Salutations de la Rive Gauche, Paris

We are here: L’Hotel, which is on the Left Bank of the Seine. It’s very plush. The wallpaper is flocked so it feels like velvet and I spent about two minutes yesterday when we first arrived in the room stroking the walls. (Yup, I’m a little bit weird.)

Our hotel room
Taken while sitting on the bed.

Our hotel room
The wall paper.

Our hotel room
I call this “Still life with lamp”. 😛

Because our flight got in so early (at 6:40am), we couldn’t check in to our room. But L’Hotel has its own swimming pool – which includes a shower – so we availed ourselves to that. Pretty amazing after a 24 flight to jump into a perfectly heated private swimming pool. Being able to shower and change clothes is such a fantastic thing.

But once cleaned up, we couldn’t sit in the hotel reception forever so we got a map and wandered out into the city. We found a boulangerie and bought some baguettes. We then eventually found our way to the Jardin du Luxembourg. We sat in the shade, ate our very early lunch and watched a group doing what started out as Tai Chi and ended up looking more like calisthenics. Then we went for a walk around the garden.

Tree branches and blue sky
Blue, blue sky! It’s still summer here.

Man sun-bathing
What amazes me is how many people are happy to sit out in the sun. But I guess they don’t have the same sort of problems that we do in Australia with skin cancer.

Luxembourg Palace
Palais du Luxembourg.

Luxembourg Palace
Palais du Luxembourg.

Medici Fountain
The Medici Fountain.

Medici Fountain
The Medici Fountain.

Sculpture in the garden
One of the many sculptures in the garden.

Medici Fountain
Another shot of the Medici Fountain.

Luxenbourg Palace
Palais du Luxembourg.

People sitting on the grass
Loads of signs saying “Keep of the grass” but…

We eventually wandered back to the hotel, got officially checked in and after unpacking, had a nap. I know you’re not supposed to sleep on the first day but I was so exhausted I had to. Also, I set an alarm because when we did collapse into bed, it was the middle of the night in Melbourne and it would’ve been too easy to sleep right through and wake up at about 3am. Which would’ve meant missing our booking in the restaurant – which just happens to have a Michelin star.

The food was so yummy. I even ate the broccoli that came with my main (oven roasted beef filet). Perhaps I am getting over my prejudice towards it. Maybe it tastes different here. I don’t know, it was yummy! I even ate the bone marrow and I usually avoid that but it, too, was delicious. Such good food. I find it interesting that the portion sizes weren’t that large but I was absolutely stuffed when we finished. Hhmm… but we did have a three course meal with extras (hors d’œuvres while contemplating the menu, amuse-bouche, cheese and a palate cleanser) so maybe that’s why I felt like I was going to explode.

So, it’s Thursday morning here and we should probably think about getting out of bed. It’s going to be hot today – 32°C – so if we want to do anything, we need to get going. Plus there’s a garbage truck outside and it’s kinda ruining the serenity a little bit.

French flag

2 Thoughts on “Salutations de la Rive Gauche, Paris

  1. What a fab first day! And enjoy the last of the summer over there, it sounds divine. 🙂

  2. Pingback: Oh dear… | little words

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Post Navigation