Hotel Max Paris 14
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48°49’40.6452″N, 2°19’47.6976″E

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Boulangerie (Bakery)
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48°49’40.5480″N, 2°19’49.4652″E

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Marche Aux Puces (flea market)
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48°49’40.0620″N, 2°19’57.1260″E

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Paris Opera – Palais Garnier
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48°52’16.8528″N, 2°19’55.2072″E

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Galleries Lafayette (Ostentatious Shopping Centre)
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48°52’23.1600″N, 2°19’59.0412″E

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Hotel Max Paris 14
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48°49’40.6452″N, 2°19’47.6976″E

Today, we planned to tour the Galleries Lafayette,  a major “high-end”  shopping center in Paris. We didn’t go to shop for Gucci, Versace, or Prada but instead wanted to indulge in the free elements of the place.

But first, it was important for us to get our morning treat of café creme & a delicious bakery treat from the boulangerie just a few steps from our hotel.

Photo above – the Boulangerie – neighbourhood bakery.

Photo above – inside the Boulangerie. The place was empty when we first went in & I wanted to get a photo of the bakery counter but a few minutes later it was packed with a steady stream of customers coming in to pick up their bread & other baked goods for the day.  It has so much character, great coffee & treats. It would be a dream to have a place like this at home.

After we finished our morning treat we walked just a few hundred feet to the local Sunday morning flea market. It was set up at an intersection of four streets. Two were closed for the flea market so traffic was very limited.

Unfortunately I didn’t get any photos of the goods. A mixture of old nicknacks, cutlery, dishes, photos, small household goods & clothing. Not much different than walking through the Goodwill store close to our place in London.

Our next destination was to walk past the Paris Opera House, which was on our way to Galleries Lafayette.

Photo above – we had some entertainment on the subway ride to the Opera House.

Photo above  – the Paris Opera House.  This place is massive & it was very busy with tourists like us, tour groups & tour buses. We had considered taking a guided tour or even getting (cheap seat) tickets to a performance this weekend but we are running low on energy so we opted for the exterior walk-around instead.

Photo above  – these streetlights at the Opera would look good on each side of our garage doors. Maybe there is something similar available on Amazon.  I’ll check when I get home.  🙂

Photo above  – the glass dome inside Galleries Lafayette.

The shopping center is not all that impressive on the outside, but inside the building is a completely different story…

The dome is spectacular. The center of the main shopping area is open for 6 stories. You get a slightly different view from each floor but it’s hard to access the railings around the center on each floor from levels 2-6 because that space is taken up by counters selling jewellery, perfume, flashy handbags, silk scarves & such.

I looked at some price tags & quickly realized that we were way out of our league here. Many items had prices of 500€, 1,000€ & more. There was a huge lineup at the Louis Vuitton section.  Such a contrast compared to the flea market we were at less than 2 hours earlier! Not for us – let’s go up to the rooftop to get a view of the city. That doesn’t cost anything.

Photo above  – the rooftop viewing area.

Photo above – it was very interesting how much of the city we could see from this location.

Photo above – I love the zoom on this camera – the Eiffel Tower is approximately 3.5 kilometers away! We’re planning on going there early  tomorrow evening to catch the light show. 

Photo above – another zoom from the rooftop. Basilique du Sacré-Cœur de Montmartre – approximately 2 kilometers away.

After all that touring around we were pretty tired so Catherine & I went back to our hotel for a rest & Emily went back to her place to work on her new business project. We met early in the evening for dinner at a nearby restaurant.

Photo above – a hearty & warming noodle soup at the Asian restaurant across the street from “our” boulangerie.

Tomorrow we go on a tour of the Notre-Dame area with Emily & then hope to cap off our last night in Paris with dinner at a cafe somewhere near the Eiffel Tower.

Cheers!