Paris ... Paris ... Paris

Sat 8 April

Packed up after the "Continental" breakfast then headed to St Pancras station to see what the queues were like - better than yesterday's. Had a lovely soup for lunch at Le Pain Quotidian. Finally had our train called to go through security check and immigration processing ... and another wait. Our train was over 70 minutes late arriving in London so was late leaving too. Because of this we didn't get into Paris until after 7:00pm (Eurostar do compensate for this).

Got to the apartment via the metro and met by Sam who showed us around and gave us keys. Soon went out for a walk to la Tour Eiffel - about 5 minutes away. There was also a Village de Pâques (Easter) on the river bank where we found something to eat.

Also found a little 2CV Citroën in the street near the apartment; made Steph happy, like her personal welcome to Paris.

Two old relics on the Rue de l'Université

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Sun 9 Apr

Hunter-gatherer collecting groceries

The Parisians were out in force today because: a) the Paris Marathon was on; b) it was a bright, warm, sunny day; and c) it's the weekend. Of course half of these Parisians are tourists, including us. The marathon began at 8:30, we headed out around 10:00 and crossed the river at Pont de l'Alma
to get our first glimpse of the runners. Their bibs had numbers, first name and country. Highest number I saw was 76 802, and a great assortment of countries including Australia. There were a number of musical groups on trucks along the way to give the runners encouragement. We crossed over the course and passed a number of inner city vegetable gardens before climbing a long set of steep stairs, then followed the street to Trocadéro. People everywhere, though the fountains were not working.

Runners in the Paris Marathon

Part of the marathon mess at one of the feeding stations

Crossed back over the river to skirt Le Tour Eiffel, down the Champ de Mars with more crowds out enjoying the wonderful weather. We'd been intrigued by some silver, onion-shaped domes on a building near us, so explored to find a new Russian Orthodox Church. Had a quick look inside before heading back to our apartment.

Flowers, tourists and Parisians enjoying the Champ de Mars