Paris 2019, Day 6

This morning we were off bright and early to catch the opening of the final Christmas Market at Abbesses.  Egad, it opens at 10 and only 4 stalls were open by 10:30!  They arise late, eat late, go to bed late ... and all I want to do is shop the markets!  Well, we bought close to nothing this entire trip.  Only thing I drooled over was the 650 euro purse.  But, heck, the key chain wasn't included, so it just wasn't worth it.  How, I ask you, could she even say that with a straight face?  Bought a few trinkets, some pepper (of course), but really, nothing of consequence.  I may yet go back to La Defense and get that Yak scarf -- I hear it's pretty cold in Prescott!

So we decided to go to Bastille and look around (we have a card for that).  Nope, changed our mind, got off at the Tuilleries and walked.  Sharon said, "Let's walk around the Tuilleries then down along the Seine to see if the street vendors are open, we can grab something to drink along the way and get back on the Metro to the Bastille.  Great plans ... rarely get followed.

This ferris wheel is located at the Tuilleries Christmas Market.  It is impossibly high.  Sharon asked me if I wanted to go aboard.  Yea, no thank you!  My stomach churned at the very thought of it.

 There are so many ponds and fountains along the Tuilleries.  Strangely enough this pond smelled bad, but it is sure beautiful.  If you look down first you see the Egyptian plinth in the middle of "Concorde" and beyond it the Arch de Triumph and beyond that La Defense (the giant Arch).  Directly behind us is the smaller replica Arch:

I love how we just "left turn" in the middle of a great plan ... when the urge strikes.  So we didn't do that, instead we wandered along the river, stopped at a bench to rest a bit and people watch, continued on until we both spied a Crepe restaurant and called for a stop.  Sharon wanted a crepe fromage (cheese) and I was interested in a tomato salad (and vin rouge).  Nice lite lunch, great people watching and generally a nice rest from the bitter cold.

Continuing on along the Seine, we stopped frequently trying to purchase those small oil paintings of various locations in and around Paris.  But the price has doubled since the first time we bought them.  Drat!  I'm just to cheap to pay 15 euro for something I paid 7 for just two years ago.  Let's all sing like the birdies do:  cheap, cheap, cheap, cheap, cheap!

Sharon is a nut for the architecture and insisted on taking my picture in front of this building.  For once, I'm having a good hair day (thanks, Jen!).

Hahahaha!  I can't fathom what's inside, I started sharing my thoughts and Sharon was like:  Stop it!  So I'll just leave you with this picture and you can make up your own mind!

Along the way I spotted a woman with great shoes.  I asked her if I could take a picture of her shoes.  She looked at me like maybe I was a lunatic (maybe I am).  I told her that she wasn't any fun and for that she would not make it into my shoe blog.  She didn't speak English.  Too bad for her!  I've got a great shoe photo collection going, blog to be published tomorrow evening.  She blew it!

This is new street art that I'm seeing everywhere.  This is the first series I saw, but individually this stuff is everywhere.  We saw it yesterday at the Louis Vuitton shop and today along the Seine.  I particularly like this series.

More walking until we came across a frontal view of Notre Dame:

What you see off to the far right is a crane which takes "parts" from a smaller transport (which you can't see in this picture and moves it up or down depending on what the people in the transport want or need.  Love this view of the cathedral.

We crossed, played around in the flower shops and then separated.  Sharon wanted to see Saint Chapelle again and I was ready to return home.  How nice that we've been there enough that we both feel comfortable separating when we feel the need to do different things.  Sharon says she is not a good navigator but she has had no problems doing her own thing when I'm ready to do something else.  So glad we travel well together.

Now back in the room, chilling.  Thinking about Japanese tonight ... right across the street.  Vietnamese last night, Italian the night before, we've never been this adventurous before!

Turned out we went back to the Vietnamese place for ravioli soup ... which was delicious.  Sharon was speculating about the ravioli filling.  Don't tell me, I don't want to know.  Just know that it was very good, a very mild spice and it was hot -- warmed my bones.  Yum.

Headed to the barn, tomorrow is our last day.  It's been a great trip and I'm ready to return to the states. 

Hugs,
S & S