No down and up today

Very cold this morning - only 3degrees, and it didn't warm up very much. The sun did come out at times but there was no warmth in it. We've noted the speed of the push bikes in the bike lanes - don't just step out to cross the road when you get the green man, check first for bikes!

We decided on a much easier day today and determined to get around using the buses, rather than the metro (saving my knees). We only had a small map of the bus routes so reading it was a bit of a challenge, but we got it sorted. 2 buses this morning to the start of our walk - this time through St-Germain des Pres. We enjoy the travel on the bus as you get to see more than just the black tunnels of the metro. It was interesting to see the change in the quality of the buildings and shops in the localities we passed through. 

Our first port of call was the famous department store Le Bon Marche. Way out of our price range - think Georges of old. But the presentation in their store is spectacular. Everything displayed to best effect, nothing out of place, and the 'props' to display the items were fabulous. I very briefly considered a beautiful jumper but 345euro - not in my budget. Rob needs new jocks but I don't think this is the place to get them. We are looking for a French version of kmart. 

Not a great photo, but this was just one of the displays in Le Bon Marche.

Saint Sulpice - a very old church. 

We were using a guide book at least 7 years old and the rest of the walk was a bit of a disappointment as some places no longer existed. We did visit a gallery in the Luxembourg Gardens showing an exhibition of work by Leon Monet, the brother of the more famous Monet.

This belonged to the more famous Monet.

The walk also took us past the world's oldest cafe - Le Procope founded in 1686. We didn't have lunch here but continued on to the area near the Sorbonne where there are many more varied lunch options. We had another menu du jour - 3 courses, set price. We figure if we eat a large lunch we can have a small dinner. The fellow sitting next to me at lunch had snails. There were only 6 but it seemed to take him forever to eat them - hard to get out of the shell. Rob said he had visions of Julia Roberts - slippery little suckers.

It pays to look up.

Lunch, then direct home on one bus. Very easy day and much kinder on my iffy knees.

Nanna nap today, and we got the washing done before moving on tomorrow. We took the easy option of dinner at McDonald's while the washing was happening. Rob was quite impressed he could buy beer with his big mac meal. We pick up the car in the morning and start heading south and west.

We have noticed a lot of building/railway works happening. I guess it's getting ready for the Olympics next year. It's a shame that there are so few escalators and lifts in their metro system - I wonder if some of these renos will include these.