We set out today on the first day we have had in Paris with not a chance of rain and over 80°. Not that we haven’t had some pretty nice days, and always a good time, but today was spectacular. I suggested that we take a walk through the Tuileries, and we headed off. I had forgotten that this weekend is the Jardins Jardin show at the Tuileries. A nice garden show in the park. We paid our 11 euros and walked though the show. As we walked through, one of the reps of the show stopped to let us know that when we wanted to go up to the upper area, we should speak to one of the security folks, and they would show us the way. After looking around, we wanted to go up to the upper level, and asked the guard at the front, who didn’t speak English, and didn’t really get what I was asking. Fortunately, another guard came by, and he didn’t speak English either, but understood what I was asking, and told us he would meet us on the other side of the Orangerie and unlock the gate. We walked up the ramp to the Orangerie, and met the guy, and he let us in. When we were ready to leave, I walked down to the lower level to find the guy to let us out, and asked the same guy at the front who didn’t know what I was asking the first time, but now he understood, and told me to wait on the upper level. We were soon on our way. Pictures of our day are below!
We stopped for lunch at the same place we did a few weeks ago in the garden, which was again, very good. It was at this point that I should have left perfect alone. I decided that we should to and investigate the dinner cruise that I was thinking of booking for us to take when Joy and Michael get here. It was on the left bank, near St Germain, and I was worried about the access with the wheelchair. We made it down, but the cobblestones where just like Versailles. The boat looked good and it will be OK for us to get on and off, which was good. I then thought that we should take the BateauBus back to the Eiffel Tower, because I knew from my run, that the embankment there was paved and easier for us to walk on. We got on the boat with no problem, but David began to get anxious and maybe a little hot, which was unusual, because he has been cold most of the time. He wanted to get off the boat at the stop by the Louvre, and I said that the guy who sold me the tickets said that that stop and the Eiffel Tower were the only other stops that were accessible, so we got off. Unfortunately, it was quite a rutted hike to the access to the street, and David was not happy about it. He actually got out of the wheelchair for a while so he wouldn’t be bumped around any more. Once up on the main streets, we made out way back to the apartment.
David blames me for the bumpy ride, but I claim that if we had followed my original plan, we wouldn’t have had to deal with the bumpy ride. We agreed to disagree. As we were walking through the park across the street, the police told us that the park was closed, which lets me know that the dignitaries are still around. And I thought that they had all left Paris to go to Normandy, but I guess they came back this evening.
We started reading another book about Paris and its design. Some great insights into the development and the character of the city. It is also giving us more history that leads up to the redesign of Paris in the 19th Century. Work that started with the building of the Pont Neuf long before Napoleon III.