July 16, 2015 - La Défense

 Today Roger and I headed out to La Défense because I wanted to see the Grand Arche.  The metro stop is the last stop on the blue line and the station is huge it has all kinds of little shops and bakeries inside.  You can also catch the RER A line.

 The Grande Arche I knew was big but I really didn't realize it was this big.

 It looked like the right side is complete but they are still working on some of the left side.  

 Although on the left side is where you can take the elevator to the top of the building for 10 Euros, except Tuesdays it is only 5 Euros.  

On the other side of the Arche they are building a sports stadium.  I love how the cranes are red, white and blue.

 A very interesting sculpture of a thumb.

 Roger saw these guys climbing the side of this round building.

 Almost 10 Euros for a Chipotle burrito.

I could hear what sounded like a southern gospel choir singing so of course we had to go check it out.

Can you imagine coming out to this great lounging area on your lunch break from work?

 I guess Parisians are into pallet tables too.

 A game of chess with the co-workers?

 There is a great view straight down the Champs Elysees to the Arc de Triomphe.

 There were also quite a few people playing Pétanque.

 Off on another adventure to see what else we can find in Paris.

The Salvation Army home is the first boat.  I did not know that there were a lot of houseboats in Paris.

We stopped off at a grocery store and bought our lunch.  So for under 8 euros we got two sandwiches, chips, cookies and a big bottle of water.

 Then we found a park bench and enjoyed our feast.

Then we were on our way again.  We walked through the park on our way to the Porte Dauphine metro station.

When we got back to our neighborhood we walked over to the street market.  I saw this and thought it was very kind of the store owner to put a fresh bowl of water out for the four legged shoppers.  I did pick up some delicious watermelon while there and that is what I had for dinner.

Tonight we took a quick trip to see the Eiffel Tower twinkle.  It only twinkles for 5 or 10 minutes on the hour every hour from sunset until 1 or 2 am depending on the time of year.  We got there just a little after 11:00 pm so it was already twinkling as we rounded the corner after getting off the metro.  We couldn't get to where we could see the base before it stopped so we just took a few pictures and headed back home.

On the ride home we were serenaded.