Saturday, October 12, 2019: Paris, Eiffel Tower, Jardin du Palais Royal, Musée du Louvre, Wine

Our stay at the Hotel Duc de Saint-Simon was to include breakfast. Since we were told yesterday that they had no restaurant, we did not know what to expect. I had visions of another cold breakfast buffet as we experienced (and disliked) at our three day stay at the Le Tulipier hotel in Vienne Le Chateau. We went to the front desk and inquired about breakfast. We were directed to go downstairs to the wine cellar. There we found a very charming, well appointed lounge with elegant settings and a standard hot breakfast fare. It was OK!

Stairs leading to the dungeon, a.k.a., wine cellar.

Bottom of stairs

We had tickets to go to summit of the Eiffel Tower at 9:30 am. Google Maps said it would take us about 30 minutes to walk over to the tower. We left the hotel around 8:30 am. We did not take into account the security bottleneck at the tower entrance, even though we had prepaid tickets.

The weather looked better than we have experienced during the whole trip with partly cloudy skies and some intermittent sunshine.

We finally got through the security and made it to the elevator just before 10:00 am.

Views from the second level.

To get to the summit, one has to board another elevator. The summit is 905 feet high and they have a Champagne bar, but neither of us partook.

By the time we got to the summit, it was starting to get hazy.

On the way back down from the summit, we stopped on the First level and located the bar and the restaurant. Too early for either to be of interest.

Bar

By the time we got back on the ground, the haze had started obscuring the summit.

We took off from the tower and headed toward the Louvre. Yesterday, we purchased tickets to gain entry at 2:00 pm today. We walked along the Seine River.

We passed the memorial to Princess Diane, where her car crashed back in 1997.

It was about 12:30 pm and, looking back at the Eiffel Tower, the summit couldn't be seen. We got lucky with our timing.

We passed the memorial to Lafayette erected by the school children of the United States.

The Pont Alexandre III bridge seems to be a favorite for wedding pictures. There were a couple of them being done as we walked by.

We walked by the Place de la Concorde and down the Rue de Rivoli, passing the Place Vendôme on the way.

Place Vendôme

We arrived at the Carrousel du Louvre in the Palais-Royal a little after noon. We were hungry and our Louvre time slot was not until 2:00 pm. We went in search of a restaurant.

We knewthat anything near the Louvre would be very busy, very noisy and very expensive, so walked to the east end of the Jardin du Palais Royal (Royal Palace Garden).

There we stopped briefly to look at the menu posted at the La Table du Palais Royal restaurant.  Immediately, Caroll Sinclair, the proprietor, ran out and handed us a flyer and told us that if we don't like what we are served, there is no charge.  We liked the enthusiasm so we went in. There was no one else in the establishment so we took the table in the doorway to the sidewalk.

Caroll Sinclair

The chef's tomato offering

We decided to share a dozen oysters...oops, no oysters. For the main course, Stephen had decided upon the Caroll Burger and I had decided on the beef tartare. Oops, no buns for the burger. Caroll recommended that we share Fresh Duck Liver (Foir gras) and Stephen ended up with the rib steak.

Foir gras

My raw beef carpaccio and tartare

It was all delicious. It was quiet and, while several others came in while we were eating, it was not busy. Caroll would occasionally dash out in the street to hand out flyers and try to snag new customers.

Caroll and Stephen

Back to the Louvre.

We arrived at the Louvre about 1:50 pm and with our prepaid ticket with a 2:00 pm time slot, we were able to walk right in, avoiding an enormously long line.

We only stayed at the museum a couple of hours. I took Stephen to see the Mona Lisa. I told him it would be easy to find it, just look for the crowds.

It was about 4:00 pm and I was tired and my feet hurt. We headed back toward the hotel.

I had promised to bring Maria a bottle of wine. We had seen a wine store next to the brasserie we ate in last night so we decided to try it. I was lucky that the young man spoke English. I explained what I was looking for and, after some suggestions, I took both a red and a white.

The white is a 2013 100% Chardonnay from Burgundy. The tasting notes describe it as:

A light golden color with a fairly intense nose of flowers, warm croissant or brioche and candied lemon, moving with the aging to the nuances of roasted hazelnuts and spice. The flavor is straightforward, combining freshness and character, sap and finesse. The persistence on the palate is very long and leaves floral notes of gingerbread.

The red is a 2001 from Bordeaux consisting of 55% Cabernet Sauvignon, 40% Merlot, 4.5% Cabernet franc and 0.5% Carménère. Its tasting notes describe it as:

This pure, elegant Margaux offers intensely fragrant aromas of melted licorice, black currants and smoked herbs in a medium-bodied, deep ruby/purple-colored style.

Today we put in 8.75 miles. Tomorrow we plan to walk over to see Notre Dame, or what's left of it.