When we arrive at our hotel in Les Halles we are told that it is too early to check in, but the very friendly desk staff promise to call us when a room is ready.
25 years ago we stayed in a Novotel for our wedding night, so I treat us to another today in central Paris. We head out to a boulangerie/patisserie for a breakfast and hot chocolate. Then we walk down to the rebuilt Cathedral Notre Dame.
Paris is dim and grey this cool morning. But this is offset by the yellow of autumn leaves and the bright lights of bistros. It just feels so different, so unique, so… Paris.
Being early, the Notre Dame is relatively quiet. There are still interior works going on and much of the stone looks cleaner and newer than it did 25 years ago. No climbing up to view the gargoyles up close this time. The interior is still impressive, especially the stained glass windows.
Embarrassingly, the hotel calls me while we are inside. Our room is ready, so we hurry back for a long delayed shower and snooze. There are lots of cops and jammed traffic on the way back, so I wonder if the protesters are out again.
I wake us up after a couple of hours and we head out to lunch at a bistro across the road. A normal sized French main is too much for us now, but it is so good to eat something different for once. There is no room for dessert.
We watch the locals walk past. The men casually dragging on a cigarette, the fashionable ladies in their straight edged glasses.
Next to the restaurant is a Ghibli store. It is like we cannot escape Studio Ghibli, Totoro, No Face and all the others on our travels!
B wants to visit the nearby BVH department store. It seems to be mostly empty with half the escalators out of action. What stock they have looks really nice, but the top floor is just Shein and there is no outdoor observation area it seems.
Then we wander around Le Marais and Les Archives, trendy, historic parts of Paris. It doesn’t really matter that we have no destination in mind. It is fun just to wander, to feel the history and architecture and spirit of the area.
I have a hot chocolate from one of the chocolate stores. Super Mario computer avatars adorn buildings and many are boarded up in response to the protests and riots. A grinning cat face has been painted on many of them.
Alex is exhausted and we head back, but not before passing the currently closed and under renovation Pompidou Centre and visiting the big underground Westfield Les Halles, especially the massive FNAC store, where I buy a John Williams compilation CD. They also have a huge range of books and movies available.
While the others rest in the hotel room, I head out to buy baguettes for dinner. The hotel has left chocolates, apple juice and mineral water to celebrate our 25th Wedding Anniversary, a nice touch (I did let them know).
At least we actually eat dinner tonight, unlike last time when we fell asleep and couldn’t be bothered heading out again. But we are tired and have an early day tomorrow, so good night!