The day started with another nice cup of coffee in another place on my list. Then I walked through the Tuileries Gardens. It was foggy this morning and even less people that normal were out. I had read that there was a Giocometti statue but I did not see it. Initially there were only a whole lot of clasical looking statues on plinths - man versus beast mainly. Later I did see a large Alexander Calder statue. I like the quirky way they always seem balanced but they arenot balanced.
Then the first bridge of the day - an ordinary footbridge. I walked along the Seine to the next bridge, the road across it leads into the Place de la Concorde - a huge roundabout with about 6 lanes and about 5 or 6 ways in or out. We went around it in my tour in the tiny little yellow citroen. Not pleasant.
Then I walked on to the Pont Alexander 3, the most flamboyant of all the bridges. I walked along to the next rather ordinary bridge. Along the section of the Seine that I walked this morning were houseboats, mostly about 3 deep. Over the road from the Pont de les Invalides was a tiny little garden, partly below street level with a pond . It was suprisingly free of traffic noise.
From there I walked north into the 8th arrondissment past the Grand Palais and the Petit Palais, cross the Champs Elysees and onto one of the streets with very fancy shops, Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honore. The second of my coffee stops was the one that was in the ABC news yesterday. It was just off this street. Another good cup. I walked from there through more of the 8th and on into the 9th. It is not as fancy as the 8th and more interesting. I was getting higher and higher and realised I was quite close to Sacre Coeur. I had lunch at a place that was recommnded in the same book as the coffee shops. Very delicious.
My phone battery will only last till about lunch time if I am taking a lot of photos and using it for navigation. After I ordered , I pulled out my powerbank to charge the phone and found that it , the powerbank, was dead. I am sure I checked it a few days ago. Maybe more than a 'few'. I am very uncomfortable in a strange place with no map. However it all went well,
A day or so after I got here to Paris I went to a wool shop and saw something - a box of 109 10g balls of cotton, all different shades of the same brand . I have been thinking about this and have some ideas about what I could use it for, but nothing concrete. When I roughly planned my route for today I knew the shop could be on my way home. Without my phone I gave up on that idea. However, I did pass it by accident so thought that was a good omen and I was meant to have the box. How's that for justifying pure greed?
The Pont Alexander III with one of its 4 pillars and a blue helicopter - what every child who lives on a houseboat wants.
As near as I want to get to a selfie in front of the Eiffel Tower and the Pont des Invalides
The delightfully quiet Jardin de la Nouvelle France, at a corner of very busy streets, The water was not as unpleasant as it looks
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