We purchased vouchers for Angelina before we left. What is Angelina? It’s The Place to get hot chocolate in Paris. Their hot chocolate is pretty much like drinking a molten chocolate bar :-) If you purchase a voucher, you get a super secret email address to get a reservation.
The last time I was in Paris, the line to get into Angelina was basically ridiculous. This time? We could have walked right in, even without our reservation!
The waitress told us that the road closures have made this the worst time for the restaurant since COVID (!) This makes me sad. If you’re in Paris – to Angelina with you!
And, I can tell you that Angelina was “all that.” Nom nom! We were told to dip the croissants in the hot chocolate – it’s so thick, that it’s like having an ‘enrobed’ croissant. The last photo in this gallery is the saddest. LOL.
After ogling their pastries (we came back and purchased a few on our way home), we were off on our Walk.
It seems that most people are adopting the standard Parisian morning timing, because the streets were basically empty. We took a few photos of the Olympic “cauldron,” which is a combination of light and water. (When we walked past this area a few hours later, it was at least 10 people deep all along that fence. There was also a *huge* line to get into the Tuileries, which requires a ticket. That’s what the purple arches that say “Paris 2024” are for – they’re ticket scanners.)
Tonight we are supposed to have thunderstorms, so “la Vasque” will not “rise.” It is down during the day, but raises about 30 meters during the night, so that you can see it from all around Paris.
The Cauldron is right across from the Louvre. Our friend who we are meeting here in a few days purchased a visit to the Louvre, to go “for a couple hours” in between other events. Leann had asked me whether she should go with them. I put down a stern Mom Foot and said: “N-O.”
Once we got to the Louvre, there were a lot of Thank Yous from my little girl :-)
The Louvre is H-U-G-E. Yes, I know, you “know” how “big” it is.
No, you don’t (unless you’ve been here). The Louvre is enormous. The Louvre isn’t just the city-block-surrounding buildings, but it’s also the entire block, underground (yes, Paris is hollow :-) ). If you’re going to go to the Louvre, pick an area (any area), and head there (only there), and you’ll be there for a few hours. From memory, last time my Mom went to the Louvre, she spent her Time Of Overwhelm in an inner museum just displaying snuff boxes ( :-) )
The Mona Lisa is behind inches of bullet proof glass, you can’t stop, and it’s like 8×10. The winged Victory is at the top of a staircase early on. Do you really go to museums to “check off a box”? (I hope not.)
So instead, I took Leann around the outside of the Louvre, including the inner courtyard, and then out the back. There was a line to take a photo of the Olympic rings in front of the Pyramid . . . But once you were past them and around the back, crickets. (On the first photo below (ahem) I used the Magic Eraser on my phone to make the people disappear. But just that one! The rest are from “around back” of the Pyramid, in the further courtyard.)
We went out the side arch in the back courtyard, and walked along the Seine to Notre Dame. The plywood surrounding the work that is still furiously going on has lots of the history, photos, etc. of the disaster and the rebuilding.
We even got to see a gargoyle flying into place!
From Notre Dame, we visited Messy Nessy, who has one of my favorite email “blogs” about Paris. Though when we had started the streets were pretty empty, the area around the Seine was definitely “crowding up.” A couple of streets in? No one.
We found a wonderful cafe, and had a huge liter of “gazeuse” water for Leann and a coffee for me. (Our coffee maker in the room isn’t working, sigh. So much for fancy dancy Nescafé.) I spent some time petting the cafe dog, named Swishy, because any time someone approached her, her tail wagged her entire body back and forth madly. :-)
We were one of three occupied tables.
(Get off the beaten path, folks! Oh wait – don’t – ‘cos we’ll be there…)
We walked back to Angelina to get our delicious pastries for “elevenses” and discovered that if you have your voucher/bill from eating inside, you get 10% off anything you purchase in the shop. Score!
Leann was able to find some chachkis for work friends and a T-shirt for herself. We had walked past a bouquiniste with some attractive art that she was going to purchase on the way to Notre Dame…On the way back, he had closed. As she always says to me – buy it when you see it! Hopefully when we go back down that direction tomorrow (we have our lunch at the Tour d’Argent) we will find him again.
Taxis in Paris are also on Uber and are, in fact, *cheaper* than the “unlicensed” drivers. This is kind of genius. Our driver had an ice cold cab (did I mention it is unbelievably hot and humid?) and was playing jazz. Yes!
The Team USA building (over $300 if you want to visit – no, a passport won’t get you in!) is about two blocks from our hotel.
We dropped our stuff off, and headed across the street to a Cafe that had gotten amazing reviews on TripAdvisor.
Once again – as our hotel is a bit off the beaten path – no wait. Indeed (as advertised) it was one of the best burgers and fries ever. Paired with a delicious green salad (and a glass of Prosecco), definitely a big win.
We shared the above pastries – on the left is a strawberry and cream lovely (that is a bit worse for wear from our gallivanting), and the “Mont-Blanc” – a meringue topped with “light” cream, and then chestnut “vermicelli.”
Back to our hotel room for a snooze – then to wrap up in our robes and slippers to upload the photos from the day. After eating our Angelina delights, time to write Ze Blog for ya’ll to share our day! HERE is a link to a lot of photos of our hotel – if you page through them, the “split queen” with the art that is a photo of a sculptural “frieze” with an angel is our room – the photos of the wood-“tiled” bathroom with the double sink is our sink. We were wondering about the rooms on the top floor – those are the ones pictured with the verandas, etc.! DEFINITELY lovely!!!! We didn’t take any photos in our room or hotel, so glad that I found these!
OH, and since you asked ( :-) ), here are our “step totals” from the beginning of our trip (from Leann’s Apple Watch):
July 27 (Saturday): 23,150
July 28 (Sunday): 7,729 (such slackers)
July 29 (Monday): 13,695
July 30 (Tuesday): 3,901 (train day)
July 31 (Wednesday) – today – Harry Potter’s birthday – 12,030
I’ll try to update this at the bottom of the blog post from now on :-) I am taping my foot and wearing my brace, but it’s amazing to me how great my bad foot is being. I’m relieved!