First night, I went to Odeon with my dad to see an interesting play. It was sold out and I didn't have tickets, but I was able to get one from someone who had a spare when I got there and got to see the play:
fun restaurant across the street with tables in ski gondola cabins
The next evening, I spent a bit of time in Paris and walked around to see the lights and Xmas houses before seeing a show that was a cross between circus and a play:
A few days later, went to Paris again to meet some school friends for lunch:
plenty of random nice churches, popped in a few on the way
small cars are always fun :)
Great to see Rani, Laurent and Franck
went back out to see a few lights
cool Xmas houses, always fun to see
The next day, I went out during the day for more sightseeing staring with the center of Paris:
Then, going back to the Panthéon felt like a good idea, especially since it was going to rain. The building has fascinating history. Sure enough, there was a long line to get in too and no online tickets for that day. I had to get creative again to get in:
the underground crypt is quite interesting and houses lots of famous people
Marie Curie is properly recognized for the brilliant scientist she was
Back to the 1st arrondissement to enjoy lights and Xmas houses:
yummy but ridiculously overpriced nougat
lime scooters despite hard to find or park legally, came in handy
The next day, given the somewhat ok weather, it felt like a good idea to go to Sacré Coeur:
one of the 2 above ground subway lines
all the locks removed around the seine river are now ending up here?
after 'a few' stairs :)
funny that the streets around are still open to cars somehow
I tried a drawing for the first time
Interesting smile-smirk :)
Back to 1er arrondissement, the seed and plant store is always fun to see:
Conciergerie was next, lots of history in that building that used to be a jail during the kings and french revolution. It also contains documents from the first republic (yes, France has 5 republics and constitutions, so that it's in better shape than the US whose constitution is hard to update for current times):
very cool sand structures
the video guide was interesting and showed views of how the place used to be
Sainte Chapelle is a beautiful churh but very hard to get into due to its location in the palace of Justice
Then a quick trip to les jardins du louvre et l'arc de triomphe du carousel:
The nearby festivities had the big ferris wheel with great views, and another Xmas fair:
arrived just in time for sunset
nice views
I went with the seared foie gras burger :)
more overpriced nougat
yes, I went for a bumper car ride, those don't suck and have proper power
L'obelisque was not very far, so it was a good next stop leading to Champs Elysées:
After NYE dinner with my dad, I figured it would be fun to do NYE in the middle of Paris, something I hadn't done in 22 years, but the dinner ran late and by the time I got to the subway it was packed and it was clear it would be impossible to get to Effeil tower, so I aborted and got out around République:
I was able to find the last lime bike available and barely get it by reserving it with my phone before someone else was able to snatch it, and biked like crazy to get to Obelisque just in time, literally down to the minute. A bit too close for comfort, but it worked out:
plaee was packed of course, champs elysées was actually shut down because it was full
I then tried to complete my plan to get to Effeil tower, which was done by lime bike again since the whole city was gridlocked. Even biking was hard due to the number of pedestrians everywhere and all streets blocked with cars all stuck. But I made it:
The following day was a good day to see les grands magasins boulevard hausman and Google:
Thankfully it was a nice day for a change, good time to go to the eiffel tower:
I tried Batobus, not the best viewing but easy to get on and off
After getting off the boat, a semi random walk to see some sights:
another random church on the way
This interesting bit is the biggest piece of the wall that used to be around Paris:
And ending at Place des Voges with interesting art as always:
And that was the end of a good trip:
The flight home was nice until we failed to land in SFO due to terrible weather:
so we had to land in Sacramento
after a multiple hour stop in Sacramento, finally landed in SFO
But once in SFO, the torrential rain had not stopped and caused a landslide on hwy 280 with fallen trees in the middle of the freeway, so it took a while to get home:
Another year going to Paris, Air France has had much better deals in business seats for miles, so I've been going with them again. Nice 1-2-1 layout (especially during covid):
The previous year, because of covid and no vaccines, I literally didn't go out at all, or see anything. This year I was triply vaccinated, so I went out to enjoy the city again, plenty of pictures:
nice views from top of Printemps
newer building, not sure what happened there
Printemps was great to see as always:
yum but totally overpriced
Great to meet some of my friends for lunch while I wsa there:
Arc de triomphe:
I went to arche de la défense to check out the view and the Xmas market:
The top of the arch has a small expo each time, this time photos:
I then went to the Xmas market (remembering that it closes at 18:00 on the last day, but 20:00 on previous days). So many yummy things:
so yum
I was weak and got a seared foie gras sandwich
those bottles were beautiful
look at the patterns blown inside the glass!
Random pictures while walking around in Paris:
the flower market is always nice
that weird building again, I'm not sold
cartoons showing the rebuild
we shall rebuild!
it rained many days, but not every day
After doing the Xmas market at arche de la défense, I did the one by jardin des tuileries:
yeah, I didn't have of those, fixed :)
Oh yeah, I also went shopping for the essentials. The entire row of cookies fell from the shelf into my cart :)
that's why I shop for chocolate in france :)
Back another day for some night pictures:
While I was in Paris, I also saw (click on the links):
