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Vincennes and the Pantheon
We headed out in the morning to see the Château de Vincennes, at the eastern end of Metro line 1. After touring the chapel and castle keep, we had a quick lunch before heading back into Paris to visit the Panthéon. We then went to a nearby crêperie for an early dinner. We ended the day with a visit to Galeries Lafayette Haussmann, the largest department store in Europe.
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The Louvre and Three Historic Churches
We headed out in the morning to visit the Louvre, probably the most famous museum in the world and home of the Mona Lisa. After spending the morning there, we had lunch at a boulangerie and visited Saint-Germain-l’Auxerrois, a nearby historic church. We continued on to Saint-Germain-des-Prés, the oldest church in Paris. We visited a third church, Saint-Eustache, a church we saw on our first day in Paris. We ended our day with dinner in a restaurant next to the church.
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Musée d’Orsay and the Tuileries Garden
We headed out a bit early for our timed entry to the Musée d’Orsay to take a very quick walk through the Tuileries Garden. Afterwards, we spent a few hours in the museum before heading out for lunch nearby. We then crossed the Seine to visit the Place de la Concorde before heading back into Tuileries Garden. We ultimately ended the day at Place Vendôme, also nearby.
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Rising Up From the Catacombs to the Eiffel Tower
We started out by heading to the Catacombs of Paris, a series of underground tunnels where human remains were moved after the city’s cemeteries were filled in the 18th century. Afterwards, we had lunch at a restaurant by Rue Daguerre, a pedestrianized street lined with cafes and shops.
After lunch, we took the Metro over to Cité, an island in the middle of the Seine. We visited the Sainte-Chapelle, a former royal chapel. We also saw the exterior of the Notre Dame de Paris, the city’s famous cathedral which is currently being restored after suffering a fire in 2019.
We then made our way to the Eiffel Tower where we took a 1 hour boat sightseeing cruise with Bateaux Parisiens, which we received as a welcome amenity yesterday from the Le Méridien Etoile. Afterwards, we went up to the 2nd and 3rd floors of the Eiffel Tower where we spent the rest of the evening.
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Montmartre and the Arc de Triomphe
After arriving at CDG in the morning, we headed over to La Defense to drop off our bags before heading to the Arc de Triomphe. We briefly took a look from the across the road before queuing to enter. We enjoyed the view from atop the monument before getting lunch from a nearby restaurant.
Afterwards, we took the Metro to Montmartre followed by the funicular to the top of the hill. Once there, we visited Sacré-Coeur and adjacent Saint-Pierre church. After walking down the hill, we took the Metro once again to Canal Saint-Martin where we walked around a bit before getting dinner near the Gare de l’Est.
We ended the evening with a quick stop at Les Halles where we got some dessert and walked around near the Saint-Eustache Church. After a debacle at the hotel involving wet carpets, we cancelled our stay and instead checked into the Le Méridien Étoile by the Porte Maillot station.
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Kauai Sugarloaf Pineapples Two and Three
Our second Kauai Sugarloaf Pineapple seems to be more or less done growing after about three months. But recently, we discovered that we have a third one! It is currently in the flowering phase.
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Ruby-Throated Hummingbird
We were extremely surprised to find a Ruby-Throated Hummingbird today! While they’re not supposed to be uncommon, particularly if one has the appropriate feeder in their backyard, they certainly are hard to find due to their extreme speed and tiny size. Today, we saw one on a branch of a tree right in front of us while walking around the neighborhood! And even more surprisingly, we saw it fly away and return to the same branch again and again!
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A Hot Summer Morning at the Meadowlark Botanical Gardens
It was hotter than we expected today as we arrived at the Meadowlark Botanical Gardens when they opened at 10am today. We didn’t spend too much time there as it only got hotter throughout the day. It is always enjoyable to see how the flowers change over time and of course to see what is going on with the local birds.
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Leaving Berlin
We headed out relatively early in the morning, though still after sunrise. There were a variety of options to get to Brandenburg Airport. We decided to take the U-Bahn to the Hauptbahnhof where there were more frequent options rather than going to some other station that could potentially be faster but required better timing. It ended up taking a bit more than an hour to get to the airport. Ultimately, we had a good amount of extra time but not too much before boarding.
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Around the Tiergarten
We spent most of the day in and around the Tiergarten, a large park on the west side of Berlin’s city center. We started out at the Brandenburger Tor, checked out the exterior of the Reichstag, and walked through part of the park. We saw various monuments and memorials and ultimately ended up at the southwest corner of the park by the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church.
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Here and there but not quite everywhere!