Stephen Kiel's Blog: Our Second Day in Paris

Bonjour Friends and Family,

We started our second day in Paris with a great little breakfast and coffee at the apartment. Linda walked to the patisserie around the corner and bought a melt in your mouth French pastry and a baguette. We dressed in shorts and short sleeve shirts as the temperature for Paris was forecast to be in the 80s.

Like an Eagle hunting Mice

Linda found another market on the map that looked like it might be worth a visit. We decided to walk to see it first. After walking a few miles we turned the map over and decided that the market that we were searching for was the same one we had seen the day before. We were however, down by the river Seine close to the Grand Palace which was where we were planning to head after visiting the market anyway.. We could see the Arc de Triomphe and headed in that direction along the Champs Elysees. This is where the Tour de France ends its last stage, so it was exciting to be on the street. We stopped and had a coffee and hot chocolate along the street on the way up to the Arc. We looked through some of the shops on the way back.

Champs Elysees

After eating lunch in the park, we headed to the Musee de l'Orangerie, where we saw incredible art. Featured artists included Monet, Cezanne, Gauguin, Picasso, Rousseau, Renoir, and lots of other French artists. There was a special Debussy exhibit that told of how he composed music to books, poetry and the writings of his friends. It is not a real big museum, but it features art from one of our favorite periods, so we had a great time.

Jet Lag caught up with us, so we came back for a little nap and got recharged. We had stopped at a local grocery market on the way back to the hotel, so we cut up a large salad for dinner and then headed out to see Paris in the evening.

Salad is on the way.

We got some great recommendations from our friends so far on this trip, area to stay, bakeries to buy pastries (haven't been to the place with Macaroons yet but we are not going to miss it). We decided to try one more of the recommendations, a nighttime cruise on the river to see Paris all lit up. It was incredible. We got off the boat and walked back to our hotel at 11:00 at night. It gets dark late here in the summer. The restaurants were packed and the tables out by the sidewalks were filled with people eating, drinking, and having a great time. Paris is a little more lively at night than Mission Viejo.