This particular Monday was one of the few to which I woke up quite gladly: another day of Parisian exploration awaited. On today's menu: the Latin Quarter, St. Germain de Pres, La Defense and then up the Eiffel Tower at night.
Walking through the Latin Quarter stirred feelings reminiscent to those I get when visiting the tranquil ancient capital of Malta, only that this Parisian quarter proved to be more vibrant and colourful. Particularly memorable was the visit to the Shakespeare and Company bookshop, a haven for a book-lover like myself. The narrow and winding streets, lacking the overdone axiality of the rest of Paris, were too pretty and the numerous cafes and little squares added charm to this quarter associated with free thinkers and students. Talking of students, we then made our way to the Sorbonne and then to the Pantheon. The latter's size overwhelmed me much more than any of the buildings I saw in Paris so far (save for Eiffel's temporary structure, of course).
The next couple of stops were the churches of St. Germain and St. Sulpice, the latter primarily visited due to its role in The Da Vinci Code more than anything else. St. Germain was charming and was surprised to see a statue of the founder of my primary and secondary school, St. De La Salle, a Frenchman of course. The rest of the morning was devoted to exploring the tiny streets of this area of Paris until it was time for lunch: the usual super-tasty French baguette, fresh from a boulangerie in the St. Germain area and filled with delicatessen items.
Stomachs full, we headed off to the end of the Historical Axis of Paris to the modern La Defense. Although not quite as spectacular as Canary Wharf, this area was a feast of modern architecture: tall buildings, glass and less-than-expected stainless steel. The interesting elements (missing in the London Docklands) were the many sculptures, including a metal spider which my wife found mostly annoying!
From the minimalist Grande Arche, we made a quick stop at Champs Elysees and visited the Golden Triangle and all its flagship designer stores, where all price tags featured no less than 3 digits. All the day's walking made us hungry again and it was time to think of dinner. This was a return to the Marais and devouring a Jewish pitta loaded with lamb and vegetables. And falafel, of course. From the quasi ghetto area of the Marais we made our way to the Trocadero again and awaited dusk and the lighting up of the Eiffel Tower.
After we had taken our several dozen photos of the tapering tower, we decided that it was sufficiently dark to head to the summit and enjoy a bird's eye view of Paris. The queue was not that bad, but, short before we made it to the ticket office, we were told that the top is closed since it was saturated! I was about to cry! Tomorrow was the last day and there was no chance of going to the top at night! So plans were changed and we decided to go up during daytime (a choice which, in the long run, proved to be the better option).
On the way back to the hotel, we stopped at the Louvre to take a few pictures of the illuminated pyramid, but sadly found that the glass structure is turned off at night. Similarly were turned off the towering structures at La Defense and, to a certain extent, also the hilltop Montmartre church. It was quite a serendipitous moment that we did not go up Eiffel at night after all since we would have failed to identify any of the landmarks!
Thus, we headed of to our hotel for the final sleep over and ready for our last day in Paris.
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