For French in Action students, the pool across the street is perhaps even more famous.
It was cold and I was hungry. Fortunately there was a crêpe stand hoping to do some business with the crowd standing in line to get into the Centre Pompidou. He wasn't having much luck, possibly because of the rain. I was made of sterner stuff, and enjoyed a Nutella-and-coconut crêpe, folded into a cone for easier consumption.
No church meant I had a couple hours to kill before my tour. I knew the Louvre would be a madhouse. Maybe the slightly less famous Musée d'Orsay would be less busy... No such luck, it had a wait of over an hour as well. It might be the off season for foreign tourists, but it was still the weekend, so I was facing large French crowds.
I walked across the Seine to the Tuilleries garden.
I arrived at the edge of the Place de la Concorde.
The Tuilleries themselves were a bit underwhelming in late Fall.
But first! Random photo sampler!
L'hotel de ville: City Hall.
I vaguely remember something about a statue of a king who had his foot on the head of a commoner, and they had to redo that when that kind of attitude became ... unpopular. If so, it's not this statue.
Our tour guide said that the Hôtel de Châtillon is where Louis XIV's mistress liked to stay. Wikipedia only confirms that it was built by the architect of the Place des Vosges.
The Picasso museum was closed for renovations:
I saw this one kind of sad little playground. There are kids and schools in Paris, but they live behind nondescript facades and you won't notice them unless you're paying attention.
One of the oldest synagogues in Paris. Unfortunately, antisemitism is alive and well in France.
Back to the Tuilleries:
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