0600 and out of the YHA to St Pancras station for the 0700 Eurostar to Paris. Arrived Gare du Nord, Paris at 1015 (only a 2 1/4 hour trip but you also have to add an hour for daylight saving), and a short walk straight to the La Tour d'Auvergne Hotel.
Luckily our room was ready even though it was 11am. So we dumped the bags, and off again to the Musee de l'Orangerie near the Palace of the Louvre. Not actually getting "lost", per se, we did realise we weren't heading in the exact correct direction a couple of times. So what should have been a 30-40 walk took nearly 90 minutes, but we got to see some sites.
I (Greg) stayed at the cafe (in the Tuilleries Garden) where we had lunch, just to watch the hundreds of people pass by, while Val went off to visit the Orangerie.
We then walked to Galeries Lafeyette. Here, we are now well and truly upmarket Paris. Galeries Lafeyette is a multi-storey shopping centre. Almost completely open-plan (not unlike any one of our regular department stores), but each "counter" is a separate shop, not just a separate "department" of the same store. And these " shops" .... Cartier, Dior, Prada, Tiffany's, Longchamp, Armani, etc. Even Clinique. And not just clothing and fashion, also includes food like Maxim.
The building is topped off with a magnificent domed stained glass roof, above golden gilted sparkling mezzanine walkways.
Back to the hotel and dinner nearby at little cafe, then an early night. Tres fatigue.
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