The third time I woke up (around 3 AM), I couldn’t go to sleep til about 6 AM. So 8 AM was a shock to my already exhausted system. I finally dragged my hiney out of bed around 9:30. Deb administered Carte Noire coffee-industrial strength and we chatted until 11.
The order of the day was walking.
Started off walking the Champs de Mars to the Eiffel Tower…struggled through tourists and up the river to the Pont de L’Alma, where Diana’s memorial is… graffittied and grotty looking. I’m disappointed about that, actually…and more than a little surprised. Something screamingly nasty has been released around there, so we trundled up to the Champs Elysées to remove ourselves from the psychic ickiness.
Fouquet’s for breakfast of pain au chocolate [chocolate croissant] pain au raisin [raisin roll] and brioche sucrée [sugar covered brioche]. There, snotty french waiters (normalcy returns) grumbled about the impending rain du jour. it didn’t rain though. =: )
Followed the Champs Elysées along to the Place de la Concorde and then up the Rue de Rivoli for semi-casual shopping. Deb avoided the ‘abortion’ (that I. M. Pei pyramid that is the entrance to the Louvre-I don’t think it is horrible, but I do think the context is a little wacky) but I dutifully took Bugboy for a looksee at its pointiness.
Toward the end of the Louvre we triumphed at the hunt with a pair of black criss-crossy shoes for me. yeah! Deb had shoe visions of another particular store, so we moved on. Also dodged into Marks & Spencer for Deb to grab some lounging shorts and while Bugboy and I were waiting on her we watched some bagpipe players in full regalia (Is there anything worn under the kilt? No, everything is in perfect working order…) but I really didn’t pay too much attention to the fact that they were way out of context in Paris since we were in a British store.

We had to stop for light sustenance after the first part of the day’s walk (it was after lunch, after all…) just past the Rue du Pont Neuf. More of the fabulous sandwich action and endless quantities of café crème that I adore…yum!
Walked past the Tour St. Jacques which is a giant flamboyant Gothic tower that they used to use for fire watches, but really isn’t used for anything anymore that I know of. Everyone I’ve ever talked to has a soft spot in their hearts for it…
This time it was Deb’s turn to return successful from the hunt. She scored a new pair of Arche sandals near the Pompidou Center …where we were headed to pillage the internet cafe.
D’OH! The internet cafe in the Pompidou didn’t even exist anymore! They were redoing the whole museum for the L’année 2000 and it was a casualty of the reconstruction. So much for mailing everyone. It was frustrating to say the very least since AOL, which supposedly will let people check their mail WASN’T letting me log on.
Deb was still in shopping mode, so we left her at Les Halles and metro’d it back to the apartment to rest our dogs. We were followed soon enough by the shop meister Deb with provisions for dinner of pasta and a hunk of roast beast for me.
AOL still proved to be elusive for the rest of the night despite my, bugboy’s (…and my mother’s help) best efforts to connect.
I will deal with their carcasses later. There will be blood and lots of it with white hot death raining down upon them. Je te le jure…[I swear it to you…] (Ooohhh..don’t I sound medieval!)
total miles walked:approximately 9