Walk #19

Since I bought laundry detergent yesterday at Monoprix, I decided to do some hand washing in the sink this morning. Boy was I glad I did!! The water was disgustingly dirty after letting my clothes soak for a couple of minutes!! Between traveling and the big city, they are really getting worn. After hanging stuff up to dry around my room I went into Paris and finally did one of the walks out of my Frommer’s 24 Great Walks in Paris. It was pretty fun! I did walk #19, entitled “Following the Rose Line.”

I started off walking down Boulevard Saint-Michel and saw the Sorbonne and the Pathéon (which is in Paris, not the Parthenon in Greece, father!). Then I walked around the Luxembourg Gardens for a while taking in the flowers and fountain and pond. I even helped some lost tourists from New Zealand who had no idea where they were in Paris. After leaving the gardens I went out to see the front of the Palais du Luxembourg and then headed towards St. Sulpice. It’s a church that plays an important role in the DaVinci Code for all you fans. They’re doing restoration work on the outside, but the inside was very pretty and I took a picture of the meridian line. I really liked the surrounding neighborhood and decided if I had lots of money that would be where I would hang out (when I got home my host mother told me that it was one of the most expensive areas of Paris, I had a feeling from the shops I saw…). After St. Sulpice I strolled down a couple more streets, bought a fabulous gelato ice cream cone and wandered through a mini shopping mall. The family in front of me at the gelato place was from some other European country and didn’t know French, so to communicate with the guy serving gelato both parties were trying to use whatever English they knew. It was quite interesting to listen to them both trying to communicate in a third language! My route then took me past the Odéon Theater, and a big medical school before ending up at Boulevard St. Germain. Boulevard St. Germain has lots of shops and people and I meandered down it for a while, finally coming upon Les Deux Maggots and Café Flore, literary hotspots back in the day. I was going to sit and have a kir and perhaps lunch at Café Flore (I ate at Les Deux Maggots last time I was in Paris) but alas, there were no seats available. I decided that it was probably better just to head back home, eat there and save my money for another day during the week when I have to eat out.

Tomorrow I’ve decided to do walking tour #15 which will take lead me over a couple of the bridges that traverse the Seine. Tonight I’m going to try to do my homework and perhaps watch some French TV now that I have it working on my computer!

If you click the title of this entry it will take you to an album of my photos from the walk today!