Our second day in Paris was jam-packed. My vacation planning has no chill. Except when it’s chilled champagne!
We woke up and headed out. Our two scheduled items were timed tickets for the Sainte Chapelle and Notre Dame Towers tour. We headed out towards the Concorde with plans to potentially check out the Orangerie. But first, shopping. We went to Fendi where, as Jyotsna said, “This is your breakfast” when we were served champagne. Jyotsna checked out several bags, all of which were cute but not cute enough to purchase that day.
Le Petit Vendôme
Afterwards, we went to the Petit Vendome to get an excellent ham and cheese sandwich for me, deux fromage mixte for Jyotsna. There was no line and we got out much quicker than my prior visits. We took our sandwiches to Jardin des Tuileries for a green chair picnic. It was absolutely lovely.
Jardin des Tuileries
The weather was phenomenal throughout our vacation. I feel very lucky! This day was no exception. We took a few pictures and then started our walk across town. The line to the Orangerie was incredibly long, so we ended up not going.
We walked through the Jardin des Tuileries. There were some flowers, but I really love the tree arcades. There was a hint of yellowing, although true Fall colors are probably about two weeks off. We walked past the Louvre, which is about the closest we got a museum this trip even though we both really like them!
Sainte Chapelle
We went to the Sainte Chapelle, which was as beautiful as ever. The sun shone through three windows in particular, but the entire chapel is stunning. We stayed for a bit to soak it all in/take pictures in good light.
Speaking of pictures, Jyotsna had upgraded to the new iPhone which is pretty amazing. I still have my 13Pro, which I remember being amazing but now it sounds like a dinosaur to some of my friends. But it works, although the battery is poor. But I think next year’s phone has the potential to be amazing so, for now, I wait!
After Sainte Chapelle, we wanted to get a spritz but instead went to E. Dehillerin, a famous kitchen goods store. I walked through briefly, but it was really crowded so I went outside. Jyotsna wanted to buy some skewers that have different animal figures at the base to correspond to the cooked meat- chicken, cow, pig, fish. They are super cute but even though I knew she was buying them, as soon as I saw her with them I thought, “Oh no!!” The Notre Dame security is fairly tight and the skewers would not be allowed.
No matter! We had time! We took the metro to the hotel, dropped off the skewers, and then started our walk to Notre Dame. From the Bastille, we walked along the entirety of the Ile de Cite to the Notre Dame. It was a lovely walk.
Notre Dame
I did do one work thing on this vacation and dialed into the monthly faculty meeting. I hated doing it, but it wasn’t too big of a time commitment. Plus, I had something to present that would have been suboptimal to push to next month’s meeting. So, I presented while at the midway point of the climb. I said I was in the Notre Dame, which I’m sure sounded obnoxious/jealousy-inducing. As kids say, so cringe! But once I presented, I was able to sign off and ascend.
The Tower tour is really incredible. I was just there last year but it really is a top tier thing to do in Paris.
We took lots of photos.
Afterwards, we decided to have our apero, so we went to La Relais du Vin for a glass of wine and snacks. It was delightful. We almost stayed for dinner but decided we wanted to bar hop.
This was an excellent idea because our wandering took us to Bichet. The walk coincided with the Blue Hour. The sky was beautiful.
Maison Bichet
Bichet was awesome. We had a great waiter and the crowd was cool and diverse. It was the tail end of Fashion Week, although it’s entirely possible that Paris is just that chic all the time. There was a particular group of young women that were wearing very expensive outfits and exclusive handbags. I noticed because I’m pretty sure there was a close to 0% chance that any of them had the nose they were actually born with.
We had wine and dinner- escargots (!) to start, beef bourguignon (plat du jour) for me and salmon for Jyotsna. We had pain perdu for dessert, a digestif, and an infused liquor which was delicious although not exactly needed.
We walked back to the hotel, which was approximately two metro stops/one mile. There were a few blocks of cool arched arcades that are part of the walls surrounding the Place des Vosges.
Then, it was (past) time for bed. Another great day!