Day 14 – A day of Picnics: La Defense and The Eifel Tower

There is lots of noise in this part of Paris to wake us early but nowhere we want to be in a rush. We buy brunch from a take out place called Bagels and Brownies, then finding nowhere to sit near the shop we hop the Metro to La Defense at the end of a subway line in a business heart of the new Paris.

In sympathy, everything here is big, including the Grande Arch that can be seen from downtown when looking through the Arc de Triomphe. I can’t even describe the scale of this building that is two office towers with a top that joins them creating an open square. All around the area are ultra modern buildings and sculptures that are the antithesis of the ancient core of Paris. In the centre is a huge expanse for people to gather. People in suits and business attire are picnicking just as we are, but they had wine!

We walk from one end of the plaza to the other, a distance that equals a Metro stop… then, sated by food and with our visual palette cleansed, we headed for the Catacombs. Nothing like bones after abstract art! Alas, they let the last people in at 4:00, it was 3:15 and the line was one hour long! Thus a break at a Thai Café for German draught beers seems like a good idea. I have never been in a place as diverse as Paris. We have heard what seems like every language, and seen people in every style of ethnic garb. It is a rich mix of cultures and we have not seen, or sensed, friction.

Not knowing what to do, we return to the apartment with the nighttime allocation of wine, placing it to cool in the fridge. I blog a bit – so glad that I am starting to put up pictures on my Facebook page – but I still have to learn how to place the descriptions so that they show up in the transition from iPhoto to Facebook. I’m sure it is easy, but I just don’t want to spend time here figuring it out!

With the pictures I have put up, I am receiving regular comments from Sara, and occasional words from others, and it is this cyber touch from a different time, and a loving perspective, that keeps me blogging. Thanks to all who comment!

Dennis thinks he can navigate us on foot from our apartment to the Eifel tower, so we are off and it is a good walk down non-tourist streets as people return home from their jobs. We go right in front of the impressive, golden-domed church that is part of the sprawling site of Les Invalides that was built by Louis XIV as a hospital and home for returning war veterans. It is still a retirement home and surgical centre for veterans. Napoleon’s body was repatriated here. Other war heroes are also entombed in the church crypts. All these burial bits we’ve seen in the past 24 hours makes us realize we will never be in one of these places because we both intend to be in the wind – cremated and sprinkled. What would the French have done if this had been the case years ago?

Anyway, our walk continues our checking of café menus pretty soon makes us realize that nothing is grabbing us so we hit a Monoprix and buy another picnic – salad for me and sandwich for D along with coke and ¼ bottle of wine – just because we can drink it in the park!

We arrive at the Champs des Mars and plant ourselves on the grass – well, the French version of grass which is 50 per cent dirt and not soft at all – to picnic in the presence of the Eifel Tower. What is so cool about this – aside from the obvious – is that so many locals are doing this too. It is clear, they have come from work and stopped at a shop for food or brought a homemade meal and are just enjoying the place. I love this about Paris!

There are people walking around with pails, selling chilled bottles of wine or soft drinks, and others selling Eifel Tower souvenirs. These sellers, every once in awhile, just fade into the edges of the huge park, with their wares hidden by their bodies. We soon realize that they have a signal they use when the police enter the park. Clearly their wares are not “official” and the knock-off police can be trouble, so there is this dance that happens every 15 minutes or so. In the end, no one needs to break a sweat as long as everyone dances his or her part!

The lines are too long to consider the tower tonight, so we leave, happy to have picnicked in her presence and to have another amazing memory of Paris.