Today we were headed to the 7th for a walk starting at the Ecole Militaire (War College) and ending at the Hotel des Invalides (built in 1670 by Louis XIV for veterans of the French Army; it is now home to the Musee de l'Armee and houses Napoleon's Tomb); our walk included a large open air market. Naturally we changed things up a bit and decided to start at the Eiffel Tower because we didn't go anywhere near there last trip and we wanted to ensure it was still standing.
Construction on every major street which will (hopefully) be followed by repairs on all the major sidewalks. And we walked toward the Eiffel Tower. After acknowledging that it remains standing proud, we noticed that there are large fences surrounding this much beloved monument. Strong, sturdy fences. Police are ever present and watchful ... and armed to the teeth. Oh heavens, this could be a target; a criminal act indeed. We walked around the fence, only two entrances to the tower for tourists, much easier to feel like Security is in control. Then we strolled along the park, also surrounded by fences, crossing the first major street. Then the remainder of the lovely park is open to the public, teams playing soccer, visitors sitting on the grass photographing each other, and we were delighted to see a bride and groom posing for wedding pictures with the tower as the backdrop.
After this lovely pre-quel we were off to begin our card for the day. Made it around the Ecole Militaire -- what a shame that it is not open for a tour. This school was founded in 1750 by Louis XV with the aim of creating an academic college for cadet officers from poor noble families. Napoleon Bonaparte was accepted in 1784 and graduated in only one year instead of two. The school is now considered a War College also known as (translated) Institute of Advanced Studies in National Defense.
We continued on to the semi circle to the open air market where I watched Sharon purchase a beautiful leather (made in Italy) purse. If there had been a red one with nail heads I'd have fought her for it, but it's definitely her color, a rich camel color for an outrageous sum (easy for me to say, it wasn't my color).
The card said to "back track" to starting spot and continue down a different street.
Seems there are key words that we should avoid like "jog left" "backtrack" and "wander" because we were instantly lost again. Sometimes I feel like I'm channeling my friend's husband, Joe Blackstock, who has more rules than I do. One of my favorites is that he tries very hard to never go back the way he came -- he has an awesome sense of adventure. "Backtrack" is hard for me. On the other hand we sure get in a lot of steps. AND the bonus is that we find treasures that we never would have seen/explored if we'd stayed on our assigned route. 30 minutes later we're back on track and head down the next rue or av or bvd to (blessed be) The Cafe du Marche. I don't care what you call it, it's time for wine and some not so delicious French Onion Soup. Sharon disagrees on this subject and slurped her down. I ate the bread and cheese, the broth was just wrong, very wrong. Nothing holds a candle to Charity's French Onion Soup at the Greene Lily in Old Town Eureka, including my own, but mine is FAR better than this. The wine on the other hand.....yum! This street was full of interesting little shops which we would have loved to explore but many (the more interesting ones) were closed -- August is the month most Parisians go on holiday. Oh well, we wandered on. I was now ready for my first gellato of this trip, but alas, it was not to be. Tomorrow for certain!
Naturally we overshot our right turn and were a block off. We decided to continue on and make a right rather than backtracking because you now know how I feel about backtracking. And a good thing we did. We found the cutest shop for an upcoming baby shower and had a wonderful time oohing and awhhing throughout the shop -- and the shopgirl was perfectly darling. Between her horrid English (I wanted to hug her!) and our appalling French we figured things out and she was an enthusiastic helper .... look at DIS! she would exclaim and we would admire appropriately. We finally decided on our purchases and left feeling quite satisfied when Sharon spotted a Starbucks and headed straight for it, as if caught in its tractor beam.
Finally made it to the Hotel des Invalides. More (insert inappropriate word here) cobble stones! My feet are sore, sure, but my hips were a hot mess at this point. Why didn't I take my Aleves this morning? We walked around, approached the billeting office and decided against. We walked in the entrance to see more and more cannon, the architecture was stunning, especially the approach. It is surrounded by a moat and cannon with a narrow entry onto the main grassy area. The shrubs/trees are all beautifully shaped and, I'm certain, have a story of which I am unaware. Just went looking and research is slow because I don't know how to change Google.fr to Google.us. It's making me just a bit crazy when I want to look things up.
Thank heavens we're both still a bit beat -- not as young as I used to be -- and are done in even though it's only 3. We decide to go back to the hotel, rest and go to our favorite restaurant at Chateau Vincennes.
Yea, well that never happened. One glass of wine in the room and we were both ready for a nap -- eeks my hips hurt. I awoke at 8:30 feeling like a new person, ate a very ripe nectarine two hands full of unsalted pistachios and I suddenly feel like telling a story.
Still on a mission to refill my mustard crock and find more high end French poivre (pepper).
14,300 steps today with a goal of 10,000 a day. In years past we would hit our 10,000 step goal around 5pm. Yesterday and today the buzz came in around 3pm.
Tomorrow is Friday, the oneth of the month. Do you say "Rabbit, Rabbit" on the first of each month as soon as you wake? I do because my Mom did. Mom did because her sister, Audrey, did. I'm following an Audrey tradition for no reason at all. When I think about the chaos in the world, potential disaster from every angle, terrorists everywhere, I sometimes feel comforted in the simple things over which I also do not appear to have any control.
Superb commentary that took us along today's journey. I loved your poignant memory at the end. Love you ladies.
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