they had spent two days with us in Los Angeles in the spring. Christophe is an excellent cook, and had made us a wonderful meal in L.A. While they were with us in California, we made plans to meet up in Paris. Kerstin lives in Germany and Christophe lives in Strasbourg. They have been to Paris several times, and we were really touched and grateful that they agreed to spend a weekend with us and show us around the city.
Once we connected with the two of them around 2 pm, Christophe took charge. And thank goodness he did. By this point, we had had a number of professional tour guides, but Christophe was one of the best guides we had, for two reasons: one, he knows a lot about the history of Paris; and two, he has a wonderful sense of timing. It was great to turn the reins over to him, because he knew exactly how the day should go.
After a coffee in the Bastille neighborhoods, we hopped on the Metro and went to Sacre Coeur. We climbed up the stairs so we could take in the view of the rooftops of Paris, and then walked through the church. From there, we walked through the winding streets of Montmartre, past the Moulin Rouge and the Musee de l’Erotisme, the Erotic Museum. (We used to have an Erotic Museum down the street from us in Hollywood which we had already toured, so we didn’t feel the need to visit.)
Eric was ready for a crepe at this point, so we stopped at a creperie in the Latin Quarter for dinner. Then it was back into the metro to the Trocadero.
There are two main ways to approach the Eiffel Tower. One is to come down the Champs Elysees, where you see the Tower the entire way. The second is to come up on the Tower’s backside, through the Trocadero, which in my opinion is much the better way. You exit the metro station and climb a flight of white marble stairs. As you climb up, the Tower appears right in front of you, from the top down. It is a beautiful sight. The sky was dark, and we had a wonderful view of the city.
A short walk from the Trocadero we caught a river boat that we took along the Seine. We were on the last boat, which departed at 11 pm. We were on the prow of the boat, directly under the Eiffel Tower, when the clock struck 11 pm and the Tower lit up with thousands of twinkling lights, which it does every hour on the hour after sunset.
The boat ride along the river was lovely, with all of the major landmarks lit up for the night. There was an audio tour of the route, but Christophe’s narration was more interesting and informative. We got back to the dock at midnight, just in time to see the Eiffel Tower light up again.
