Paris! Bon Jour and Au Revoir

Champs d”Elysee ✔️ Eiffel Tower at night ✔️ Notre Dame at sunset ✔️ Arc d’Triomphe 7 Walk to Roland Garros ✔️ Bois de Boulogne ✔️ Moules Frites ✔️ Carrot Salad ✔️Baguette

And then there were two…Erika Smith and I, who are playing an IC (International Club) match in Normandy next weekend, took the TGV from Munich to Paris early Saturday morning. It was a direct train and speeds reached well over 200 kph as we raced between the cities. Paris is west of Munich and the weather here is perfect; it was rainy and cool Friday and Saturday in Munich. The trip took about six hours.

On Saturday we walked to Roland Garros and saw the cranes there working on Ct. Philip Chatrier and then took the metro to the Champs d’Elysee where we walked down the broad boulevard to the Arc de Triomphe. There we walked up to the top of the Arc, where there were panoramic views of the city. The Arc is at the center of a big spoke with tree-lined streets poking out in all directions. I could see the Sacre Cour, the Eiffel Tower and in the distance, the giant cranes working on Roland Garros and beyond it, the Bois de Boulogne, an enormous park twice the size of Central Park.

After the sight seeing we went back to the area near our hotel and found a restaurant we’d walked by earlier which served “moules frites” (mussels and French fries) and I had some haricot vertes (green beans). Everything was delicious as French food should be.

Today we had a bit of a late start. I went to the small gym and then we tried to find a tennis court to play on but they were all either private or needed a log in to a general reservation system. (I tried that but the email said I’d be confirmed within 7 days). We gave up and did a bit of running in the park across the street instead.

After lunch we went to the Latin Quarter and past the Sorbonne, to the Parthenon, a beautiful building which is the mausoleum for important French people such as Madame and Monsieur Currie, Voltaire etc. The building itself is gorgeous, built as a symmetrical cross in the Greek fashion with paintings on the walls.

After leaving the Parthenon, we visited the small but beautiful church associated with the building and then walked into the Latin Quarter which was buzzing with people at cafes and enjoying live music. We walked down to the Seine from there and again, music was everywhere and people where dancing on the side of the river.

Our next stop was Notre Dame, where the evening light hit the front facade and it was beautiful, it’s called the “golden light” for a reason.

After leaving the “Cite” and Notre Dame we went to the Eiffel Tower and walked around it till it lit up…literally. It was lit in golden light as well and at 9pm the lights flashed for about 5-10 minutes. It too was lovely. Paris is a beautiful city.