Saturday, July 5 – Boulevard Saint-Germain
Sunday, July 6, – Montparnasse
Saturday, July 5, 2014
Overview
11:00 First wake up in Paris. Slow start. It is 5AM in America.
12:49 Start the first walk. Search for several vegan cafes and juice bars around Avenue Parmentier and boulevard de Voltaire. They all turned out to be closed.
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| This quiet street explodes with action, when every door turns into a restaurant or a bar | Very intricate and symbolic Weathervane on Rue des Saints-Pères | View from our apartment in Paris: many streets were decorated with 32 national banners representing 32 World Cup countries |
14:00 – 15:45 Lunch at Gentle Gourmet Café (24 Boulevard de la Bastille)
16:00 Jardin des Plantes – We did not go inside impressive Galeries d’Anatomie comparée et de Paléontologie (Comparative Anatomy and Paleontologee) with large windows (picture below)
17:00 Pictures of massive doors near cafe L’Epsilon (24 Rue Linné)
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| Doctor said to spend more time outside. But you have to take their advice in moderation. Look what too much outside can do to you. | Every door is a mystery. Especially so at 24 Rue Linné. The higher the door, the more important are the people who live there. |
17:30 Boulevard Saint-Germain
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| Intricate door ornaments on Rue Linne | At 5PM we reaches Boulevard Saint-Germain and started walking its considerable length | We felt like giants with a door of that size |
19:30 Café Les Deux Magots (6 place Saint-Germain-des-Prés)
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| Where are we on the map of Paris? O yes. This is Boulevard Saint-Germain and Rue Boutebrie | Diderot and his followers near 145 Boulevard Saint-Germain | Store front of “The Old Paris Camper”. It is not only Bijouterie and Perfumery. They camp also. At least some do. |
20:30 Dinner at Saveurs Végét’Halles (41 Rue des Bourdonnais) – the name is an interesting play on a Paris area called Les Halles
Notes
[written on Monday, 2014-07-07 04:15 am Paris time]
[22 vs. 2] [vacation nights left – nights passed]
We woke up around 11:18. It was a slow start. On Yelp we picked several juice and vegan places to eat. Around 1PM, we started our first full day walk. Every single place was closed on small obscure streets and passages. We were moving in general direction of boulevard de Voltaire and avenue Parmentier, and there is nothing interesting to report in this area. Around 2PM we arrived to Gentle Gourmet Café (24 Boulevard de la Bastille) on Canal Saint-Martin near Bastille. They already have sign “fermé” (closed), as they all want to go home and kitchen was planning to close one hour before the actual close, but they seated us never the less. They offered us to finish a bottle of red wine that previous customers did not finish. We did.
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| We spend over hour and a half at our first real meal destination – Gentle Gourmet Café – near Bastille. Featuring free wine and Skype phone call to my bank. Fantastic! | Botanical Gardens on the left bank. Plenty to see, and you do not have to pay a fee | This is a Party store at 37 Boulevard Saint-Germain. Let’s think that French FETE created English festival |
After lunch, we walked to a botanical garden (Jardin des Plantes) across the La Seine, and had a lively walk along the alleys and passages there. There is a gazebo at the top of shrubs labyrinth. While sitting there we decided to go next to Boulevard Saint-Germain. [22:15 = 04:15 07/07 Mon].
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| Inside the somber Saint-Germain-des-Prés. Evening light and electrical light does justice to this interior | Very famous café “Two Apes” – Les Deux Magots | Décor inside Café de Flore. Very friendly and accommodating staff memebrs. Thank you! |
We reached the church Saint-Germain-des-Prés around 18:30. Here we were searching for cafés that were frequented by famous writers, and actors, and philosophers. Stuff at Les Deux Magots was very friendly and welcoming. Brasserie Lipp – very uptight, cold, formal and rejecting). We noticed that square here is named after Jean Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir. My first thought was that just one Sartre was not enough to name a square. Next day that thought would be rejected during out visit to Cimetière de Montparnasse.
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| Café Pushkin has some Russian undertones, as reference to the most famous Russian poet | 173 Boulevard Saint Germain On April 15, Ralph Lauren opened a new store here |
16 Rue des Saints-Pères This small street is full of antiques and galleries |
Shortly after, we opened cellular data on the telephone, and found our next destination – 41 Rue des Bourdonnais. To get there we crossed the river on Pont des Arts. The entire length of the bridge both sides are covered with locks of mostly golden color. To leave a locked lock here is a good omen to return here one day and unlock the magic again. On the other side, we walked through the Louvre, and were once again impressed with its size and grandeur.
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| Rue de Rivoli is a big shopping street. Looks like sigh suggest that both men and women can reach next metro station in just 2 minutes | It is hard to be vegan in Paris! Especially if your are a restaurant. Saveurs Végét’Halles – is a brave and confident vegan place. Located near Pont Neuf | XX World Cup Soccer was in progress these days. France just lost to Germany 0:1 a day before, and now Pays-Bas (“low country” or Netherlands) was taking on Costa Rica |
41 Rue des Bourdonnais is a vegan and vegetarian restaurant not far from Louvre. The name on Google seems old and outdated. No. I just checked with receipt. That is the name on the receipt – Saveurs Végét’Halles. Here I ordered Escalope de Seitan (€13.50) that would gladly order and eat again. On the way back, thought Rue de Rivoli and Rue Saint-Antoine to Bastille we bought fruits to eat in the room. That is a perfect replacement for desert. Nederland could not score a goal in a quarterfinal game with Costa Rica, and only penalties finally set the things straight. Now Brazil will meet Germany and Argentina will play with Nederland. Game was over just before 1AM on Sun 07-06. [23:12 = 05:12]. Should I go to sleep now?
