Against all odds

Against all odds the weather today in Paris was very nice. The sun came out and the temperature eventually rose to the 70s, a day which I would describe if it was a day in Roseville as a very nice day in May.

I fully understand that late July remains rampant in Minnesota. Here a day of sunny and 70s was a welcome warm day, a relief.
'
Against all odds.

So I set off intending to visit the Eiffel Tower neighborhood but not necessarily the tower. I was going to take the Metro to somewhere near the tower and then walk over. I quickly discovered that the day was way, way too nice to go underground I ended up spending the morning just walking off in that direction.

The very first thing I came to was Paris Plage. Every July the city hauls in sand and creates a beach along the Seine. Full disclosure, I returned this afternoon to get this photo as the area was mostly in shade this morning. But here it is, the Magic Kingdom sand castle as presented by Disneyworld-Paris.The sand castle is provided by Disney, the crowd is provided by the rest of the world.

I cut through into the interior of the Louvre, headed for the Tuileries and was presented with this angle of Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel and the big ferris wheel.I took a sit down in the Tuileries.Here is the Place de la Concorde, the Obelisque, the big steel tower and visibile between the trees on the left of the tower, one of the flamboyant gold figures on Pont Alexandre.I walked on down that way and got a closer look.Oddly enough, when I went up on the bridge to cross over towards where I actually wanted to go I discovered what looked like a video shoot of some kind. There wasn't any talent present while I was there (not that I am sure I would recognize any of the Jones frere) but there were cameras and gaffers and the like clearly looking like they were getting ready for something.

I pushed on.

Here is another building that looks like it should be something important. It is right across the street from Palais Bourbon, the site of the French Assemblée Nationale. And it is important, it is the Paris office of Air France. Air France is important if you intend to travel from Minnesota to Paris. It is almost impossible to go anywhere from Minnesota without traveling on Delta. Air France is the official travel partner of Delta. So when you fly non stop from Minneapolis to Paris on Delta Airlines you are on a flight which also has a secondary identifying number, its Air France number. It looks like Delta but it is also Air France. Right after this I had one of those you are way not nearly as smart as you think you are. It was a stinging rebuke of a personality who would try to walk around in France with only very rudimentary French language skills. I wanted to leave the Air France location and head on back to Ile de la Cite. That particular trip is not well served by the Metro. There isn't any direct route, you have to ride over to the 1 line and then you can head off in the direction I wanted to go. Those underground transfers of trains sound good in theory but in practice can often involve walking huge distances in tiled tunnels with the fairly regular up and down stairways.

But the RER, the suburban train system, also runs through Paris, and I knew from having been told by Wireless that as long as I stayed in Zone 1 I could ride the RER with a Metro ticket. There is a RER station right next to the Air France building served by the C line which would take me directly to where I wanted to go.

I went for it.

Hubris.

After getting underground and through the turnstile (after I had paid) I could not find a quai for the train that listed the station I wanted to go to. After about 10 minutes of wandering around the station, checking first this source of information and then that, I finally discovered a sign (in French) from which I was able to discern the details that the C line is temporarily closed from where I was to where I wanted to go.

To top the whole episode off, I then had trouble getting out of the station. I am a little unclear on the details of going from RER to Metro and eventually I just had to give up and walk away.

Hubris.

We went out this afternoon to Chateau Bois de Vincennes. The chateau was once a royal residence. Henry V of England died there of dysentery in 1422. The highlight of the visit is the 14th century castle keep, occupied most notably by Charles V of France. The castle presents a daunting task for any assaulting force, including two moats, a drawbridge and a defensive wall with defensive towers.It was pretty interesting standing in various spots in the defensive workings while contemplating the problems that the workings created for any offensive force.

Finally, this morning I walked past some major building reconstruction on the upstream Seine side of the Louvre. I am almost positive this part of the building is formally known as Cour Carré.It was a beautiful morning and it is the closest I have come to a glimpse of George Clooney.