Day 8 - Laverie, Orange, La Defense

This morning I gathered up my laundry and headed for the "laverie" or laundromat.  It is fun to figure out how French laundromats work.  Everything is operated from a central payment station on the wall.  The detergent cost 1 euro, it was 4.50 euros to wash, and 1.20 euros for 12 minutes in the dryer - I needed to run it twice.  So that was 7.90 - not bad, especially compared to the price list for the hotel's laundry service - 11 euros for a set of pjs - yikes!

Believe it or not, there was a woman from Seattle at the laverie to do her laundry as well.  Small world, isn't it?

It took about 90 minutes to do one load of clothes, then I returned to the hotel to put everything away.
My next chore for the day was to "top up" my SIM card.  I tried to do it online, but no such luck. I had to find an Orange "boutique."  There is one at Place de la Opera, so I rode the bus down there, walked all around the Opera Garnier before I found the Orange store, though I had seen it before.  It works a lot like the Xfinity store, but in French.  I was able to top up my SIM for 20 euros (the SIM cost 40 euros to begin with), but only got one hour of voice, which is what I really needed, plus another 1000 texts and 10 more gigs of data.  I guess no one talks on the phone anymore.  Mom likes me to call everyday, and on other trips when I stayed in apartments, I had free calls to the US.  This time I have to use my cell.  Add to this the fact that somehow our home phone got messed up with PSE turned off the power to replace our light meter, communicating with the home folks has been a challenge.

I went to a very nice place for lunch, which wasn't exactly my plan, but I was hungry and went to the first place I saw: Grand Cafe Capucines, which is just off Place de la Opera.  I had the fixed price menu, which turned out to be duck confit (very good) with potatoes cooked in duck fat (yum!) plus dessert of profiteroles (cream puffs with ice cream and chocolate sauce - also yum!).  This place is very art deco, and appear to have been there for some time.

After lunch I took the Line 7 Metro to where I could transfer to Line 1 - Direction La Defense.  There is a Christmas Market under the Grand Arch at La Defense and I wanted to check it out.  It is a huge market, but I wasn't too impressed.  Most of the "chalets" had commercially manufactured and imported goods rather than locally made things made in France.  The food stalls looked great, though, but I was still satisfied from lunch.  The market at the Tuileries is much better, so I think I might go back.  There are also a couple of other markets in central Paris opening tomorrow.  I just stayed long enough to see that there wasn't anything I needed to buy, so took the Metro back.

One benefit of having a Navigo transportation pass is that if you go someplace that turns out to be a disappointment, it only costs time.

Tonight's dinner is a sandwich I picked up around the corner from the hotel.  I am going to a concert at La Madeleine tonight.  Update on that tomorrow.

10,700 steps; 8 floors of stairs.

Day 7 - Wednesday, December 12 - Atelier des Lumieres and Christmas Night Lights Tour

Wednesday morning I had a timed ticket for Atelier des Lumieres, which is an exhibit where works of art are projected all around - an immersible art exhibit.  The main presentation was the work of Gustav Klimt with lesser exhibits of Hundertwasser and Poetic_Ai.  I really enjoyed the Klimt portion, especially the music that went with it.  This was very similar to to "Imagine Van Gogh" exhibit I saw in Paris in 2017.

Afterward, I walked up to a small tea room I had heard about for a light lunch.  There was a Norwegian woman there who has lived in the US and is currently living in the South of France in the Languedoc region where Mom and I have spent some time.  She is about my age and speaks excellent English, and we must have talked for 2 hours.  It was really fun.

I rode the bus back to the hotel and put my feet up for awhile before riding the Metro to Place de la Opera and the Open Bus Christmas Lights Tour.  Sounded like a really good idea and I did bundle up as much as I could, but it was freezing cold on the top of that bus!  The traffic was terrible - most of the time the bus barely moved, and when it did move, the wind cut right in to you.  The lights were pretty and the bus managed to arrive a Trocadero right when the Eiffel Tower was sparkling.  After about an hour everyone moved down to the lower level of the bus where it wasn't a lot warmer, but at least we were out of the wind.  I had intended to stick it out up there, but just couldn't do it.

By the time I got back to the hotel, I was hungry, so stopped at a restaurant around the corner for a hamburger and beer.  The couple sitting next to me are British and staying at the same hotel and we must have talked for a good hour and half. 

So now we are up-to-date.

11,470 steps; 4 floors of stairs.