La Défense

Saturday
Today we went up to Paris. The morning was hot and sunny, but the forecast called for clouds moving in, with the possibility of late afternoon thunderstorms, so we went first for a Bateau Mouche ride on the river, thinking that would be best in the sunshine. The Bateaux Mouches start from near the Eiffel Tower, so we then walked to the Arc de Triomphe, stopping for a very tasty panini sandwich on the way. We timed our arrival at the Arch just right, as there was hardly any line to go up at the time, whereas when we came down quite a long line had formed. The weather was still holding at this point and the visibility was really good from the top. My blip shows the view towards the business district of La Défense. According to Wikipedia, "La Défense is Europe's largest purpose-built business district, with 72 glass and steel buildings and skyscrapers, 180,000 daily workers, and 3.5 million square metres (37.7 million sq ft) of office space. Around its Grande Arche and esplanade, La Défense contains many of the Paris urban area's tallest high-rises, and is home to no fewer than 1,500 corporate head offices, including those of 15 of the top 50 companies in the world. The district is located at the westernmost extremity of the ten-kilometre-long Historical Axis of Paris, which starts at the Louvre in Central Paris, and continues along the Champs-Élysées, well beyond the Arc de Triomphe before culminating at La Défense."
We then walked down the Champs Élysées for a stretch, before taking a metro for the last stretch to the Jardins des Tuileries, where we found some seats by one of the boating basins, and sat and relaxed and people-watched for a while and also enjoyed an ice cream. Then we continued walking to Île Saint Louis. By this time, the clouds had moved in, and it began to rain, so we decided it would be a good time to have an early dinner, before going to an organ recital at Notre Dame. The organ has just undergone a complete renovation, and this was the inaugural recital. We got there about 15 minutes early, but it was already standing room only. The recital was free - other than a free-will offering. I'm sure some people were just general tourists who saw there was something going on and decided to stay, so fortunately, after the first couple of pieces, some people started to leave, so by the end of the first half we had all managed to get seats together. We then had to get the metro back to the car and drive home, so it was well past midnight before we got home! A long but enjoyable day!