Hotel Regyn’s
Pl. des Abbesses, 75018 Paris
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48°53’4.7832″N, 2°20’17.0520″E

We were up a bit earlier this morning & off to a local cafe for a light breakfast before taking the subway to the Montparnasse train station for our trip to Angouleme.

About the only thing we didn’t ride the last few days was the carousel beside our hotel. Perhaps the next time we come to Paris….

We arrived at the train station well in advance of the scheduled departure time.

Montparnasse Train Station
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48°50’27.1176″N, 2°19’11.8452″E

This place is like an airport with many trains per day going in a variety of directions, lots of people & an amazing amount of amenities for travellers. This is the 4th busiest train station in France & reportedly handles about 56 million passengers a year!

We boarded our train at 12:00 noon for a 12:40 departure time.

There was a pretty big crowd boarding it but the process was quick and not much stress.

The train left the station right on time & before long we were speeding through the countryside. Occasionally we got a glimpse of cars travelling on a nearby freeway & the train zipped past them like they were parked!

I got out my phone & turned on my GPS car navigation system. Once it got connected to some satellites it started giving me all kinds of warning signals. They were so loud I had to turn the sound off on the phone because other passengers were starting to stare!

Apparently my GPS was VERY concerned that I was doing 296 kilometers per hour in an 80 km/h speed zone!

The train was so quiet & smooth that you would never think we were going that fast. I also suspect that the train may have exceeded 300 km/h at times because there were times when we could feel it accelerating even more. 

We arrived in Angouleme around 2:30. It is famous for its cartoon artists & for many murals on buildings throughout the city. The fellow in the picture below was installed on the roof of the train station. He kind of reminds me of the Fonze from Happy Days.

Google maps informed us that our hotel was only about 750 meters from the train station so we decided to walk there. Unfortunately Google forgot to tell us that the entire walk was uphill!

We eventually made it to the Hotel Mercure & were very pleasantly surprised at how nice it is. Our rooms are more than double the size of the rooms we had in Paris & everything is chic & modern inside a very old looking building on the outside.

Tomorrow we will explore Angouleme & also start gathering some provisions for our week on the boat.

Cheers!

Today we did a lot of walking… a mini “power tour” of some of the famous highlights of Paris!

But first, let me wish a very Happy Birthday to my son Steve!  A special day for sure!  Years ago poor Steve would occasionally have to start his school year on his birthday – no fun at all – but he was always a good sport about it.

And now back to today’s adventures!

After a nice breakfast at a cafe in Montmartre we took a subway ride to our first stop for the day – the Arc de Triomphe!

Arc de Triomphe
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48°52’25.9752″N, 2°17’42.0216″E

I got this photo while standing on a little island in the middle of a crosswalk in front of the Arc. Traffic circling the Arc is crazy!  I think the best way to travel on this road is in a taxi or on a city bus!

We decided to walk to all of our planned destinations for the day. Access through some areas was still a bit restricted due to the Para Olympics but fortunately we just had to take some short detours.

These types of detours were very pleasant escapes from the busy traffic streets.

We walked down the Champs Elysses towards our next stop – the Petit Palais art gallery & museum. Another Scottish bargain as there was no admission fee! 

On our way there we walked past the fanciest construction site I have ever seen – a new Louis Vuitton store. The construction site is hidden behind this “wall” that looks like a treasure chest!

Petite Palais
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48°51’58.3200″N, 2°18’52.3764″E

This museum has many famous paintings & sculptures & a beautiful inner courtyard & garden.

The art gallery was not very busy so it was easy to be able stand and study a painting or a sculpture without worrying too much about blocking someone else’s view.

On our way to the Place de la Concorde we got a pretty good view of the Olympic Flame.

Most of the Place de la Concorde was still fenced off and crews were dismantling all of the temporary stadium seating so we kept on walking to our next destination – the Louvre.

On our way to the Louvre and just past the Place de la Concorde is an amazing row of apartments. The French certainly know how to do high density housing with a lot of class. That begs the question – why can’t we do this in big cities back home?

On to the Louvre

Louvre
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48°51’39.8880″N, 2°20’8.9232″

None of us were interested in going into the building as it was really busy, so we just spent some time enjoying the architecture and people watching.

I had forgotten that you can look back down towards the Champs Elysses from the Louvre and there is a smaller Arc just across the road. You can also get a really neat view of the Olympic flame from this location. It would be interesting to see this at night.

Onward we go to our final sightseeing stop for the day…

Eiffel Tower
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48°51’30.5712″N, 2°17’38.7744″E

It was also very busy at this location (no surprise) and access around the tower was limited. We were all content to enjoy the view from a close distance and after a brief rest we headed towards the subway system. The trains were very busy on the ride back to our hotel. It looked like the end of the workday for many people plus there were lots of students getting on and off at each stop.

By the time we got back to our hotel we figured that we had walked about 10 kilometers in total. That’s a pretty big accomplishment for me as most of my “steps” at home are associated with cutting our small lawn plus several trips back and forth from the fridge to the TV.

When we got back to our hotel Catherine & Valerie headed to our rooms for a rest. We took a pass on riding the carousel in front of our hotel.

David & I paused briefly outside for some liquid refreshments.

Tomorrow we take the train to Angouleme. Our last stop before we pick up our charter boat on Monday afternoon.

Cheers!