Friday, June 13: First off, here are a few more photos of the interior of Tour d'Argent:
This is a three-dimensional sculpture they have hanging on the wall over the fireplace in the drawing room where you wait to be called up to the elevator that will take you to your table. It's about 5-6 ft tall, I would say.
And this is a big mosaic on the floor as you enter the dining room. And yeah, there has been a restaurant on this spot since 1582. Still not the oldest. Restaurant Botin in Madrid takes that honor with a 1529 establishment. But it's still pretty damned impressive.
Continuing with Friday, after we left Tour d'Argent: We decided to walk to some Notre Dame souvenir shops, so I could break my rule and get some cheesy ones and Gene wanted a gargoyle anything as a prize for climbing Notre Dame again. We crossed over a nearby bridge and dang! it was filled up with locks! So there are at least TWO bridges in Paris loaded up with locks. I had a photo. I swear I had a photo, but now I can't find it in any of my trip photo folders. I'm sure it will turn up some day in September, but for now, remember the pictures I took of the original "love bridge" and put them here:
XXXXX
We crashed when we got back to the apartment and I started to sort clothes so we could pack, but as evening approached, we knew we had to get to the steps of Sacre Coeur and watch at least dusk fall and drink a little wine for our last Paris experience. The area was a little less manic than it had been on Monday when we first arrived. No crazy guy balancing a soccer ball and climbing a light pole. We had the steady sound of drums beating out a nice rhythm and people talking.
A final toast with wine.....
A final look at Sacre Coeur
And farewell, Paris, for a while. I believe I'll be back at least one more time. I have to always believe I'll return to Paris one more time. It's become a thing with me. It's a good thing to have.
Saturday, June 15:
WHO THE HELL'S IDEA WAS IT TO TAKE A 7:15 AM TRAIN TO BARCELONA?!? HUH? HUH?
Especially when you're paranoid you'll miss it and have to pay for another ticket. Especially when the taxi in London never showed up, so you're paranoid this one won't either, so you leave yourself enough time to take the Metro, with one change, to the train station, bouncing 4 suitcases down stairs if necessary. Oh I'm exhausted just thinking about it.
But it all went so smoothly: taxi was right on time. We still had to bounce suitcases down stairs, though. Remember those circular steps we had to go up to reach our Paris apartment? The only good thing was that we tossed a bunch of clothing, as planned, so our suitcases were a little lighter and we were able to consolidate camera cases, totes, etc.
We got to the train station, found the hall our train was leaving from, found out the work stoppages were still going on, so our train would be 25 minutes late leaving Paris, but we were where we needed to be with time to spare. So whew! The paranoid one of the traveling duo was able to relax.
Okay, so maybe Gene was able to relax as well while waiting for the train.
The train ride was great. I'd be a train buff right along with Gene if American trains were this comfy and this smooth and this fast. And I had views like this as I rode along:
I was a little disappointed because the web site said you did get snacks delivered to your seat in first class, and I had splurged for 1st. But all we got was the thrill of bouncing all our bags up yet another circular staircase because 1st class was the upper compartment of the train. But we survived, the seats are much wider than on a plane, the leg room is greater and we made it to the club car and got our own snacks. And the train made up time, I think, because we arrived in Barcelona less than 15 minutes late. Here's the beauty we rode on:
Pretty slick looking. And a short wait for a taxi and a short ride later and we arrived at our apartment for the final 4 days of our trip. And yay!!!!! Modern!!! Updated!!! Elevator!!! Air conditioning!!! Balcony!!! Modern bathroom!!!! (I didn't mention that our Paris apartment, which we did love, had old plumbing, so we were warned to be very careful because if we clogged the toilet, we'd be billed for half the cost of repairs. Things to remember to check for the next time I use Airbnb. And I will use it again.) The elevator opens up into a small cubicle of a lobby on which only 3 apartments are centered. So when we open the front door, we are only about 5 steps away from the elevator. No long corridors. Yay!
We were met by Dani, a handsome, young Spaniard who spoke good English with an adorable accent (aren't they all?) and showed us around the place. We just kept jumping up and down with glee:
The view from the front door looking towards a nice balcony where sits a washer AND DRYER!!!! Yay for clean clothes!!!!
And the view from the balcony towards the kitchen.
And the kitchen! And very well equipped and stocked.
And finally, a modern bathroom.
We are winding down and now, at much as we enjoyed the apartments we've had and as much as they allowed us to really get a flavor of the city we were in, we are happy to start decompressing in a 21st century flat.
But we wasted no time and we were off for dinner at La Rambla, the famous pedestrian strip loaded with shops and a farmer's market of sorts. The place where we had dinner is basically a bar where you pull up a stool and they cook all the stuff in front of you. Some chaos, but never ever dull:
Then some fruit, a Barcelona-style smoothie, a run-in with a fruit vendor who didn't like me touching her mangoes because I wanted to get a good one. She gave me a stink eye, I gave her a stink eye. Mango was .80 euros, I gave her 1 euro, told her to keep the change and we turned away from each other. C'est la guerre. Wait, wrong country. I'll get it eventually (probably Thursday morning).
Meanwhile, lots of sitting and eating over the last 2 days, lots of sitting on a train, so total steps for Friday & Saturday combined was 20,298.
Total for trip = 207,622.
Lots of walking in store for today, though.
I love that apartment! And I do know what you mean about being able to relax because you've got modern conveniences. What a great way to end your trip. Can't wait to read more!
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