Shrouded in Mist

The original plan for the day was to arrive at Trocadero and take in that view of the Eiffel Tower and then walk through the gardens before ascending the tower. The hotel receptionist advised that there were two hour queues at the weekend so the plan was flexed and we went straight to the tower. We did not have to queue but there was a lot more security and multiple checking of bags than I have previously encountered.

The tower was shrouded in mist as we arrived and I suspect that this was part of the reason there was no queue. The misty view led to interesting views and a great atmosphere as the clouds dissipated. As I looked at the view of the Champ de Mars through the mist I noticed two rows of what looked like statues of people. When I went to investigate later, I found that they weren’t people at all and that it was a very interesting artwork project. I will explain more about that in another post.

We then had lunch by the river, it was crepes all round. They were delicious! Then we crossed the bridge and walked through the Trocadero gardens then hopped on the metro and made our way to the Arc de Triumph.

The Paris virgin quite understandably wanted to go up to see the view from the top of the Arc de Triumph and one of the Paris veterans accompanied him. I took everyone else to the Champs Elysees to have coffee and cake watching the world go by whilst we waited for the Arc de Triumph adventurers to join us. One of the party didn’t want to stop at any of the cafes… Then that person ‘claimed’ a loo break emergency which involved going into M&S and a stressful walk rather than a leisurely stroll for both groups :-(

I have to admit I was beginning to lose my cool (especially as there was no emergency really!!)…

Eventually both groups reconnected and we went into the nearest cafe which was more expensive than I would have chosen and they did not serve cake, but they did have a rather nice Belgian Beer which helped to refocus my mood :-) And on the way back to the hotel I purchased a naughty cake to enjoy at my leisure ;-)

Our evening meal was good, you saw the desserts in my previous post. After the meal almost everyone wanted to go back to the hotel and it wasn’t even 10pm… Mr C found a very nice cafe bar and the two of us sat outside enjoying the 22c temperature, it was heaven :-)

8 Comments CherryPie on Oct 27th 2012

8 Responses to “Paris – Day Three”

  1. A fantastic capture of the tower.

    A telling reminder that both heaven and hell can be found in the company of other people, often the same people just at different times and in different moods.

    Do your other people read this blog, I wonder?

    • CherryPie says:

      All of my other people know about my blog, like the idea and have the link. Some of them even like the way I write, but non of them read it…

      Your comment about the company of other people reminds me of one of my favourite quotes:

      “Hell is other people!”
      Jean-Paul Sartre

      I am glad you liked my view of the half tower :-)

  2. Suzie says:

    You do make me laugh, you kind person you! Group outings are nearly always fraught with difficulty. A friend of mine keeps reminding me what ‘a laugh’ we had on our last break. ‘When will we do it again? Why doesn’t anybody want to come with me?’ It’s so hard, because although I kept the peace (the other six people we went away with had massive rows with this person) the tension was palpable, and I cannot understand how she doesn’t realise this obvious fact.

    So, you did well. And had some fun. Had a heavenly time with Mister C. It doesn’t get much better than that. Cheers!

    • CherryPie says:

      Thank you :-) Your story makes me smile too, I think group holidays always encounter some problems along the way, people always have different ideas of what the want to do and someone always has to take control and that doesn’t always go down very well.

      We did all have a great time :-) At least I know I did and I think everyone else did ;-)

  3. ivan says:

    Keep this up Cherry and you and Mr C will start to be considered as locals – finding a little cafe/bar off the tourist trail indeed ;)

    • CherryPie says:

      Mr C is very good at it ;-) He has always loved Paris, he first went as a teenager. On this occasion some of the others were struggling against him finding a place to eat. Part of the reason was that for some reason they decided that going out at 6.30 was a good idea even though most places didn’t open until 7… We have traveled to France with them on many occasions and we always met to go out for an evening meal between 7 and 7.30. Maybe we should have laid the law down ;-)

      Off the main streets we have always found the best places to eat or sit and relax with a drink soaking up the atmosphere :-)

      I have a particular memory of a meal we had on one of the streets off the Champs Elysees. On that occasion we were treated very much as locals and given preferential treatment over some of the other customers ;-)

  4. james higham says:

    Wonder how many times the tower has been photographed?