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

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

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Charles de Gaulle Paris Terminal 2C
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49°0’8.7804″N, 2°34’37.8624″E

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Air Canada Toronto Pearson Airport
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43°40’38.4708″N, 79°38’3.1020″W

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Via Rail Toronto Union Station
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43°38’44.1744″N, 79°22’45.2280″W

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Via Rail Station London
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42°58’52.8096″N, 81°14’48.5268″W
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Home – 914 Country Club Crescent
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42°56’59.4852″N, 81°14’55.6908″W

Today we head home to London. It’s been a wonderful trip. A bit of a whirlwind on some fronts, but we thoroughly enjoyed our adventures.

It was fitting on our last day in Paris that a miracle happened… Emily was out of bed at 6:00am & on the subway to join us for breakfast at our favourite boulangerie & then come to the airport with us to make sure we got there OK & to say goodbye for now.

Photo above  – we were the first ones in the bakery this morning – there just a couple of minutes after it was opened. The smell of freshly baked breads & pastry delights was amazing!

After our petit dejeuner we walked for  15 minutes from our hotel to the metro station Denfert-Rochereau to catch the RER B train for a 45 minute ride to Charles de Gaulle Airport. We waited for a couple of trains to go by as they were packed full of people going to work and we didn’t want to try to wrestle our suitcases on. Fortunately that train comes every 5 minutes and we were able to get on with our suitcases and get a seat.

We had checked in online yesterday so all we had to do was attach some tags to our checked bags & head on through security.

It was difficult to say goodbye to Emily, knowing that she is going to be living there for a while & not just coming home in a few weeks.

She is pursuing her dream & we are happy for her to have the opportunity to do that.  After all, Catherine & I each did something similar (i. e. moved far away from our parents) when we were around that age, so who are we to suggest that she shouldn’t do the same thing. Besides, Paris is certainly not the worst place to be & the logistics of getting there from London & not as complicated as getting out to Victoria,  BC or somewhere in the USA.

Photo above  – on the plane to Toronto.  I wonder if they’ll be serving us champagne & filet mignon on this flight.

No gastronomic delights on this flight but it arrived in Toronto a few minutes ahead of schedule & we were even able to catch an earlier train home to London.

We were happy to be at home to sleep in our own bed & think about all the wonderful things we have done over the past month.

Tomorrow we’re back to porridge, old clothes & a pile of laundry.

Maybe the day after that, I’ll spend some time taking a closer look at this brochure I picked up along the way.

Cheers!

Where to next?

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

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Emily’s Hotel @ Notre Dame
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48°51’8.8380″N, 2°20’49.4844″E

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Cafe Aux Tour des Notre-Dame
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48°51’13.0104″N, 2°20’58.1856″E

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Luxembourg Gardens Paris
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48°50’44.9700″N, 2°20’14.2332″E

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Restaurant Emily
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48°51’35.5212″N, 2°17’49.0992″E

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Eiffel Tower Photos
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48°51’35.3268″N, 2°17’35.3832″E

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Trocadero Photo Spot
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48°51’37.5588″N, 2°17’29.4828″E

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

Today was our last full day in Paris. We took the subway to Notre-Dame to meet Emily. She wanted to show us some of her favourite spots.

Photo above  – Notre-Dame just down the street from Emily’s hotel. Much progress has been made on the restoration since we were here last year.

Photo above – we just missed the Lego tour boat!  Perhaps the next time.

Photo above – coffee at La Tour des Notre-Dame cafe right beside the cathedral.

Photo above  – Emily knows the staff & the owner well. We enjoyed one of their charcuterie plates with our coffee.

Photo above – one of the cathedral’s gargoyles was “spitting” on the tourists when it was raining so workers put a muzzle on it! 🙂

Photo above – we stopped in front of the cathedral for the “obligatory” selfie. It would be nice to have a Euro for every one taken during just one day!

Photo above – our next stop was at the Luxembourg Gardens to enjoy the flowers & the peace & tranquility compared to the hustle & bustle around Notre-Dame.

We all went back to our hotel to rest for a couple of hours prior to heading towards the Eiffel Tower area for an evening dinner & to view the night lights.

Photo above – we are getting quite adept & riding the subway here. People might even mistake us for locals!

Photo above  – it’s interesting to see that several of the renovated stations have installed special glass walls with sliding doors that prevent people from accessing the tracks. These doors only open when the subway train has stopped & opens its doors to let passengers on & off. I wonder if we will start to see this in North America.

Photo above – early in the evening we took the subway to the Eiffel Tower area & had dinner at cafe Emily!

Photo above – dinner was delicious & followed by creme brulee.

Photo above – the Eiffel Tower light show was very impressive. The crowd was unbelievably large & it was chaos getting through the subway station at the Trocadero. We were glad to get back to our hotel.

We have had a great time in Paris viewing the sights with Emily.

We will sleep well tonight & and tomorrow we fly home.

Cheers!

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!