City Hopping

Today Paris, tomorrow Amsterdam, back to Paris, to Geneva and then back home in Avignon.  Check out allthingsnederlandse.blogspot.com for a post about Amsterdam.  Super excited to start this trip and especially to see Holland.  

Plan for Paris-mainly see things I haven't seen ( cemetary bookstores Pompidou Bastille Luxembourg). Save Montmartre for grandparents 

Arrive on TGV at the Gare de Lyon in arrondissement 12 (go to le train bleu)
Check out place de la Bastille and the opera house ( grap a bite to eat)
Go to arrondissement 4 bookstore, hotel ville, centre Pompidou, perhaps Tuileries 
Head over the river seeing notre dame to arrondissement 5 Latin quartier go to Shakespeare and co
Arrondissement 6 Luxembourg gardens cemetary de montemarrse 
Head to hotel to check in and meet up with grandparents ( arrondissement 14)

What happened-

I thought I would be able to carry my luggage on my bag and walk around but even 5 minutes after putting my rolling bag on my back I was hurting.  I got into Paris a little late (2:30) so I only had 3 hours to walk to the sites I wanted to see and eat lunch, I needed to book it.  So I got onto the metro took a couple lines, bought some fruit, got to the hotel and figured out my gameplan and I ate my lunch of fruit and a croissant.  It was raining when I left, I headed out to find rue Saint Michel.  I decided the main attraction for me was to see Shakespeare and co. and other book shops, I wanted to see the Luxembourg gardens and the Latin quartier ( I was hoping to stumble apon the falafel place we had been to in the past). 

I walked through the Luxembourg gardens and palace and I continued on going through a little bit of the Latin quartier and going through all of the bookstores.  Walked by the Sorbonne, Notre Dame, and the Paris Pantheon.  Finally made it to my goal of Shakespeare and Co. Bought the Taming of the Shrew, always wanted to read that one.  I don't really like that road right on the left bank it's has a lot of enclosed corridors and is loaded with cheap souvenir shops. 

 By this time I knew I had to get back because it was around 5:30 and I knew it's was going to get dark soon.  I did a gym teacher speed walk back to the hotel, thankfully finding our rue Saint Jacques very easily.  I passed Tunisian pastery shops, creperies, and some great looking restaurants but I just made notes and kept walking.  I kept checking at free wifi hotspots to find out where grandma and grandpa were at, and I got a voicemail from grandma saying they were in a bar.  I was rushing to the hotel still when all of the sudden my grandma walked out of a bar and yelled, Emily!  There was much rejoicing.  We caught up over a glass of Leffe at a bar and then headed out to find a restaurant, and we found a perfect spot. (rue Raint Jacques 14eme called Cantinellu)  Went back to the hotel to get cleaned up and go sleep before our trip to Amsterdam leaving at 6:25 the next morning.  



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