Overview
Sunday, July 6, 2014
[21 vs. 3]
12:14 – 12:38 First pictures on iPhone and NIKON – view on the dead wall from a bath window with metal bars. I just noticed, how much space in the bathroom
– – – – – – > Camera felt on the kitchen floor – screen is completely dark now
12:51 Two tickets for metro €1.70 x 2 = €3.40
12:57 Pictures on metro station Bastille
– – – – – – > Metro trip to Montparnasse cemetery
13:26 We arrived to metro station Raspail [raspai]
13:41 First pictures on the cemetery – Jean Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir
– – – – – – > It is raining, but doesn’t bother us yet
14:11 Camille Saint-Saëns
14:16 Eugène Ionesco
14:29 Rain is getting stronger – what are our options?-
– – – – – > Rain forces us to take a break at Rue d’Odessa
15:09 – 15:52 Food at Creperie Le Flibustier (20 Rue Odessa) – – €25.50 MC
15:59 Flea market in front of cemetery -Boulevard Edgar Quinet
– – – – – > Return to Montparnasse cemetery
16:21 Back at the cemetery – Simon Petlura
16:36 Forgotten giant – Guy de Maupassant
16:45 André Citroën – also forgotten
16:58 Alfred Dreyfus
17:31 Pierre-Joseph Proudhon
17:42 Charles Baudelaire
– – – – – > Exit by the closing bell at 6PM
– – – – – > Direction: Visit famous cafes on boulevard Montparnasse
18:03 – 18:27 La Rotonde – 105 Boulevard du Montparnasse – Amedeo Modigliani
– – – – – > Sign on a Russian food store window: bail à céder = Передача контракта аренды
18:36 – 19:08 La Closerie des Lilas and table of famous visitors
– – – – – > Turn cellular data on on iPhone to search our vegan options
19:10 – 19:54 Luxembourg Gardens
20:04 Buy fruits and Pellegrino near Sorbonne €11.38 cash
20:22 Scarf (de Paris) for Lira for €2.03
20:37 – 21:39 Food and conversation at Le Grenier De Notre Dame (18 Rue de la Bûcherie) – €48 MC
Pictures of Notre Dame de Paris
Walk back home around 11pm.
03:39 am Test broken camera – it is still working, but it is now blind
03:46 am Сейчас проверяю, если камера actually works. На экране вообще ничего не видно кроме
каких-то полосок. [21:46] Да. Вижу фото на laptop, только image весь оранжевый. Сделал еще парочку фото – да, все работает нормально, даже вспышка, но на экране ничего не видно.
[rough outline completed 23:28 = 05:28am]
How the very beginning feels?
Paris is huge. There a lot to see and explorer. It is a true capital of a huge country. But we did not feel this at the beginning. It seemed to us that if we just visit few more spots that we skipped on our previous trips, we would know Paris like the back of our hand. Mistake. You can visit everything once, twice, many time, and every time open something new. It is like a layer cake. where each layer is a century of human toil.
Anyway, Paris was peaceful and busy with regular summer Sunday routines. Inside the metro they provide various free maps and plan of the transportation system. We found the most convenient “Paris Tourisme Transport”, where subway map superimposed on the actual plan of the city, so that you can see the real proportions and real distances.
Navigate through the List
- 07-04 First Steps in Paris (Friday, July 4, 2014) (2014/07/04)
- 07-05 Paris - View from a sharp angle (July 5-6, 2014) (2014/07/05)
- 07-07 Paris - Père Lachaise and Saint Denis (July 7-8, 2014) (2014/07/07)
- 07-09 From Paris to Beaugency [bo:zhensi:] (Wednesday, July 09, 2014) (2014/07/09)
- 07-10 Beaugency to Uzerche (Thursday, July 10, 2014) (2014/07/10)
- 07-11 Uzerche to Montignac and to Sarlat (Friday, July 11, 2014) (2014/07/11)
- 07-12 Sarlat, Rocamadour, Figeac and Bouziès (Saturday, July 12, 2014) (2014/07/12)
- 07-13 From Bouziès to Albi (Sunday, July 13 2014) (2014/07/13)
- 07-14 From Albi to Toulouse and to Auch (Monday, July 14 2014) (2014/07/14)
- 07-15 From Auch to Lupiac (birthplace of D'Artagnan) to Tabres (2014/07/15)
- 07-16 From Tabres into Spain and Pyrenees (2014/07/16)
- 07-17 Reaching for the highest point in Pyrenees (2014/07/17)
- 07-18 Monastery in Yesa, Navarra (Spain) (2014/07/18)
- 07-19 Back to France - Busy Biarritz (2014/07/19)
- 07-20 SUN - Bordeaux - city with large squares (2014/07/20)
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