After a poor sleep, I'm not used to the noises of the city and another person in the room nor going to bed so physically exhausted at 2:30AM, we got up and ready and went to find Sherrin and Liam. We were eager to swap stories from the night before.
Breakfast was pain au raisin from a boulangerie down on Avenue des Gobelins before deciding on a rough plan of attack for the day. Given the logistical challenges of getting Liam on to the underground, although there were 3 of us, we opted to do as much walking as we could. While we were on our way to Les Jardins de Luxembourg the skies opened up signal ing that it was time for coffee. Hey - when Mother Nature gives you a sign, you listen!
We hit the gardens a short time later and they proved to be a real find. I love green spaces wherever I travel and this was an oasis in a concrete jungle. What pleased Andrew and Liam most was the fountain where they were sailing mini-sailboats that you could rent for 2€/30mins. Andrew was in there like the big kid he is but we kept having to watch the little kid as he tried to climb over the edge and get to the boats!
We stopped for crepes, candies and toys on the way out at one of the old-fashioned and adorable little kiosks. While waiting we heard, then saw, a cat caught up a tree. I actually got a video of it working it's way down the tree which was pretty cool. Too bad no pompiers had to be called...I would have enjoyed the 'scenery'!
There is an incredible variation in prices of things in Paris and the first restaurant we inteded to have lunch at had 5€ cokes and coffees. NEXT! None were great but we found one a little bit more reasonably prices just as the skies opened up once again. It turned out at those two sets of showers, for coffee and for lunch, were the only ones of the day and it turned into our first collective nice, summer day.
The afternoon had Sherrin on a mission to find this amazing little tea shop she'd been to before. iPhones are quite the inventions! It had moved from before so we wandered around on a hunt and found it. Success. Then on to hang out at the grounds of Notredame. Once again the lines were ridiculous and we opted to just sit and people watch. By that time I was sleep walking anyway and I was desperate for a nap. Fortunately so was Liam!
We had dinner at Le Manufacture, not our hotel but the restaurant across the way. What is it with the French wanting their meat so rare. COOK the hamburger please! Ah well, the service was good and quick (!) and when we left it was Liam's bedtime and time for Andrew and I to make our way to the Lido for the 21h30 show.
Only...it wasn't enough time. We tried to take the metro but went into an entrance where you couldn't buy tickets. Crossing the street to another entrance and looking at the time, we opted for a cab ride. It turned out to be a very expensive cab ride, 30€, but she got us there with little time to spare before the show and she was quite entertaining to speak to and practice my French with.
The Lido show was quite something. I'd heard it was a classier version of Le Moulin Rouge. Sounded promising despite my initial gasp at the price tag of 100€. I let Andrew make the call if he was game for that and he said okay, so off we went.
We were seated moments after it had started on the balcony at the very back in a little booth with a bottle of champagne chilling. While I don't normally like champagne, I have to say that this was actually pretty darned good. The show was enjoyable though it was obvious the chorus dance performers didn't really have their hearts in it. Perhaps the toll of two shows a day has taken the sparkle of it from them. And the main star, I hate to say it, was a bad singer. I'd expected more from a principle character but the 'more' came in an unparalleled way with the set design.
I've never been to a show that had a mock up of a Thai temple revolving up and out of the floor with the lowest level of statues actually dancers. While that was impressive, I wasn't expecting the Lippizaner stallion (aka the prancing ponies) to hippity-hop across the stage, the ice rink to come up a couple of numbers later and get treated to a mini pairs figure skating routine, nor the acrobat in the tighty-whities swirling and spinning on two curtains. Amazing! All in all it was a really good night out and a great show.
After the show we wandered up and down the Champs d'Elysees to see the Arc de Triomphe and across the Seine to get a better look at the Eiffel Tower. We'd planned on taking the metro there but it was closed for repairs. So we walked to the next station to take us to the Place d'Italie. In the end we took the metro 6 stops and walked the rest of the way back to the hotel with one important side-trip. The acquisition of the coveted caramel ice-create, sundae was only complete at 01h30, and our thrid McDonald's stop and just before closing. It tasted so good. ..as did the fries and Andrew's burger that we ended up adding to the order since we'd certainly earned it.
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