Paris and an urban hike.

This doesn’t seem to be a good use of 650 euros.

This morning I headed out on a urban hike. The plan was to walk slightly up hill to Batignolles and then drift back down to Notre Dame. It didn’t happen like that. The old bat wore out. So, I came home. To the sans hot water hotel. The note (in French) said the city was shutting down the hot water for repairs to the system. That made no sense to me. Well, according to Google there are two large hot water aquifers under Paris and the city provides hot water, most of the time, to residents and businesses. Who knew? I sure didn’t.  

so, on to the urban hike.

The first  thing that amused me were the aforementioned shoes. But wait.

I spy a woman wearing the shoes.

On the way up to Batignolles, I pass several blocks of dusty shops devoted to dusty old musical instruments.

Guitars, banjos and mandolins
Brass instruments

And 

And, a store devoted entirely to drapery hardware. Not drapes, just hardware.

Heading down I pass a tiny urban grocery. Gotta go in for a sandwich.

I was surprised at how much real estate was given over to Old El Paso.

Swinging into the very high rent district. I find,

Snooty waiters waiting.
A beggar.
Not your momma’s Mickey Ds

Not the same inside either!

You all know where this is headed.

Wandering down towards the river, I see a museum. 

One of Yves Saint Laurent’s museums.
It was really more about the process than the final product.

Nicely dressed young women, some gay guys, and me. I really enjoyed it. 

Bet you know where I went to eat my ham and butter sandwich.

I ate my lunch surrounded by school kids. And headed out to pay respects to Our Lady. But, I only made it as far as the cool footbridge over the Seine that I knew would lead me to my lodgings on 15 minutes.

Lots of locks.

My cold is no worse so I count that as a win.

And the hike was 7.23 miles. Not too shabby for 78 going on dead.

 

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