We got up at 7:30 this morning. Our bodies still weren’t 100% adjusted, but 12 hours of sleep made us feel normal again.

We got to the Louvre shortly after 9AM, and marvelled at how lucky we were that there were no crowds. We soon realized the source of our luck: the Louvre is closed on Tuesdays. Damn. Damn dammity damn-damn-damn. Sigh…we got some exterior shots anyway, and went to plan B.

We decided to walk around Ile de la Cite and Ile St-Louis instead. We walked by Sainte-Chappelle and Notre Dame, then up to Le Marais after cruising by the site of The Bastille. We stopped and sat in the Place Des Vosges before just wandering around the streets a little.

We grabbed some lunch on one of the main streets. Mozzarella + tomato (in either sandwich or salad form) has become my staple here…not a lot of veggie options on French menus. We then walked along Rue de Rivoli toward our hotel, stopping for a quick look at the Palais Royale. Short pit stop at the hotel to recharge and refresh, and then back out.

Took the metro to Montmartre. Walked up a spiral staircase at Abbesses station just about long enough to kill Nellie. We strolled over to the stairs, eschewing the funicular, and climbed the hill to Sacre-Coeur after being harassed by some Senegalese hucksters. After we got some great shots of the city it started to rain, so we hoofed it back down the hill and took refuge. Oh look! A bar! We had a few glasses to wet our whistles and jumped back on the metro, heading home to relax a bit before the restaurants re-open for dinner.

I’m completely knackered, so this is gonna be in point form.

Yesterday at 5.30 PM our cab arrived. We got downstairs and were greeted by a guy in a Mercedes. For a minute there we were excited, but we soon realized he mistook us for newlyweds. We get out of the Mercedes and into a minivan.

We arrived at Pearson, and at our gate, in plenty of time. I picked up the new Naomi Klein book and the NHL season preview. Nellie got some houseporn magazine.

We boarded a bit early. David Cronenberg was on our flight. Fresh off his win of top audience prize at TIFF, he was celebrating by flying first class. Smart boy: I couldn’t get comfortable long enough to nap, so I got maybe 30 minutes all told. Nellie got a few hours. We were both pretty messed up when we landed at 10:00. On the plus side, our vegetarian meals weren’t half-bad. For airline food.

Charles De Gaulle is one ugly-ass airport. Old, badly organized…makes me appreciate Pearson terminal one all the more.

Taxi ride: uneventful, except we noticed that many of the cabs are Mercedes. Suck it, newlywed chauffeur man.

Our hotel and room were very nice, very Parisien. Or what I picture Parisien to be, at any rate. Small, nicely furnished, windows that open wide to the small street below. We admired it for a few minutes then turn and head out.

We sat on a bench in the Jardins des Tuileries and split a sandwich. We walked through the Place de la Concorde, down the Champs Elysees, beating a path through crowds of tourists. The beating continued when we reached l’Arc de Triomphe, just long enough for Nellie to snap a few photos.

We figured that was enough and turned for home. After some twists and turns, an espresso and a pain au chocolate, and more twists and turns we arrived back at the hotel.

One more trip out garnered a baguette, some fine chocolate, a bottle of Bordeaux, some fruit and general exhaustion. Now that we’ve eaten we’re about ready to pass out. I’ve fallen asleep, while typing this, sitting up at least 3 times.

And now…I sleep. Nighty night.

[tags]paris, tiff, tiff07, naomi klein, david cronenberg, hotel therese[/tags]

Checked in. At the gate. Pre-boarding called. On y vas!

[tags]paris[/tags]

We’re off to the airport. We land tomorrow morning around 4 ET. I’ll try to blog, and upload the occasional picture, if/when we have the chance. Be good, everybody.

Ah, who’m I kidding? I’ll be blogging from the check-in line. I can’t help myself.

[tags]paris, france[/tags]