After arriving several hours later than planned into Paris, it was too late for any museums or things like that so I figured I’d just walk around for a bit. Lara’s place is about a 10 minute walk from Invalides, the home of Napoleon’s tomb, which is about 10 minutes from the Eiffel Tower, so I figures that would be a good direction to start.
It was Thursday night, and the people were out in full force. The park leading to the Eiffel Tower was packed with picnickers. The signs said no alcohol, but that rule was most definitely not enforced.
Then I walked up to the Arc de Triomphe and down the Champs Élysées. From there along the Seine over to the Louvre and then across the Pont des Arts. The Pont des Arts is a pedestrian bridge, that was packed with people eating and drinking wine. At this point I was craving a picnic, partly because it looked really fun, and partly because it was now 11pm and I hadn’t eaten dinner.
While my initial goal was to go to a jazz club in the Saint Michel area, I ended up with a couple beers, sitting for a while in front of Notre Dame and then watching a couple street musicians on the quai by the seine before finally walking home around 2am. I’ve never seen so many people out that late on a Thursday. I love Paris.
To close, here are a couple tweets I wrote over the course of the night:
11pm: Not sure how much is jet lag and how much is the fact it doesn’t get dark until 10:30pm but I’m wide awake
11:30pm: I think Budapest wins at density of people making out, but Paris destroys everywhere else at people drinking directly from the wine bottle.
(see post from last year about Budapest)
11:45pm: I hope my stuffing my face with gyros doesn’t ruin your stuffing your faces with each others’ faces. #frontofnotredame
11:50pm: I’m not really concerned with the legality, but is drinking beer in front of Notre Dame a sin? #paris
12:15am: That thing about more people making out in Budapest than Paris, I wrote that around 11pm. After midnight Paris came from behind for the win
12:45am: Didn’t realize how unfunky the French were until tonight #clappingononeandthree #youtrdoingitwrong #streetperformeraudience
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