It was an early start and good weather once again. We took the Metro to Tuileries and followed the instructions to our meeting place in the Place Vendome, where the Ritz Hotel and the all the jewellery shops are located.
Our guide Jade from Paris Secrets and Charms bike tours was a lovely Canadian, and French was her first language so she had a lovely accent. We had electric bikes and we rode all over Paris weaving through the traffic. A bit scary at times but fun. I was a bit rusty on the bike but I got better as the morning went on.
Highlights in no particular order:
St Sulpice Church. A great explanation from Jade about the brass line and rosetta stone. Told us about the Knights Templar and explained the two Lacroix paintings.
Missionary, and one of the oldest churches in Paris. It is not open to the public and were able to go inside and we had an explanation of its history and survival.
Lots of links with Napoleon and Louis the 14th and the French revolution. It was really interesting and jess and Dylan really enjoyed it.
We also went to the most expensive residential part of Paris, right in the centre of the St Germain area. It was almost like walking through someones back yard through a narrow gate to a lovely precinct with some of the oldest apartments in Paris.
We finished at about 1.30pm and took a wrong turn going back to the Metro and ended up at Opera Line 8 so we headed to Bastille which is not far from us, to get some lunch and to have a look around as we had not been in that direction from our apartment before. We weren't that impressed, I think we have been spoilt by the St Paul and Marais area. So we decided to walk back and had a light lunch at the Bistro opposite our apartment on Rue de Turenne. It was good, but Jess had the French onion soup and it was not as good as some others we have had.
After we popped in to the patisserie opposite the apartment for some desert. I chose a prune tart, which had a light and thin croissant type base. After avoiding the bread, pastries and croissants all week this was almost like a religious experince. I have never tasted anything so good!!!
Its about 4pm and Jess and Dylan are having a nap, Warren is on the computer and I am going out for a walk. We went out for dinner later and Jess finally got her chance to try the famous falafel.
We walked down to Notre Dame area and went back to the little Shakespeare book shop again.
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