The half way point of our trip.
We felt we had deserved an easy day today so we hadn't made any plans. We let ourselves sleep in and woke around 10am, had showers and cooked some breakfast. Sharon was keen to do a little leisurely wandering along the Champs-Élysées seeing as it is just around the corner from our apartment.
We decided firstly to catch the train out to La Défense to see the commercial 'business district' of Paris. It was about 15 minutes on the metro subway and, seeing as it's a weekend, was mostly empty except for a surprisingly large number of tourists who had come to explore. It was almost like the local Parisians had been removed from sight and only the tourists were left. It may us wonder if other parts of Paris would look the same if you removed locals and left only tourists and travellers.
It was interesting to see, but probably not something I would go and see again unless I end up working out in La Défense someday. We took the subway back to George V metro station which is about half way along the Champs-Élysées main shopping section. As the shops consist almost entirely of brand names and souvenir items, there was little that I had interest in seeing today so I made my way into the back streets, stopped off for some groceries and headed back to the apartment to relax and have a late lunch.
I contemplated heading out to get some photographic shots just after sunset but the heavy thick and dark cloud cover seemed a little too uninviting. Turned out to be a good decision as the sky never reached the nice blue colours I was wanting for the photos.
We stayed in our apartment tonight and enjoyed a relatively relaxing night, cooking some dinner, drinking a bottle a vin rouge and listening to music, all whilst studying our Paris Lonely Planet guide for other hidden adventures to explore. Plenty still left to do, not to mention some day trips out of the city itself. It'll be hard to pull myself away from the city for day trips as I absolutely love this city. Once I get back home I really need to start to put a plan in place for moving over here to Paris. Mental plans have already started to take shape.
Today's Weather
Overcast and slightly cool. Temperature around 11 C.
