Today we had a some grey skies when we woke but they soon cleared. After pastries in the apartment we headed down to the post office just down the block to purchase a shipping box to send a few of our souvenirs home. So glad we did this today as we found out they would be closed on Wed & Thur. We would have been stuck paying extra baggage fees plus having to haul it through Newwark airport would have been a pain.
After packing up the stuff and dropping it back off at the post office we were off to enjoy another beautiful day in Paris and grabbed a bus to take us to the E.T. so we could take a hop on hop off bus (hoho). As the bus pulled up and parked at the end of the line at Luxembourg gardens/Pantheon we realized we hopped on the right bus but going the wrong direction. But it all worked out for the better as I had wanted to go to Luxembourg gardens but didn't see having the time to squeeze it in. As we walked into the gardens and I realized we were next to the Medici Fountain I told Mark it was meant to be that we ended up here as I really wanted to see it. We walked around the gardens for a while enjoying the warm sunshine, beautiful tulips in bloom and watching the people of Paris enjoying their lunches in the park.
The Pantheon
Luxembourg Gardens
Medici Fountain
Luxembourg Palace
Once done inside the gardens we enjoyed walking around the outside fenced walls looking at all of the large posters of previous Le Tour D'France.
Then it was across the street to have lunch at Le Luxembourg Brasserie were we sat out on their terrace and had a wonderful tasty lunch. I had the hot goat cheese tossed salad that was great and I highly recommend and Mark had another pasta dish and of course a couple of beers.
After lunch we used our last two tickets of our carnet for the bus and grabbed it to the E.T. confirming that it was headed in the correct direction this time. While walking from the bus stop to the HOHO bus stop we encountered the petition girls with the first one asking me if I spoke English and I shook my head no and the second one shoving her petition in Marks face. This did not go over well with Mark and he slapped the papers away this of course upset her and she started yelling at him as we kept walking away. We had seen the petition youths Saturday morning at Notre Dame and had not seen them again until today. We also saw several of the keychain salesmen without issue. We never did see the ring trick.
When we first got to the bus stop there was a bus waiting but it had no seats available on the top so we waited the 7 minutes for the next one. As we were waiting a French tour guide walks right up and tells his group to get in line for the bus. Just then the bus pulled up and he proceeded to get on. I had enough of this type of crap while in Paris and wasn't standing for it. I stepped forward and put my arm in front of him and said that we had been waiting longer. He said something in French and was trying to argue with me. My voice gets extremely high at this point as I begin to argue with him (giggles as my friends know what I mean here). In clear English he quickly says just go then. So I allow the couple that had been waiting ahead of us on and then we got on.
Various Pictures from our HOHO tour.
Place de la Concorde
La Madeleine Church
Palais Garnier Opera House
Place Vendome
Place de la Concorde
Fouguets restaurants now on the Unesco Historical register.
Arc de Triomphe
Grand Palais
Petit Palais
Flame of Liberty
George Washington Statue
E.T. from Trocadero
After the HOHO tour we grabbed a taxi back to our apartment since we had used the last of our carnet tickets for the bus. This was the only cabbie that we ended up disliking. She started by going out of the way to get to our apartment then we saw her looking it up on a map since she didn't have GPS, no wonder. She would speak bad about any driver that she diddn't care for and she also turned her engine off at every stop light. She was just very negative. She approached our apartment from a different direction and once she arrived at our street she said it was too narrow to turn onto and dropped us there at the corner...crazy lady. I told her that other drivers had no issues with the average size road. Her and Mark argued a little until I started to walk up the street to the apartment.
For dinner we ended up at L'Atlantique again and enjoyed joking with our same waiter from Sunday. Then back to the apartment for the night time E.T. show.
Tower Montparnasse at night.
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