Trip Report - Our Big Trip - August 12th - Paris to London - I Am Reunited With My Luggage

In the morning it was clear, and we had a little time before our Eurostar departure to London, so we had a last snack at a sidewalk cafe, and stopped at a wonderful bakery to buy some pastry "for the road." We also stopped by the train station to be sure we could find the right track. We couldn't find it at first, then realized that the departure lounge was upstairs in an area called "London Hall." There was a small waiting area with a few shops and eateries, and then you walked down to the tracks to get on the train.

Delicious!

Trip Report - Our Big Trip - August 11th - Paris - Nobody Here But Us Tourists

A restful night, a good breakfast, and we were ready to hit the streets of Paris. We had gotten word that my luggage had been found and would be forwarded to me in London, since we were leaving Paris the next day. This was a great relief to me!  I had washed my clothes out the night before, and hung them out to dry. In the morning they were mostly dry, but even with the help of the hair dryer, the socks didn't completely dry out. Also, one of the 'souvenir' umbrellas was now held together with a safety pin, so our first order of the day was to get some new socks for me and a sturdier umbrella.

We went to the nearest Metro stop, bought a packet of carnets (transport tickets), and headed to Galeries Lafayette. This domed department store is worth seeing, even if you don't buy anything. I bought a t-shirt/pajama top from Tonic and some new (dry!) socks from Oysho. We also bought an umbrella that looked as if it might last.

Artwork hanging in the dome space

On the top floor of the Galleries there is a lovely viewing area

Map stop

Coffee!

After that we stopped at a cafe to plan the rest of the day. We decided to find out how much of Paris we could see, in a day, by walking and using public transport.

We walked towards Rue de Rivoli, looking at shops, monuments and museums.

A shop window in the Arcades area
near Rue de Rivoli

Outside Gar St-Lazare - a statue
of a tower of suitcases

A chocolate tiger in the window of one of the Patrick Roger
chocolate boutiques near La Madeleine

From Rue de Rivoli we took a bus West on a route paralelling the river, past the Eiffel tower, and got off near the art decco entrance to one of the Metro stops. From there we walked south across the Seine.We stopped for a bite at the restaurant Le Regalia near Pont Mirabeau. We walked along the Seine along the Quai de Grenelle towards the Eiffel Tower, seeing both modern office buildings on the right and antique canal boats on the river to the left.

Line for the Batobus. You can see it is starting to
cloud up.