DJB's Perfect Day in Paris

This question came up the other day: "what is your perfect day in Paris?" It's a very difficult question to answer, but DJB was determined to show me his perfect day in the city of light on a hot day last week. He dragged me (twist my rubber arm) to show me his answer.

The morning started out at the boulangerie, where we grabbed a couple of croissants and then headed to Square Saint-Lambert, which is a park right beside our flat. It's one of my favourite open spaces in Paris because it's so easy to find sun and an open bench. It's also an amazing place to observe Parisians.

After watching grandparents play with their grand children (and watching the grand children fall down a lot, but in a cute way not a hurt way) we hopped on the metro to Opera station. I thought we were going to make a stop at the steps of the Opera House because I know how much DJB likes to people watch there. But I was mistaken! Instead we headed to the Lindt store because they hand out free samples. I swear the sample guy knows our faces and gives us a glare every time we grab a chocolate and walk around the store pretending we are interested in buying something.

After munching on our chocolates we headed to the top of Printemps and drank reasonably priced coffee on the best terrace in Paris.

We left Printemps before my bladder exploded (the bathroom is on the main floor) and, as I suspected earlier, we were back to the Opera House. On our way there, we stopped at a grocery store and grabbed a quick lunch to take with us. There is usually someone playing the piano or guitar in front. This coupled with the southerly facing steps (lots of sun!) make it ideal for people watching.

We spent over an hour sitting on those steps and as you can see we weren't the only ones with the same idea. We could have stayed there until the sun went down but DJB was determined to finish his day. So we walked from Opera, through Les Halles, to the Marais. We decided to have desert at the Jewish Quarter which is well know for it's falafels, but also has delicious Eastern European treats. We went for the Hungarian Strudel.

The strudel was as good as it looks. Our last stop was the park in front of Pont Neuf. This is at the very tip of the Island so you have a perfect view of both the right and left bank. Oh, I forgot to mention that we stopped and picked up some Hoegaarden prior to our arrival. We sat there until the sun hid behind the buildings. 

That was DJB's perfect day, and it was perfect. In Paris, the best thing you can do when there isn't a cloud in the sky is nothing in particular. Mona Lisa and Van Gogh will be waiting for you on a rainy day. The Arc and Eiffel aren't going anywhere, but the sun can go missing for days.

On Sunday (which also happened to be my birthday) I showed him my perfect day in Paris. So stay tuned for that!