Trip report, Paris 10-16 july 2010, day two – things can only get better

After a good night's sleep and some breakfast in our room we felt ready for new adventures. We popped down to the Metro station, bought two Mobilis and two Ticket Jeunes and boarded the first cart of the automated line 14. Not quite as adventurous as on the video, but amusing enough for a Sunday morning...


We switched to line 4 at Châtelet and headed for Porte de Clignancourt. Flea market time! We strolled around for a few hours, bought a few things – some 3€ necklaces, a pair of shorts and a handbag and had café crème with croissants. The antique market was interesting as usual, but with surprisingly much rubbish. Who on earth buys all that shattered junk?

After the Flea Market we went back to the hotel for a meal and some rest. Then my husband and I decided it was time to buy Navigo Decouvertes for the following week. We went back to "our" metro station and got really good help from the man at the information desk in the tricky task to buy cards, personalize them with names and photos and finally recharge them for the following week.

In the evening we planned to climb the Towers of Notre-Dame, having heard that their infamous long lines tend to be shorter in the evenings. Well, they weren't. We went inside instead, listened for a while to the evening mass and started a rather planless promenade by going north across the Seine.

Next stop was Hôtel de Ville, then we passed Centre Pompidou and suddenly we found ourselves near Tour Saint-Jaques, a landmark I have seen from Place du Châtelet and been curious about. Time to explore what was in the tower. Much to my surprise we found a statue of Blaise Pascal inside it.

After that we decided we had walked enough for the day and took the metro from Châtelet to our hotel.