Friday, July 19th, 2019
We did not set an alarm for this morning. Our first stop today was the Paris Opera House. We had a 1 1/2 hour guided tour and then we were free to continue exploring on our own! It was also called the Palais Garnier. It was built from 1861-1875.
The architect was Charles Garnier. It’s considered one of the most famous opera houses in the world. “The Phantom of the Opera” by Gaston Leroux’s novel written in 1910 and then the Weber musical in 1986 have helped to make it famous.
We went to the public park, Tuileries Garden, which is next to the Louvre. We sat in the shade on a bench for a short time. It was quite comfortable relaxing and watching all of the people.
Afterwards we had some lunch and then walked over to Place St.-Michel. It is a public square in the Latin Quarter. The Fountain Saint-Michel was constructed in 1855-1860 and 9 sculptors were involved. Unfortunately the fountain was dry!
We walked around the area and found a small place where milkshakes were their specialty and it was happy hour. You buy a shake, get one free. So we sat at an outside table and enjoyed our shakes.
We then started our walk to the Eiffel Tower. It was over 2 1/2 miles from where we were. We didn’t have to hurry because our tickets for the summit were for 8:00 PM. The weather was great and we had beautiful views of Paris and beyond!
The weather was perfect for our views of Paris and the surrounding area from the summit of the Tower and at the 13th story.
After we were finished exploring the tower, we found a small restaurant again using the Find Me Gluten Free app. It was great that the Eiffel Tower had free WIFI so we could locate a place to eat. The small restaurant was called Le Florimond. The staff was awesome and the food was delicious.
On our walk back to the hotel, when we got close to the Place de la Concorde there was a lot of excitement! Cars, scooters, and motorcycles were honking their horns and wearing and waving Algerian flags to celebrate Algeria winning the Africa Cup of Nations! People were singing and chanting in mass. Fireworks were also going off.
Today was 26,384 steps, 11.13 miles and 11 flights!
We were in line by 8:37 which was perfect because we were 10th in line. As soon as we went through security we went directly to see the Mona Lisa! No line! Yea! It was perfect.
After grabbing some water and resting for a short while, we walked to a French restaurant that offered gluten free items. The restaurant was called Le Saotico. We used the app Find Me Gluten Free to locate this place. The food was delicious and one of the owners served us and she has Celiacs also! Her name was Anna.
