Before Sunset Walk

Today I did my best to recreate the walk Jessie and Celine did in the movie Before Sunset. We started and Shakespeare and Company Bookstore,

walked to the Marais, then walked to the Bastille Market, which was amazing. Then we walked to the location where Celine's apartment was located and peeked through the bars.

Next we walked to Le Pure Cafe where we had lunch.

From there, it was a quick metro ride to the Promenade Plantee, and elevated walkway/garden in Paris.

After that we attempted to ride the Batobus but the ticket office where we went was closed. That resulted in us having to walk a bit more than we had anticipated. We then visited the Picasso Museum and then went back to the hotel to get ready for dinner. We took the Batobus to the Eiffel Tower area for dinner, and saw this from the boat.

Then we walked to dinner. It was the night of the Euro Cup Finals so there were a lot of people -- and a lot of police officers -- around. We ended up getting diverted a little bit because the police had shut down the area near the fan zone. The fan zone was a free area in the park next to the Eiffel Tower that was set up with a big screen TV for fans to watch the game. It could hold 90,000 people, but more than 90,000 people showed up and that caused some problems -- more on that later. We had dinner at La Fontaine de Mars, which is where Barack to Michelle for date night. The meal and the atmosphere were excellent, and it would have been a great ending point -- but!

Leaving the restaurant we headed for the nearest metro. Unfortunately, that was closed. Instead of turning right, away from the fan zone and walking to the next metro stop in that direction, we turned left and walked directly toward the fan zone. To say that was a mistake would be a gross understatement. By the time we got to the next metro station, we had walked through lots of broken glass and by burned motor scooters. It looked like a war zone. And to top things off, that metro station was closed too. So we walked to the next station, which was also closed and we actually saw and actively burning motor scooter. At this point, Sue was very upset and very worried, but we soldiered on to the next metro stop where we were able to get on a train. But since we had to transfer, the adventure wasn't over yet. Needless to say, getting back to the hotel was an experience we'll never forget. And while it was very scary at the time, it now makes for a good story.