Fête de la Victoire 1945 (WWII Victory Day)
public holiday! like it bothers me much. i decided to go out to Chatêlet to walk abit, i found that the shops at les halles were open, but it was relatively deserted. hm, so where is the whole city on a public holiday. many shops on the streets were closed too. i guess everyone wants to enjoy the holiday. so i returned and went out for a run. and wow i saw alot of things.
i ran out, as usual, along the metro line 11 route. there was a crowd near Belleville. i think the morning market has ended but there were still some street stalls, and the nice street with lots of cheap clothing shops was too crowded to run through. ah so that’s where they shop today. so it was crowded all the way till republique. and then i continued on, more peacefully, until i reached les halles. yay that’s the entire of line 11, almost. and then from there on i wasn’t so sure of the route. ran through the garden, past the church, saw lots of ppl lying on the grass. a nice sunny day today was. and then found my bearings, crossed Rue Saint Honoré via Rue du Louvre, reached Rue Rivoli and voila Musée du Louvre. I ran through the museum compound. gosh it’s really nice and grand to run there. it was so crowded with ppl too, lots of tourists, and the fountains are finally filled with water. ppl dipping their feet in water =] passed the pyramids, passed the little arc, entered Jardin des Tuileries. the garden was really crowded as well, and wow all the trees had a full crown of leaves. such a difference from the last time i was here. no more cold wind in the garden. so so nice and lovely. and then i came out from the other end, past Musée de l’Orangerie, into Place de la Concorde, with the egyptian obelisk. crossed the Seine, past Assemblée Nationale, entered the Paris Respire route where they close off the quai roads during weekends and holidays. So ran along the river, watching the full boatloads of tourists. and then i reached the Eiffel Tower and stopped right under the tower. gosh it’s simply so fun i tell you. 10km in 1hr10min, not bad considering i havent been out in weeks. the downslope bits helped.
the other fun part was thinking that i must have been in many people’s photos, since i ran through lots of touristy places. fun fun.
and then i camped out at Champs de Mars, the field/garden behind Eiffel, which was full of ppl too. all the parisiens seem to be out sun-tanning. good life. few ppl go shopping. some of the are just sleeping out there on the grass.
and the rest of the city is out on bikes, cycling everysinglewhere. wow.
and then after that i took a bus to Charles de Gaulle Etoile, which is where Arc de Triomphe is. and hm they put up the big french flag in the middle of the arc. the really huge flag. nice.
then i found out that some bus services dont run on sundays and public holidays. what the hell. so i took the Balabus instead, this touristy bus that goes on a tourist attraction hunt.